How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason – Review

Published: October 8, 2019

Publisher: DAW

Series: The Thorne Chronicles #1

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 416 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 4.5/5.0

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

First in a duology that reimagines fairy tale tropes within a space opera—The Princess Bride meets Princess Leia.

Rory Thorne is a princess with thirteen fairy blessings, the most important of which is to see through flattery and platitudes. As the eldest daughter, she always imagined she’d inherit her father’s throne and govern the interplanetary Thorne Consortium.

Then her father is assassinated, her mother gives birth to a son, and Rory is betrothed to the prince of a distant world.

When Rory arrives in her new home, she uncovers a treacherous plot to unseat her newly betrothed and usurp his throne. An unscrupulous minister has conspired to name himself Regent to the minor (and somewhat foolish) prince. With only her wits and a small team of allies, Rory must outmaneuver the Regent and rescue the prince.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse is a feminist reimagining of familiar fairytale tropes and a story of resistance and self-determination—how small acts of rebellion can lead a princess to not just save herself, but change the course of history

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How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse was a perfect blend of sci-fi and fantasy. It was wonderfully unique in its execution while having a tradition plot at its core – a princess is married off to a foreign kingdom for peace. 

Rory Thorne, princess in question, is certainly not your traditional prim princess. She’s been given weaponry training for much of her life, she’s wickedly clever, and has twelve blessings and what may be construed as a curse from 13 fairies present at her naming. Oh, and rather untraditionally, she was born a girl in a line that had produced only male children for generations.

The Thorne Consortium was peaceful right up someone detonated a bomb that killed Rory’s father and the King of a visiting kingdom, prompting the two kingdoms to go to war. The war lasted years, though eventually an agreement was made wherein Rory was engaged to the heir to the throne of the Free Worlds to secure peace. There is much in the way of political intrigue, as the Regent of the Free Worlds is beyond conniving and has plans of his own. Rory and her retinue of her bodymaid (Grytt), her advisor (Rupert), and four guards  end up having some of the craziest adventures. Actually, adventures is too light of a term – more like situations of likely peril – since most of these “adventures” end in some sort of violence or imprisonment. 

This book was phenomenal and ended in such a way that it would work perfectly well as a standalone, but it’s confirmed to be a duology (SO EXCITED!). The plot felt surprisingly light for something as serious as a dangerous arranged marriage and political espionage. The author threw in just the right amount of humor and almost sardonic narration and the combo jived perfectly with my mood at the time. I actually laughed out loud on multiple occasions! In all honesty, I could probably sit down and re-read this with just as much enthusiasm as I did the first time around. If you’re looking for something that stands out from the crowd of traditional sci-fi and fantasy you might want to put this on your TBR.