TL,DR: Not as good as the first one, but not bad.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse certainly set up readers for another book with the ending, however this wasn’t exactly the sequel I expected. Not that I had a clear expectation… just, this wasn’t quite it. Rory, Thorsdottir, Zhang, and Jaed decided to skip out of town and become scrappers. Not fighting scrappers, but the junk hauling/wreck recovery kind. Gryt and Rupert were farming sheep up until a green fairy showed up with some rather important information. It seems that the universe is about to be in chaos once again and Rory is at the epicenter (unintentionally).

Rory et. al stumble across a bio weapon on a dead ship in the middle of nowhere and then encounter hostiles from an empire that has its sights set on expansion. Rory ends up taking up the mantle of princess/diplomat once again in order to find if not peace, then at least an understanding, with highly skilled arithmancers. On the other end of things, Gryt and Rupert (and some new allies) are trying to get to Rory to hopefully save her and her friends.

The story was fraught with danger and tension, so I can’t say it didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat. It was certainly an adventure, though it was somewhat lackluster in comparison with the first book. The first book was charming and exciting, with the tease of potential romance and this installment didn’t quite have the charm or the humor. It was, however a pretty satisfying conclusion to the duology and gave a nice summary of where everyone (mostly Rory) ended up later in life. Overall, this was a fun duology and I would definitely recommend it to someone looking for a weird mish-mash of science fiction and fantasy elements with awesome female characters.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC copy of this book available to me.

This was an enjoyable read, though not as attention grabbing as I could have wished. I liked how the author introduced new intelligent species into the storyline. The author used some fun little writing tricks in a few places to move the plot along, but then kept slowing things down in places with too many pages of exposition with nothing really happening. And I really hope that they got one more pass with a good copy editor before final publication, as there were way too many spelling (e.g. "gait" vs "gate") and grammar errors.

There’s trouble on the horizon as the revolution gains traction. Warring factions are fighting for their respective causes and of course, being the catalyst for said revolution, Princess Rory Thorne has gained her fair share of enemies. Even though she’s stepped down from her royal position, she’s still renowned in the universe and finds herself in a tricky position as she and her crew are forced to board an unknown ship. Despite being on all different sides, the Protectorate, the Confederation, and the Tedeshi have a new enemy on the horizon — something far worse than anything they’ve encountered so far and only by working together can they overcome this new threat.


The characters continue to delight me in this second and final installment in the Rory Thorne series and I love how even though Rory and her crew have chosen different paths since the events of the first book, they manage to come together when necessary and their loyalty to one another remains as strong as ever. Rory once again proves that she’s capable and strong both with and without her people, and I love her self-reliant streak.


It’s very rare that I say I wish a series had more books, but this is an instance where I wish this series had at least another book coming. Not because it left readers with questions and felt unfinished, it didn’t, but simply because I love this world and these characters. Rory’s tale is complete though and sad as it may be, even the best series have to end. 5 stars and I highly recommend this delightful duology.

*eARC received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher.

How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge is the second book in The Thorne Chronicles series by K. Eason. An intriguing young adult sci-fi fantasy that is sure to sweep you away to another world. The characters are well-written and develop at a smooth, steady pace making it easy to get lost in the story. I can't wait to read the next book in The Thorne Chronicles series.

How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge is the second book in the space opera Rory Thorne Chronicles. This is Princess Leia meets The Princess Bride combining science fiction and fantasy with a snarky heroine, fairy blessings, a galaxy-spanning adventure, and political intrigue. This story is once again told via a Chronicler, rather than any character in this story or series. It has been (2) years since the former Princess Rory Thorne renounced her title and became a privateer working to stop smuggling. Also, aboard the Vagabond, which she pretty much stole from the Tadesh, are former royal bodyguards Thorsdottir and Zhang as well as co-conspirator Jaed Moss, son of the deposed leader of the Free Worlds of Tadesh.

But, before get to Rory's part of the book, let's start at the beginning with Ivar Valenko, former crown prince of the Free Worlds of Tadesh who is supposed to be dead per terms of agreement with Dame Maggie, now in permanent exile-asylum on Lanscot along with Grytt and Rupert. Ivar gets a surprise visit from the Green fairy, you know, the third fairy with pointy teeth who gave Rory the ability to play the Harp which she subverted to good cause. She wants Ivar to deliver a message. If seems our girl Rory is needed for another epic confrontation with a new group of xeno-people called the vakari who belong to the Protectorate.

It appears the Protectorate has already invaded K'Bal territories simply because they are abomination's who must be destroyed. Not my words. They also don't like those like Grytt who are half mecha now. The Vakari are religious fanatics who preach organic purity. There is also an armed conflict happening between the Protectorate and Tadeshi loyalists who have acquired a weapon that will prompt the Protectorate into full scale war which could spill over into newly configured Confederation of Liberated Worlds territory and the rest of the known Multiverse, including Rory’s former home, Thorne Consortium. Of course, the warning via Rupert & Grytt gets to Rory way too late, and by that time, Rory and her crew are already hip deep into trouble.

As I said, Rory and her crew are hip deep in trouble after boarding a Tadeshi ship to salvage and ends up confronting not only the Protectorate, but battle hexes who seem eager to target Rory. Rory is an adept arithmancer who can protect herself and unlock any locked door. But she’s not Rupert, or the Protectorate for that matter who can quickly put up hexes to disable and tell whether Rory is telling the truth or not. After being cut-off from Rory and Jaed, Thorsdottir becomes a carrier of a nanomech weapon that could be devastating in anyone's hands who is able to use it against their enemies.

From there, Rory and crew will come face to face with the Protectorate, meet a new ally called Crow, (who is more than he leads on), and Rory realizes that she’s been out of the loop too long. She’s a major player and a person of consequence whether she wants to be or not. Which is why the green fairy needed Rupert to find Rory to save the Multiverse, not break it. The point I am trying to make about Rory, is that she’s not a fighter. She’s not Thorsdottir or Zhang who were trained to protect and fight and can handle themselves. She’s an ambassador between conflicting parties. She’s a negotiator trying to prevent large scale wars. She’s also a Princess whether she likes it or not.

The reason for my rating is that the entire book focuses more on the side characters like Thorsdottir, and not Rory. Oh, I am not saying she isn't engaged, I am saying that Rupert, Grytt, and Thorsdottir get most of the scenes. Rory, for her part, is good for making a mess of things. She's thwarted a coup, kick-started a revolution, and now, she gets to play diplomat, ambassador, and negotiator between Confederated, Merchants League, Thorne Consortium, and the Protectorate while keeping Rose out of the hands of the wrong people. This book apparently closes out the series since the Chronicler, whomever it may be, jumps ahead in time to give readers a run down of what happens to Rory after the end of the story.

Rory thwarted the plot, saved the betrothed, incited a revolution, and renounced her title. Now a privateer, she and her crew stumble across the remains of a ship that had been attacked. On board is technology, arithmancy, and a sentient rose plant that is a biological weapon that just wants to survive. The alien attackers return to the ship, and now it's a race to escape them and save the multiverse.

This is the second part of the duology, picking up two years after the end of the first book. Rory and friends are firmly set as privateers on the edge of human space, while other comrades are sheep farmers on an isolated planet. Fairies still exist and intervene when they deem necessary, kicking things off again. Getting to the sentient Rose takes a while, giving us a look at the new shape of the politics between different planet groups and alien species. The Protectorate is relatively new on the scene, but aggressive, and especially toward Tadeshi people and ships. It's fascinating to see the different alien races and the interactions and beliefs that they have about each other.

While there is still a focus on the individual characters in this volume of the duology, there is a galactic import to the choices that they all have to make. It's not just the freedom of a small group of people on a space station or the alliance between two human factions to deal with. Now it's a matter of multiple human factions, alien races, and the possibility of annihilation. Though Rory really didn't want to be a princess or have a responsibility, those skills are what allows her to survive first contact. The conclusion is a little somber in tone, closing the duology with a summation of what will happen afterward. I enjoyed the glimpse into privateer Rory and her crew, and the look into alien cultures.

This is a fascinating mix of magic and space opera, and not a mix I thought would work at all. It does, and I kept coming back to finish the book to see what happened next. A great story, and one that I would've enjoyed seeing as a trilogy.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Universe was such a fun, unique book! I was excited to dive into this sequel. Unfortunately, this book just isn’t working for me. I’ve been trying to read it for a month, and I just don’t care about the plot. Even the characters that I loved in the first book aren’t enough to keep me reading. I’m officially DNFing at 40%. I still recommend the first book. It works well as a standalone.

No no, not this time. I am not letting another book in The Thorne Chronicle series slip under my radar. How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge (called Revenge going forwards) is the sequel to How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse (Rory) by K. Eason. I somehow missed the first book when it came out last year and I refused to commit the same crime twice. You can find my review of Rory here, and you can find some bonus thoughts on it in our Best of Science Fantasy List here. It’s a wonderful story about female empowerment, everyone empowerment, creative problem solving, and how to use words and diplomacy to solve problems. The sequel lives up to the high bar that Rory set, with some minor change-ups that are worth talking about.

Revenge picks up a little while after the ending of Rory. One of my only complaints about the first book was how Eason handled the ending of the story. In essence, at the end of book one Eason waves her hands, lightly summarizes a number of big events that change the status quo of the universe, and announces that the remaining cast of characters from the book disappears into the void. It felt like a hard reset of all the progress the characters had made in Rory, and I am not a huge fan of major off-page events being quickly summarized in epilogues.

However, this reset did do a great job setting up the stakes for Revenge. Revenge’s narrative is split into two stories, each focusing on a different group of people. One follows Rupert (Rory’s old teacher) and Grytt (Rory’s old bodyguard), which I am calling team parental, as they receive a nebulous message that Rory is in danger and they should try to help her. Their story revolves around locating where Rory has gone, building an alliance to go help her, and trying to avoid igniting a war between different races that have a lot of friction. The second storyline follows Rory and the remaining side characters from book one. After too much time in the spotlight, they have decided to carve out a quiet life as salvagers – until they run into salvage that multiple galactic species are fighting over. So in one story, you have Rory and the crew fighting to stay alive while protecting their dangerous find. And in the other story, you have Rory’s parental figures marshaling the troops to come to rescue her.

It’s a really interesting story with a fun fusion of different science fiction and fantasy concepts that kept me engaged the entire time. The plot is generally satisfying, but the ending once again does the thing where it has a large number of major off-page events announced to you in a few pages. This is a bigger problem for me in Revenge than it was in Rory because it exacerbates the second book’s biggest issue – there isn’t enough there. I very much like Revenge, and the paragraphs following this one will talk all about the amazing things the book accomplishes. Yet, I can’t help but feel like I was cheated out of a full book. While the plot of book two was very engaging, there doesn’t feel like there was enough of it for a single book. I didn’t feel like the story had progressed enough to devote one of three books in a trilogy to this story. I found myself feeling starved of content and really wishing that Eason had explored almost everything in the book more. It was pretty disappointing. I get a distinct feeling that this is a classic “bridge book problem,” where the second novel in a trilogy spends too much time setting up the finale and loses some of its own identity.

Yet, all of these feelings are born from the fact that what is there in Revenge is so good. In Rory, Eason focused primarily on the titular character, and the themes revolved around female empowerment, solving situations that feel like they require violence with words, and exploring the idea of diplomacy more than all parties being unhappy with a compromise. These themes are all there in Revenge, but Eason shifts the focus primarily from Rory and her personal growth to the full cast. She elevates the supporting characters and builds a fleet of protagonists with Rory at the helm. This is a wonderful experience because much like Rory all five side characters that got elevated are amazing. In addition, Eason brings in a whole new set of side characters that fill the void left by the old. The result is the chance to read about a ton of meaningful character growth from six (Rory still grows herself) different personalities. It is a buffet of excellent character writing.

Thanks to the expansion of the character focus, we also get a much larger diversity of themes in Revenge. Rory is still dealing with the problems of being a woman in a man’s world, but she also has a whole slew of new problems that divide her focus. One person is coping with the idea of being loved as a person instead of as a possession. One person is coping with the complete loss of their identity and looking for new meaning. One person is coping with the pressures of duty vs friendship. And everyone is dealing with themes like the first contact, the value of lesser evils, and weighing personal loss against the greater good. On top of all of this, Eason does a fabulous job exploring the nature of friendship. There are a number of interesting relationships and dichotomies between different characters that I never see explored, and it was so refreshing to see a more diverse set of connections.

How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge is a fantastic book that checks all of my boxes for something I highly recommend. In my opinion, its only failing is how short it feels, but given the pressures of working in a plague riddled world, it is easy to forgive the book for its singular issue. This series is shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory, and I highly recommend you find the time to read it. Its heartfelt and emotional take on the bonds between people helped me feel more connected to those around me despite being locked inside to socially distance.

Rating: How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge – 8.0/10

I hate sequel woes. The first book is so good and then this didn't live up to it. I hate it when that this happens. There's very little explanation as to what happened in the previous book, so you feel quite lost if it's been a while since you read book 1. It was nonstop action from start to finish; I like action but I also think the characters need some time to breathe. All of it just felt clunky.

K. Eason continued their rather unique storytelling in the second installment of the Thorne Chronicles. It picks up the story more or less after the first one and features the same protagonist. But aside from them, the story mainly takes place in new locations with different factions and races. Which is something I cannot wrap my head around. The first book set up this grand universe and then it went in a completely different direction.

Overall I felt like the story was compressed to fit into one single book. Almost as if they didn’t want to release a third one. Even the epilogue alone could probably be enough material to fill another book.

Aside from that, the book is quite enjoyable as long as you are comfortable with this writing style. It can even be read as a standalone book as long as you are okay with missing out on some of the backstory surrounding the main characters.

Most readers will enjoy How The Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K Eason -= even without reading the prequel.

I read it in small snatches because (well, life, you know) but every time I had a half hour, or thought I would, I came happily right back to this book to see what happens next.

The book is well written, powerfully plotted, but skips around point of view among several sub-groups of the main characters in the previous novel. It shows clearly how their team has remained intact, even though they split up physically at the end of the previous adventures. They won, and "retired' to new lives.

Only - well, life happens.

Now they are back at saving the Multiverse as they know it, with several species of people trying to form and hold profitable alliances. The narrative does not dwell on the politics -- you grasp the sparse sketch of the politics instinctively. It is a nicely set up situation that showcases the main characters combat abilities -- in skirmish after battle, after danger after near-miss.

So in a vague way, this novel does illustrate what happens when you mess with the Multiverse as these characters did in the prequel. But I didn't see that it really lived up to its title about the nature of reality, the nature of life, the definition of "person" and the adversarial relationship between Reality (or THE Multiverse) and a small group of unlikely friends and allies.

Given the title, Multiverse, I expected more modern science, math and theoretical physics explaining what the Multiverse is doing, why it is doing it, and what these characters can do about that. Why "revenge" -- why is "the" Multiverse so petty, small, childish, petulant, and impotent? Only the truly impotent seek "revenge" so why would some macrocosmic All regard this ragtag band of political adventurers as a threat to be swatted back at? None of those questions are addressed or answered or even sketched. in this volume.

So if the title alone attracts you, maybe you should read the prequel, HOW RORY THORNE DESTROYED THE MULTIVERSE, or wait for the sequel and read all 3 at once.

Clearly the Multiverse was not totally destroyed, as the princess's thirteen fairy blessings still function, so some multidimensionality, or alternate universe structure is functioning.

The misleading title is the reason I took off one star. Everything else about this novel is just fine work.

I remember reading the first book in this series, How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse, on a plane trip last year and being quite enthralled by this world and its heroine. I was thrilled to get an early copy of its follow-up and couldn’t wait to see what shenanigans Rory had gotten up to since.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. Even after reading the first book in this series, I will admit that I was just a little lost for the first few chapters. There is no adjustment period either, this author jumps right back in with new political intrigues and possible war. The main protagonists, and secondary characters, have all moved on to new places and have new loyalties.

Despite the shaky beginning, once I did figure it all out and orient myself with what was going on I got into this story. There are some interesting additions. I mean a sentient bioweapon who ASKS for help? The world-building is still top-notch and I like all the characters quite a bit.

I do believe this is a duology and thankfully epilogue does wrap things up nicely. Or maybe the author will decide to carry on in this world (universe)…

I was a little disappointed by this book. I still enjoyed it but it felt to me like the first book set up a really interesting universe and the second book seems be compressing two books into one. There’s a large conflict set up and new characters brought to the table. After that wraps up there’s a fairly short epilogue or here’s what happens after the curtain falls on this story... At least all the story threads were neatly tied off but it did feel,like that epilogue could have been a third book.

Previously I had not read the first book in this duology, but ended up doing so to properly review this book and get a real feel for the series and characters. This duology is a lot of fun and entertaining and the spacey vibes definitely add to the vibes of the story.

#HowtheMultiverseGotItsRevenge #NetGalley
I love this series. It is an excellent read for anyone who loves fantasy. Rory is a wonderful character, but it is the side characters that bring these novels to life.
Thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, and of course the publisher, Penguin for allowing me to review an E-arc copy of this novel.

While I enjoyed being back with Rory & Co. and very much enjoyed the narrative of this second entry into the THRONE CHRONICLES, I found the narrative style to be a bit too self-conscious to integrate fully into the story. It continually pulled me out of the story and added an unnecessary number of words to the book - I found myself wanting, at several points, to put HOW THE MULTIVERSE GOT ITS REVENGE down in favor of something else simply due to the sheer volume of unnecessary prose. The first novel balanced the cheeky, Austin-esque exposition and narrative really well; this second book is just too much of a good thing. Though Thorsdottir and Jaed do get some space for development, I think Zhang and our new friend Crow would have benefitted from some focus that would have been possibly without so much focus on style as could the final battle which was brushed aside in favor of a snarky aside.

Another sequel I requested partly as an effort to get myself to read the first book, the Multiverse duology is dynamic and super fun. I liked Revenge a touch less than Rory Thorne but I can't resist the space opera-ness of it all.