Rory has been well-schooled by her teacher, Messer Rupert, who has since become the former Consort Queen, now Regent-Consort's closest adviser, and she has been trained by her body-maid, Deme Grytt, in the fine art of self-defense. Who better than a part-cyborg to teach you the precise and dangerous application of violence? However, Rory finds herself in the unenviable position of having to move to the planet Urse to keep the peace following a truce between the planets and her arranged marriage to Prince Ivar, and her mother's betrothal to Regent Moss. Rory finds herself nearly alone on a foreign planet, with her betrothed Prince Ivar supposedly off on some military maneuvers, but in reality there is a dastardly plot brewing to insure that Regent Moss remains permanently on his temporary throne. It will be up to Rory, Grytt, Rupert and a handful of Thorne guards to discover the truth and to save Ivar before things get permanently out of control. Fortunately, Rory has made a friend and admirer in the form of Regent Moss's second son, Jaed, who is always pushed to the side in favor of his older and more handsome brother, Merrick. When Messer Rupert finds himself accused of treason and sent to prison, Rory and company will have to ramp up their efforts or face losing their beloved friend forever. On the upside, this team has no problem coloring outside of the lines and will do whatever it takes to get the job done, even if it ends up destroying the multiverse.
This story takes place in the multiverse, so there are many things that seem familiar but are not-quite-right. For instance, Rory's naming celebration (essentially her christening) has a twisted Sleeping Beauty spin on it when the 13th fairy bestows the ability to cut through BS and always see the truth in what people say. Doctors are called chirasurgeons, and magic hacker elites are called arithmancers. Rory is a budding arithmancer, herself, having been taught by Rupert. Things like that litter the entire book, so it's always interesting to figure out the comparative to our world. There is both magic and science used and things like tesser-hexes are used for space travel. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I really enjoyed Eason's writing style in that she'd insert what Rory was really thinking (mostly when she was using her BS monitor) in a different font just below what was truly being said.
Overall, I liked reading How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse, but due to the odd choice in terminology, I did find it took me longer to get through it than a typical book, simply because it was more to digest mentally. It's a fun sci-fi/fantasy romp that fans of alternate universes will enjoy.
