I picked up this book recently in the library because it seemed an interesting mix of a science fiction novel and a reimagining of classic fairytales.  

I’m still towards the beginning of the story, but I’ve included the synopsis in a post below. The novel opens with the birth of the princess Rory– the first time a daughter has been born in the royal family for ten generations. The royal family argues about what to name her. Although it is tradition to name each first born Rory, they remain torn over whether this applies to a daughter, and remain torn over whether they should name her after a female ancestor instead. They reluctantly end up adhering to custom though, finally deciding to go with Rory.  

 When I went to the Catherynne Valente workshop, one of the things she talked a little about was world building and its specific challenges in a sf context–the author might have a whole world set up in their mind, but this can be challenging to communicate to the reader without an info dump.  

I’ve liked how K. Eason has begun to set up the world in this book. As someone who hasn’t read a lot of sf in the past, she’s sort of introduced the setting of the world without it being overwhelming by playing on different fairytales and historical traditions that we are all familiar with. For example, one character, when describing a guest who just has arrived to Rory, describes the visitor as: “Probably the boy they’ll want you to marry, someday, for galactic peace and favorable trade routes” (20). I think even tiny images like this have really worked to set my mind in Rory’s world. Likewise, introducing the book with the argument about the embedded customs of the kingdom also worked as a successful worldbuilding technique in my mind.