Tuesday, December 3, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K Eason




I usually start these book reviews with two paragraphs: first, a paragraph about what type of book a book is and why I was interested in it and then a second paragraph summarizing my thoughts, before I go into a bigger review.  With this book, "How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse", this template is particularly important, as the book's title suggests the story being a completely and utterly different book entirely than what it actually is.  You might think that this is a story involving parallel universes, with a main character getting involved in havoc throughout those multiple universes.  You would be completely wrong, so if that's what you're looking for, you will find yourself disappointed.

What this novel is instead is a take on an often subversive take on the classic fairy tale princess type of story, with a mix of fantasy and science fiction elements.  Moreover, the story is told in a princess-bride like manner, as if told from the perspective of a third party narrator (an unnamed Historian).  The result is a really fun tale with some fun characters with a great mix of humor and drama.  So yeah, if you're looking not for a tale of parallel universes, but instead of a fairy tale set in space, with a sardonic princess who uses her wits to save the day from a tyrannical regent - this is definitely a book you'll enjoy.

Note: I read this as an audiobook, and the audiobook reader is pretty good, so I do recommend the book in that format.  That said, as a result there's a good shot I will misspell some names in the below review, and that's why.


--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
When Rory Thorne was born to the King of the Thorne Consortium - one of the most powerful collections of worlds in the galaxy, she was the first girl to be born in the royal family in generations, and no one knew what to do.  So when the Vizier of Thorne suggested that they follow the long lost tradition of having a baby naming so that the baby girl could be blessed by the 13 fairies, no one expected the fairies to actually show up.  But show up they did, and so Rory found herself cursed by the 13th fairy to always be able to hear the truth in all words, and blessed - among other things - with the courage to find a path through all difficulties.

These gifts would carry Rory through her childhood, when her father dies in an assassination and her mother, the Consort-Regent, sends the Consortium to war over it - and as Rory grows up in ways not expected of a princess of her standing - quick witted, capable, and not willing to roll over for anyone else.  But when Rory is sent off at age 16 as part of a peace treaty to the enemy, the Free Worlds of Tadesh, as both a hostage for peace and to be betrothed to the future King of Tadesh, she finds herself in trouble like never before.  Rory and her companions will soon find themselves in a deadly political game against a power-hungry regent, whose plans for Rory may not leave her with much of a life expectancy.

Of course, the Regent has never dealt with anyone like Rory Thorne before - and when the conflict between them is said and done, the multiverse will never be the same.....
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The advertising tagline for this novel references "The Princess Bride", and that's mostly shown with the way this story is told: as if this is a historian from the far future narrating events in a historical text.....except that historian is extremely sardonic and opinionated as to how events did and should have played out, leading to a good amount of the book being tinged with humor.  Every chapter, or nearly every chapter, begins with the narrator describing some aspect of the setting, or some aspect of history, or of just her making some commentary about how a story would usually seem to go, and while it might get a little repetitive, it's done with just the right amount of wit to keep it all entertaining.  And then the narration gets to our direct story, which it tells with a good deal of aplomb and wit.

And this story is packed full of really great characters, many of whom are developed pretty damn deeply - even if their role in the story is only minor.  That starts with Rory of course, who is as delightful as you could hope for - intelligent and courageous, refusing to stand for discrimination and restrictions that don't make any sense, but still very much a teenager with a teen's lack of patience.  The book reminds us quite frequently of her personality attributes, which could get annoying, but she demonstrates them frequently, so it all works out, and it's easy to both root for her and be on the edge of your seat wondering what action she will really take next.  Then there's Rory's two closest companions.  first, there's the Vizier Messer Rupert, a smart man who can't help but try and find out about and follow traditions, no matter how odd, and who seeks to use his Arithmancy to help Rory and her mother, the Regent-Consort.  Then there's Rory's bodymaid and real bodyguard, the former soldier and eventual cyborg Grytt, whose sardonic and rash/reckless nature makes her real fun to follow and a good/bad role model for Rory.  And even beyond these characters there are so many others, from the evil Regent's son Jade, to Rory's mother, to two guards who get caught up in Rory's actions and have to help her by improvising on the fly.  It's a tremendously fun cast.

I should add that while this story takes place in a sci-fi setting (with space stations and the occasional alien), it verges quite frequently into fantasy.  Not only do you have fairies at the very beginning, but the major tool used by our heroine and others is a magic-like form of hacking known as arithmancy, which the Vizier Rupert teaches to Rory to great effect.  It might as well be magic as to how it works, and the book uses it rather cleverly.  This magic, plus the great characters, allow for the story to take some really interesting swerves as it tries to subvert quite a few parts of the classic princess tale, as Rory does the rescuing herself, rather than relying upon anyone else's help.  Mostly.  And the story stays fun as a result throughout, up to its very solid ending.

As I noted above, the book's title is really really bad - the book for some reason uses the word "Multiverse" instead of the word "Universe" and never actually justifies that choice.  Also, while Rory's actions may in the end have caused a great deal of change to the universal order, the word "destroyed" isn't really an apt description of how that happens.  It's just bizarre honestly.  My only other complaint about this book is that the historian narrator occasionally will, in her chapter intros, detail events that will occur over the next few months or years, only to then rewind to the present day, confusing me since sometimes those time skips do actually happen. It's a minor complaint, as the narrator (as I note above) mostly works really well.

Amazon now suggests this is the first of a duology, and if there is a sequel on the way, I greatly look forward to it.  Sometimes you just need books with great fun characters, and this is definitely one for that category.
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