[Giovanna Clairval]

Originally Posted by Marvolo

Ben Bova was fond of saying that the majority of the setting should be inferred through character's cultural reactions and dialogue/thought from the central characters in the narrative. He wasn't fond of using lots of narrative description to depict the worlds he built. I think that is a good way to go about it, personally.

It is easier--and mandatory--not to sink into narrative description when the novel is written in the first person: you don't explain to yourself what you already know.
Still, the Editor grumps as well about too much concision (editors grump anyway). And the same reason that makes the first person narrative easier, makes it also more difficult because... you don't explain to yourself what you already know.
If your world is complex (mine is), and, you don't wish to powder your novel with a lot of exposition (I don't), writing those darped first chapters becomes a tour de force.