This is a tough one for me because while I enjoyed the writing and the story being told... as a fan of Kingkiller Chronicles it rang a bit *too* familiar to me. The story is lush, the character both charming and insufferable, and the beats of similarity are both great and occur just a smidgeon too often. I hope to continue with the story and see it move in a more original direction, I think it still has that potential, but I still feel some of this may have needed a more nuanced eye.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
I wasn't sure what to expect when picking this up as it was a first novel from an author I hadn't read before. It is the beginning of an epic tale set in a realm that very much resembles Southern Asia. The book begins with "The Storyteller" (his own self-given title and name) arriving in a small tavern in a town that is in some distress due to the death of one of the princes of the realm. He bargains for room and board in exchange for performing at the inn.
The story unfolds from there as he meets a mysterious women, a Singer, who also is in the tavern performing. They are both searching for something they believe can be found in the castle of the royal family. Throughout some early misadventures, the woman convinces the Storyteller to tell her of his past. The book proceeds to weave the two tales together.
This was a long book. And I liked it, but it did seem to get slow in some places and it took me a long time to get through it. There is a lot of very descriptive prose that I liked, and interesting rhymes that appear, especially during some of the storytelling. They just kind of sneak up on you and you realize they were there all along during the tale.
I am looking forward to see where the story goes, but I can't say it was a great book I couldn't put down. I started and stopped with it quite a bit, but did grow interested in the characters.

Thank you for an eARC!

Overall I enjoyed this nit took a while to get through this just because I haven't been in a fantasy mood for a while, but I really enjoyed it and thought it was beautifully written.

The First Binding is epic in every sense of the word. It is thick, elegantly written, and just what the doctor ordered for Kingkiller Chronicle fans world-wide. A TBR-topping ode to storytelling

Rating: 2.5 stars

I feel like this is going to be one of those books that you love or find lacking. I am in the lacking group, unfortunately. I wouldn’t say that it is a bad book and what I find to be lacking may not be an issue for you. So with every review, take it with a grain of salt!

The book is told through past and present events all surrounding a character named Ari. Through these events his story is told and we start to understand his character, although it takes awhile to really understand why they are so important. Because of the way this book is written, I found myself bored more than anything when reading. This could have been due to the length of the book or there being little to no action until you get quite along in the book. I just needed something to grab me but it was few and far between. I felt impartial about the other characters and neither liked or disliked them. This again, could just be due to my lack of connection with the book in general.

If you look at other reviews, some have mentioned it being similar to The Name of the Wind. I have never read that one so I can’t say for sure. Some did not like it being similar so you can always keep that in mind while deciding if you would like to pick this one up.

Overall, this was okay but ultimately just didn’t do anything for me. It’s disappointing because I still do enjoy the cover, but as a reader you can’t enjoy every book you pick up! Hopefully, if you pick this one up you will enjoy it more than me.

This is a fanfic that somehow got published. There is no other explanation for the beat for beat similarities with the Name of the Wind. The prose, the world building, the characters, the plot, are all parallels. The inclusion of South Asian culture/mythos does little to mask it.

It’s a long, boring read because I have read this story before.

<spoiler>
<b>Writing</b>

The, uh, prose reminds me of TNOTW. The narrator, or the author, thinks he’s very clever, and it’s obnoxious. It’s written in the first person, which makes it all the worse. If I was 15 years younger (like when I read the book this cribs from) I’d probably like it, but now I find this style of writing tedious. Some things are said prettily enough, but for the most part it was unbearably cheesy.

“His hair carried more streaks of chalk and iron than it should have at his age” - “Iron” is used constantly as a descriptor. It’s in hair, filling eyes (as a color or as an emotion!), voices are “ice over iron,” and so on. The word is used 70+ times in similar contexts.

“The air thickened into something chewable” - This is said in moment of tension…

“A simple spun shirt” - the fuck is a spun shirt? It’s called “homespun” because people spun the yarn and wove the cloth at home. Entire shirts weren’t falling off spindles. It’s clear the author knows this because 200 pages later we have, “He wore a shirt of homespun that could have been cotton.” Clunky sentences like that abound, padding this fucker out.

“I exhaled, releasing warm air over my wooden tool.” - absolutely hilarious

“Somewhere between” is used 13 times to describe wide ranges of various things. Like, ridiculous wide ranges. Someone’s eyes are “somewhere between slate and pine boughs,” which shouldn’t even be on the same scale, but I think it’s supposed to be hazel? Another silly one is, "The beverage was a color somewhere between pine wood and molasses." It’s between pale and dark? Thanks, very informative.

“The promise of” - 25 times. It really stands out when you read the whole book in one sitting.

Lots of "bands" of things. Bands of rain, bands of ice, bands of moonlight, bands of iron, bands of flexible wood, bands of pain, bands of sparrows, bands of bandits. It’s used 60+ times.

Dialogue is broken up by big chunks of pondering and info dumping. Little details are obsessed over: the foam clinging on a woman’s lips, the color of a glazed jug, how big someone’s paunch is. Like the paunch, it gets in the way of the story that refuses to happen.

Lots of “kissed bys” and “made themselves knowns.”

Ari rolls his wrist a lot, whatever that means. At some point Eloine/singer starts rolling her wrists too. Everyone’s rolling wrists.

People are described in very unflattering ways. Faces like dogs, blubberous masses. "Flaws" are exaggerated and gone over in great detail. Either characters have godlike beauty or they are unforgivably hideous. Fat people are pointed out most frequently, and the narrator/author seems to have particular disgust for them; he chooses to present them as monstrosities drowning in their own fat, even the nice ones.

"Thrummed like a mandolin string" - mandolins are strung in courses, two strings tuned the same which are placed side by side. The doubled strings are typically struck at the same time. Ari carries a broken mandolin around with him, you'd think he'd know more about the instrument. This is such a silly thing to pick at, I know.

It's ironic that the narrator complains about other storytellers going on tangents when it happens constantly in the book. The plot is routinely interrupted for Ari to opine, philosophize, bemoan his fate, or tell us how ugly someone is.

"Set" is used to describe a number of days. The narrator tells us this varies by country since there is no universal calendar. The problem is at 80% I forgot what it meant in whatever country he's in in whichever timeline.

While I think how the author/narrator describes skin tone is often iffy (burnt sugar, sand, wet dirt, tree bark, tea, molasses, lots of sun kissed skin, etc), I do like the variety of ways he does so.

<b>Plot</b>

Full spoilers. I note many of the things taken from the Name of the Wind. Not all of them, because there are a lot.

<spoiler>A guy walks into a bar. He’s very dramatic, gets a free beer, and convinces some old people to run around town and gather an audience from him. Dude starts folding aka splitting his mind, just like Kvothe.
He’s a performer who works the crowd, like Kvothe.
He knows the truth about things in the world, has some deep, essential understanding of them. It reminds me of someone, someone who was good at naming things. Things like the wind…

The similarities, scenes and plot points lifted directly from TNOTW, don't stop. I understand the author did a lot of research to emulate hanging verses from historical storytellers, which you can see in the stories Ari tells. I don't have an issue with the framing narrative in general, we just spend far too much time in it and the plot diverges frequently. It’s highly disruptive, as is all the in-story storytelling. I should have counted how many times it happens, it’s gotta be 20+.

The first chapter is him being dramatic and listening to the very short tale of how the owner of the bar came to own a bar. Then he spends more time being dramatic so he can tell a story. He gets distracted by a super captivating lady, dark eyed and mysterious, not at all like the other girls. Like Denna. From TNOTW.
In chapter three, we get the in-story story he built up to in chapter two. Riveting stuff. And to think, I was going to read a book about shipping containers instead! Why should I care about this world’s mythology when I don’t know anything about it at all? He tells the story in about ten minutes, does some magic shadow puppets, and people lose their fucking minds.
He goes for a walk in the rain with the singing lady. He names her Eloine (note that a song Kvothe performs is about a woman named Aloine). We are exposed to some of the most banal, cringy “banter” I’ve ever read. What intelligent woman is going to be like, “Why aren’t you staring at my soaking wet body? Don’t you find it pleasing?” Such puerile complimenting fishing from an adult is awful to read. The emotional whiplash is too. This pair flips between inelegant “flirting” to soul-crushing sadness every other sentence.
The narrator, who doesn’t have a name at this point, has a secret identity. One he is absolute shit at hiding, as the singing lady clocks him immediately. It makes him pissed when she calls him out. She pets him, which settles him down (she does this many times throughout). Dude has the emotional control of a baby. He gets oddly flustered whenever she’s remotely crass. I’m not into this dynamic at all.
Ari, who now has a name, decides to tell this woman, who he has known for all of thirty minutes, his life story. Why? Because she’s pretty, and there’s something about her, I guess. She isn't like other girls, and Ari isn't like other boys as she keeps reminding us. And yes, this is the same set up as TNOTW. Rainy night, tavern, a maudlin fallen hero, has their life story ready to divulge to whoever asks nicely/sexily.
There’s another delay in Ari’s actual story when their lame date is interrupted by some religious fanatic knights. Isn’t that what happens in TNOTW? At least Kvothe got the shit beat out of him in that and didn't leap into Matrix-style theatrics (as in Ari straight up leaping through a window to run across rooftops).

Finally, 10% in, we get to what we've been waiting for: the main character's story. He's an orphan who works at a theater. After two short chapters of this miserable life, he's telling another story. Yes, he is telling a story within a story within a story within a story. The plot, the main plot, stops dead. Half way through this sub-sub-sub-story, which is a creation myth, it turns into erratic rhyming verse. Why? This happens when someone else is telling a story, too, just sporadic rhyming. I don’t know if it’s part of real world tradition, or the author’s invention.

What's strange, besides this disjointed story telling, is that child Ari talks and tells stories exactly like adult Ari. We don’t know his age, and he probably doesn’t either, but we could at least have an estimate. His little orphan friend Nisha kisses him at one point, so I’m guessing he’s over 10? Some speculation about his age could have helped with characterization, and explain why a child is spewing poetry left and right. [At around 50% we learn that, almost two years after the theater fire, he's 14]

A wizard shows up to teach him magic, to use his brain in a special way. More similarities to TNOTW. While Ari is learning how to firebend, he also learns sword fighting.
This training montage thankfully ends when everyone dies.
It’s worth noting the owner, Khalim, was researching stories about the evil Ashura, and the Ashura killed him. Very similar to why Kvothe’s family died. The exact same reason, one might say.
Just when it's getting interesting, we are flung back into present time. Some demons catch up to adult Ari and attack him in the tavern. I feel like I've read a book where that exact thing happened. Anyway, he then tells another story for the bar. I skimmed over it, it's filler which doesn't advance the plot, and it's more informative than entertaining.
Eloine shows up, having stolen his money to buy a dress for her private machinations, and we return to little orphan Ari. The kid falls in with a band of thieving urchins led by a man who conveniently has it out for the dude/demon that offed the theater troupe. The thieves are called sparrows and there is a ton of chirping and bird calls and other bird themes.

Things pick up around the halfway point. I fear I'll be sucked back into the terrible void of the framing narrative. The story continues to mirror TNOTW, and teenage thief king Ari follows a rumor he hears to an inn with a storyteller. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess he finally goes to magic school, meets a girl, and makes money on the side as a performer.

But before that, he plans a heist because he needs more money to travel to magic school. During this part the forced lyricism goes away. I'd wager the author got tired of writing it. Instead, we are laboriously taken step by step through the plan, following every little interaction and explanation of why something is being done. Ari makes a shady deal to work for the merchant king after a year of magic school, then heads north.

We're subjected to another intermission. Eloise meets some Romani (I forget the in-universe name), Ari walks to another town to find a library/kill a prince. Why? Who knows and who cares.

Back in the past, Ari takes a wagon up north. I swear, he even travels in the same direction as Kvothe… On this wagon he meets another wizard/binder (also like Kvothe, when will this end?) There's a strange girl with secrets (Denna mk 4). She's Laki, from Ampur. More stories are told. Ari worries about money despite being an adept thief.

He shows up at the school and is immediately sent into a test, amazing timing. One of the teachers is a weirdo who refuses to teach him. Could Ari have a special relationship with him in the future? Will there be a rich boy he butts heads with? Based on what happens in TNOTW, yes, and the story indeed bears both out.

He gets into it with the rich boy, has to go through physical punishment, and drugs himself to walk across coals unscathed. He had the option of being whipped, but that was just too much like TNOTW, I guess. The teachers, the classmates, the classes are all the same as TNOTW. You think changing the manner of punishment obscures this?

One reason he wants to go to magic school is to use the library to look up stuff about the demons who killed his family.
The wacky teacher takes him to a tower where they store all the students driven insane, a tower the teacher was once confined in. Ari is even pushed off the tower as a test.
He decides to focus on crafting magic to make money.
He talks to a tinkerer and hears news about an Ashura attack.


After this there's another "intermission". Ari gets an invitation to a noblewoman's room and the fucking weirdest, most nonsensical conversation takes place. I guess the lady wants to fuck him. Her husband shows up, and Ari books it. Later he gets a black flower pin and a note from the husband that says, "welcome to the game." A prince shows up to explain the meaning of all the flower pins.
An assassin shows up and they have a cryptic conversation. Soon after we learn something's wonky with Ari's magic. Like Kvothe. Ugh. Then Eloine shows up. She's been entertaining a prince, who's lending her to Ari to translate a children's book. I think three and a half days have passed in present time. They are skyrocketing up the social ladder.
The "game" is the same vague bullshit we've been getting since ASOIAF. Why space is devoted to this is beyond me. Why Ari, someone who ran a criminal information ring at 14, is so ignorant of the local political climate he is trying to infiltrate is also beyond me.

Back at magic school, he struggles with his magic string project. He goes to town and finds the rich boys about to torture a kitten. He gets beat up but saves the cat.

He hears about another Ashura attack in Ampur and spends a stupid amount of money to travel to the site. He learns a secret language. Like Kvothe. (I'm tired of it too).

In Ampur he finds Laki hiding in a cellar. Who could have predicted he'd see Denna mk 4 here? She talks about a giant serpent, he scoffs at it, then runs into a giant serpent. (Like Kvote runs into a draccas/dragon)

He and his friend Radi act like loud idiots, dislodging loose snow and riling up the serpent. It's a really frustrating scene to read. The snake dies in an avalanche caused by all the screaming. The truth of this is exaggerated, just like…

Ari/Kvothe starts inadvertently calling things by their "true" names. Will Ibrahm/Elodin notice? I'm going to predict at a certain point Ibrahm will say it's too dangerous not to teach him.

Ari manipulates a mentally ill student named Immi into teaching him, mirroring the relationship between Kvothe and Auri.

He uses the secret trader signs he learned for his reinforced strings. He’s making the strings for a kite contest so he can beat all the other kites. I think this subplot is one of the only original ideas present. The duel/betting scenario is not. There’s an entire boring chapter of kite fights. He gets caught cheating/betting, gets his winnings confiscated, and gets a promotion. Who could have possibly predicted that.

He takes the cat to visit Immi. Then he carries his cat around in a sack during a festival, not bother to drop him off in his room. Has the author ever interacted with a cat in his life? You think they’d tolerate being bagged up and carried around loud places? Nitham/Ambrose gets hold of the cat. Ari/Kvothe finally binds something and uses it to attack. Ibrahm/Elodin shows up to prevent someone from dying. Ibrahm takes him as an apprentice because he is too dangerous not to teach. We’re following a map, and there was no other possible outcome. He gets drunk with his friends, and we’re back in the meta-story.

Ari goes to a masquerade. Eloine kisses him then fucks off. The next day some convoluted shit happens and Ari is accused of murdering a prince. We end with him in prison.

</spoiler>

<b>Worldbuilding/Characters</b>

It wasn't clear at first where present day Ari was, how distant from his own culture(s). The meta-story is some kind of jumbled European region. There are a lot of Latin derived words, a church and theocracy, the lady he's talking to seems based on Romani tropes (much like Denna). She's dressed basically like a cast member of Carmen, barefooted, lots of bangles. It's very generic.

His childhood world sounds much more interesting. There's a caste system, colorism, a massive trade route called the Golden Road. Unfortunately, at the beginning, we're trapped in a rundown theater and don't get to see much of it. All the worldbuilding happens in stories the characters tell each other, mostly about gods.

The magic system is a little interesting. It's a watered down version of what the creator god, Brahm, can do. The way it works isn't clear, and isn't that impressive when you think about it. Ignoring the similarities with tTNOTW, the magic here has Ari picturing multiple images in his mind then convincing himself that what he imagines is reality. It's not clear what "folding" is, or why he can't have something pre-folded and picture it all at once instead of going through the whole process. Does he fold it in half? I don't know, applying logic is kind of pointless. Magic works because it does. I think the problem I have is that it doesn't sound that challenging to me, and it doesn't sound like people need any special ability to do it. Ari gets a handle on it rapidly. He's a little prodigy. Like Kvothe.

I've read some reviews that explain Ari's pretentious and arrogant behavior as a way for him to move through racist and hostile environments. I would accept that, except for one thing: he has the same attributes as a child. It isn't a defensive, adopted persona. It's who the character is.

Lots of gender and racial essentialism, which is too common in fantasy and far too common in the real world. Why do we still need it in modern fantasy?

No queer characters. Is that important? Perhaps not, but I don't see a good reason to not include any. The only hints of it are adulterers and rapists. Yikes. [A sexy androgynous person gets tacked on near the end. A request from the editor to be more inclusive? A trope?]

The place Ari is from is a kingdom named Abhar, which is within the Mutri Empire. I don’t think a kingdom could exist within an empire, definitionally. The ruler of the kingdom would not be a monarch as they are answerable to a higher authority.

</spoiler>

<b>Conclusion</b>

Without the framing device, without the purple prose, and truncating some of the story telling, this book could have been pared down to a third of its size and be all the better for it. It did not need to be a 350k tome. Cut away all the fluff and there's a decent, if derivative, story hiding inside.

As is, I'm not sure who could enjoy this. People who haven't read the Name of the Wind. People who accept the thin veneer of South Asian influence as representation. People who believe clunky sentences and awkward metaphors are literary. For me, this was an immature slog that straddled the line of copyright infringement.

Cataloging all the shit lifted from the Name of the Wind was boring. The sheer amount of it is absolutely appalling, and I'm stunned it was allowed.

I DNF'd this at almost 30%, although I do plan to pick it back up again. I was just getting invested in the first person narrator's story, which had taken awhile to start with, when the narration switched to a second POV, written in 3rd person present, and I was so frustrated with this break in momentum that I put it down and haven't yet been sufficiently motivated to pick it back up again,

The prose is quite reminiscent of Rothfuss, which can be a good and a bad thing. Rothfuss is known for having a lyrical style for a fantasist, but I find that his prose is sometimes very empty, in that it sounds good but doesn't really parse well. Virdi's prose suffers from this a bit, although not to the same extent as Rothfuss. Virdi has talent as a writer, and I could very well end up loving the First Binding, but it did not hook me as I had hoped it would.

I do intend to come back to this book at some point so I will revise with a full review when I do.

Can I interest y'all in a story about stories and the lies we tell?

As part of the B2WTour I read "The First Binding" by R. R. Virdi. We follow The Storyteller as he tells his unvarnished backstory to this mysterious singer who has excellent banter with him. See, he has dispersed his own tale across many people (already have my tinfoil hat on) to obscure his movements. Just like the quarry he is chasing.

Won't say too much about the story, but it has magic, monsters, myths, banter, intrigue, goat recipes I need to try, and excellent foreshadowing. Already thought of a reason to reread it to count things, but I don't have time for that! My long suffering assistant listened to me read most of it aloud too.

Angry at you all because now I have make some adjustments to my bookshelves to make more room.

Reasons to read:
-You like thicccccc book series
-We got stories about stories, in your stories
-I can't stress enough how much I enjoy good banter
-Poor decision making by young MCs (and when they are older)
-MC actually communicating with their friends about an issue, mostly
-Cheeky reference deep enough in the story to make sure folks are hooked
-The second character's chapters
-Language mishaps
-I think I see the meta-bones of the story, if that makes sense...

Cons:
-Unfortunately this is the first book so I can't dive into more, only 800 pages for the conspiracy board to make connections

The First Binding is one of those books that people will either love or hate. I didn't hate it, but it unfortunately didn't work for me.

One of the main comps is The Name of the Wind of which I read only two or so chapters before dropping it, to pick up at a later date, but even based on those two chapters I'd say the comp is correct. It has a very similar feel to that book, and a few readers who actually read the whole thing said so too.

I have no problem with the writing, it's beautiful and I didn't mind all the descriptions. My main problem is the pacing, and some other stuff I'll tackle in a bit.

This is a slow book, and when I say slow, I mean you will feel like you aged a few years by the time the action finally starts. And even when it did start, I still found the present chapters slightly more compelling than the past ones. And the past ones are the majority of the book...

Then there's the length. Could it have been shorter? Probably. SHOULD it have been shorter? Here's the tricky part - I don't know.

Because for the whole book things are happening at a snail pace, then near the end they pick up and just when I felt like the action was starting for real...the book ended.

In a way it was a complete story (would be a shame if it wasn't for 800+ pages), but also not really? Somehow I think it could've benefitted from even more pages. Perhaps shorter past sections to balance out the present timeline?

Moving on to the next thing that bugged me, the "I'm not like other girls trope", but a male version. Let's call it "I'm not like other men". This is my very first encounter with that trope and I can't say that I like it. It ruined my enjoyment of those few present chapters.

Eloine kept saying that "most men wouldn't do that" or "most men don't think like/of that" and Ari in turn said how he's "not like most men" and that he's "different". This happened several times and nearly made me laugh.

Ari might as well be different from other men, but telling us instead of showing us is not the way to convince us.

I get that poor Eloine never met a man who did the bare minimum but...there's no reason to praise this one so much. His ego is big enough without it.

Which brings me to the characters. They were okay, I didn't hate anyone and had no favourites. But I wish we got to know Eloine more instead of Ari, she was more interesting.

The world building and magic system were some of the best parts of the book, other than the previously mentioned writing. WE NEED MORE SOUTH ASIAN INSPIRED FANTASY WORLDS!!! I really liked learning about it, and I do see the potential of this series and might even read some other books set in the world. Maybe following different characters though.

2.5

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

It’s been along time since I’ve read such a thick, intense fantasy novel. The story is easy to slip into as our main character Ari, The Storyteller, recounts his life to a mysterious singer. The narrative jumps between past and present. The author focuses heavily on the importance of stories and the ways they get interpreted/twisted based on the person experiencing the story. It is a long read but it didn’t feel like it, as I too was caught up in the stories Ari weaved. This is a promising start to a series and I’m eager to see what the next one brings!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

For a large book this never felt like it was taking too long. The pacing waa GREAT the characters were fleshed out and I look forward to more by this author!

Ari is a wanderer, a storyteller, and a magician. We first encounter him in a humble inn, preparing to tell a story. But little do the villagers listening know that he's also the inspiration for many of the stories he tells about heroes. After a chance encounter with a women who has more than her fair share of secrets, Ari promises to tell his tale, and we hear Ari's history.

It took me forever to get through this book. It has all the marks of something I should love— a tale about stories, non-Western fantasy setting, an intriguing magic system, an orphan down on his luck, and more. I adored how, in some of the stories, I could hear the rhythm and internal rhyming of some lines.

However, the pacing is off in two important ways.

I appreciate the care in world building and slowly unveiling a story, but as a reader approaching an author for the first time, I really need a compelling hook early on to spark my interest, and I didn't get that here.

The shape of the plot is also off-putting. I felt like the book didn't build to a true climax— while there's an epic battle near the end with some foreshadowing, I didn't feel like the character and story were moving toward that point. The result is an ending that felt unbalanced and abrupt, even with more books planned.

I'm sure plenty of folks will enjoy this though!

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The First Binding is the first book in the Tales of Tremaine series by R.R. Virdi and this is the first book to the best of my knowledge that I’ve personally read that makes use of the Framing narrative (check out Petrik Leo’s review for more info) style of writing and boy did it have me hooked and wanting more.

I can honestly say hands down the opening to this book had me hooked unlike anything I’ve ever read. The story starts off with the main character Ari playing the role of a Storyteller/Bard inside the Three Tales Tavern. Ari however is no ordinary Storyteller/Bard and neither is R.R. Virdi writing, the way the opening reads and draws you in I felt like I was sitting right there inside the walls of Three Tales Tavern watching Ari perform and it was freaking magical. I’m talking like the first time you experienced Disney World as a kid, kind of magical.

As the story unfolds Ari comes across a beautiful mysterious singer with a checkered past of her own named Eloine. It’s safe to say their chemistry with each other sparked an instant attraction to one another almost as if they had known each other in a past life and were drawn back together.

Not long after Eloine recognizes Ari for who he really is and not who he’s pretending to be and well let's just say there's no better persuasion than that of a beautiful woman to convince a man to do anything. As a result she gets Ari to agree to tell her his true story, not the one of legends and myths that through Ari’s quick wit have been spread all over the lands about him. No, she wants the true origin of how he became the Binder he is today.

Since this book uses the Framing narrative as Ari tells us about his youth from a very young age and proceeds on to that of a young man in his late teens the book takes breaks from time to time. An intermission if you will to tell us the story of present day Ari and Eloine and the shenanigans they get into.

There is so much to this story I would love to tell you about but in doing so I fear I might spoil the story and the writing that R.R. Virdi is just too beautiful for me to risk that. Honestly if you want a more in depth review I would recommend reading or watching Petrik Leo’s review as he’s a pro.

This is the first book I’ve ever read by R.R. Virdi and it’s my understanding this is his first ever high fantasy and I think it's safe to say he found his calling. I truly hope he continues to write more high fantasy novels after he completes the Tales of Tremaine series because his first attempt is an amazing contribution to the genre.

As far as I’m concerned this is not only a 5 star book but it’s also arguably the best story I’ve personally read this year, even if Virdi did us dirty with the ending leaving us on a cliffhanger. Seriously man, when is the next book coming out I need answers. :)

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a DNF for me pretty early on - like, before 15% early - so this review is not an accurate judge of the entire book. That said, I did skip ahead and read the last few chapters in the hope they would change my mind, but alas, they did not.

I actually think a ton of readers will love this book, probably for the very reason it didn't work for me; the writing style. The prose is VERY flowery, you could definitely call it purple, and the beauty and lyric quality of the language is a major focus of the work, as far as I can tell. I don't usually connect with overly lyrical prose, but every so often I can make it work in third-person books. "The First Binding" is told in first person though, and the combination of that POV and the writing style just led to me thinking the narrator was unbearably pretentious.

I suspect "The First Binding" is a book that people will either LOVE, or it won't work for them at all.

Thank you, thank you to NetGalley and Tor for an advanced copy of this wonderful tome.

This book is lyrical and beautiful in all its tragedy and harmony. It definitely feels like a successor to The Name of the Wind but it's also its own creature. I went in thinking I was getting a gorgeously written book, but now I know that this will be one of my favorites for a long time to come. The words swept me away every time I opened the book and it really is a shame it had to end so soon. If there were ever a genre of escapism, this book fits that description perfectly. There are so many places this story can go from here and I can't wait to read every word that RR Virdi has to offer of this world. I've already preordered the ebook version and will be ordering the hardcover when it comes out. I just can't wait for more!

R. R. Virdi is amazing with his words and I really enjoyed this, though it was similar to the name of the wind. Thank you for an advanced copy of this book.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan-Tor/ Forge for an advanced copy of this different kind of fantasy story.

People constantly decry that the novel is dead, however doom spiraling through social media, especially Instagram and TikTok the art of storytelling seems to be doing quite well. Numerous people tell stories, about their significant others, children, stars, politicians, not in a monologue sense, but in full storyteller stance, with props, facial expressions, filters and plenty of drama. No different then in days of old when rooms, or caves were lit by fire, and dark outside kept people close, and tales of wonder, familiar and from afar made the nights pass. Entertainment is something that humans always seem to want, love to share, and use to make themselves and others happy, or share things about the world. Many books cover the experience of writing, even in a fantasy setting, not many cover the world of storytelling, what a good story can do for a person telling and others. Or how the stories a person tells can cover for deeper secrets. In The First Binding, book 1 in The Tales of Tremaine series, R. R. Virdi gives us a storyteller sharing tales of the world, but keeping even bigger secrets to himself.

A quiet afternoon in a standard tavern. A man enters, with a staff and books, lots of books, over and around him with a simple ask for a drink. People know him, but don't know him, a reputation both good and bad. A deal is made and soon the tavern is packed for a night of stories, and songs, which comes as a surprise to our storyteller, as a singer is staying at the same time, one whose songs reach as deep into the soul as his stories. Tales are told and as the reader continues more of the world is revealed, or at least what the storyteller shares. Stories have a power and sometimes the teller of those tales have more to hide than to share.

A very different story that could easily lose the narrative but does not. The author has a lot going on, introducing a long standing fantasy world, the magic, the songs, plus a reason for what is happening and where it is going. Virdi does a very good job of keeping everything together, and adding his own flair and holding things together. Narratives change, points of view change, writing styles change, characters fade in the background, appearing later and seeming fresher than before. The world is interesting, and the portrayals of the characters seem real, much more real than expected. There is much going on, but nothing gets in the way, nothing gets lost, and everything happens for a reason, not page count.

The book does take a while to click, as the author is really trying something new, and instead of standard European influence is going for a more South Asian influence. Stick with the story and readers will be rewarded with a story that is probably going to be the next big fantasy tale. I am excited to see where this series goes, and learn more about the world and its wondrous stories.

The First Binding follows The Storyteller as he recounts his life story to the mysterious singer Eloine. It is a slow read; it took me at least 100 pages to truly feel invested in the story. It picked up for me when Ari finally gets to the Ashram, which happens well after the 50% mark. At the Ashram, we meet new characters, both friends and enemies, and they really round out the story.

R.R. Virdi includes mythology and lore as stories other characters tell, adding world-building and atmosphere without info-dumping.

Ari grew up in the lowest caste in the Mutri Empire; to say he had a hard childhood is an understatement. He goes through horrific situations that make him lose himself and his dreams. He is a stubborn character, often referred to as "clever" by the adults around him. I won't lie, I did not find him clever. I found him annoying most of the time; however, having glimpses of him in the present helped me to tolerate him. These glimpses helped me appreciate the character more as I could see his character arc taking form, and I'm excited to see his journey to become the man he is.

I always enjoyed the intermissions to the present. Eloine as a character felt somewhat flat. We get two chapters in third-person point-of-view following her, though we do not get to learn much about her.

The First Binding is a long set-up to the series. It was slow but completely worth it. The twists and cliffhangers at the end of both narratives were shocking, and I cannot wait to see where this story goes!

4.5/5 stars

I don't know if I have the words to describe how much I loved this book. I have no notes which makes it a little difficult to write this review, but I found myself completely caught up into the world the R.R. Virdi created that I just.. read! and enjoyed.

But make no mistake, this is a thicc book (at 95% I still had an hour left in reading!). Haha its possibly the longest book I've read this year and every word is brilliant. The poetry, the stories within stories, the complex magic system.. ARI. His present day self, The Storyteller, bleeds into the narrative with every step and interaction. His younger past self is really such a rascal and you cannot help but love him and his way-to clever-for-his-own-good ways. I will say I found myself heavily favoring the past and how Ari came to be the Storyteller; I do feel like we got more of that than present day in general, but that may change in book two as things ended in the present quite unexpectedly.

Echoing all the other reviews, if you loved The Name of the Wind, you will very much enjoy The First Binding.

P.S. I would die for Shola

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***