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.***

“Beyond the sides of good and evil,

There is a field of curiosity and dreams. I will meet you there.

At the end itself. Bring me your stories; live, love, and learn. I want to hear it all.

I am waiting. Find me.

-Brahm The Wanderer”

The First Binding is several stories within a story, several narratives clamoring for our attention all woven through the main narrative; it is several characters that are both completely unsympathetic & at the same time, in desperate need of solace and kindness; it is the use of creation myth from a part of the world that frankly doesn’t get nearly enough attention and finally: it is a fully immersive tale of humans – the good, the bad, the poor, and the powerful.

Due to the depth and breadth of this novel, the review is being sectioned off into separate pieces so as to do it justice. Fair warning: I will try to make it as spoiler free as I can but there may be a spoiler or two.

Narrative:

The basics of this story are familiar – and will read familiar to many readers of high fantasy. This is actually a good thing in and of itself because while the basic narrative is familiar and comforting, the details and surrounding story structure are wholly the author’s own. In addition to taking a familiar trope in fantasy and turning it upside down and inside out – contorting it to make it his own, the author weaves in almost seamlessly several narrative threads throughout the story. You always feel like you are just getting immersed just right and boom – you find a new thread. That is the trick to really exceptional narrative structure in this reviewer’s opinion. It is making the threads you weave into the narrative not perfectly seamless. A reader should be jarred a little – so that they are wondering if they actually just read what they read – this makes a novel more interesting than just a run of the mill read. The devil is in the details in this book and it is a million little details that move the narrative along AND introduce tiny little threads. This is brilliance in narrative building. Who knew that gold eyes would have such a significance? Not this reader – at least not the first time they appear.

World Building:

What a beautifully complex world R.R. Virdi has built; a lot like our own in so many ways and not at all like our own in other ways. The first indicator that this world is a world that crushes regular tropes is the unabashed / matter of fact discussion of castes and how they work in this society Virdi is building. There are the obvious class divisions (rich / poor etc.) but the caste system and how it really works just kind of is. There is no real way to describe how it simply appears on the page, the characters discuss caste like it is a common place normal thing. It isn’t demonized or lionized – it just is. That is not to say the characters who do discuss it don’t use their elevated caste to sneer down at those in what is a low caste or that slurs against lower castes are not really considered poor manners but it is just so matter of fact that it is as normal as anything else in this world.

I really enjoyed the author’s supremely realistic depiction / view of true poverty and what it looks like and feels like in a place with no social safety net. The descriptors of the taste of a mango for someone who would consider it an unbelievable treat were so beautiful. The normalcy of hunger, of only eating what most consider slops is as true to life as real poverty is. The indignity of being not clean because soap is an unimaginable luxury and you are the lowest caste so no one cares that you are suffering an indignity was described with almost a detached laser focus that still managed to convey the humiliation subconsciously felt.

The society itself is a society that can really be found anywhere and that is to his favour. Magic (the Bindings) are at first an afterthought but later they are all. I loved the use of magic to do the most mundane things like a cold box. The sights, smells just come through the page at you. You aren’t just reading about a market place or festival or hospital for that matter – they are so vividly drawn that you are right there.

The combination of all of these things plus a liberal dose of imagination make this just a fascinating world to immerse in. It is just so vividly drawn that you can’t help but fall into it.

Characters:

A caveat from this reviewer: I don’t have to find the characters likeable to love the book.

I wonder sometimes if when authors create characters, they spring fully formed into their minds and are just there. That can be one explanation for how fully formed most of these characters are. The other is that the author could just be a master at creating characters that soon just grow and take on a life of their own. Could be either one.

Ari, Master Binder, the Sparrows, Koli, so many characters that if I listed them all, I would be here all day. They are all just so well done.

Our main character (Ari) owns the page when he needs to but blends seamlessly with others in the scene when he doesn’t. One of the most heartbreaking scenes in the whole book is a scene that I can’t say much about without spoiling it but it is a moment of realization for Ari that perhaps things aren’t always as they appear and some creatures aren’t creatures of malice but are just acting in their nature. As a reader, this scene actually made me tear up – as a reviewer, the way the scene was written made me giddy. I like that Ari isn’t wholly likeable – I like that he can be cruel and devious; real people are not 100% likeable and in an epic like this, why would you not want to make your characters a bit real. Adult Ari is just as shades of gray and I love it.

There is another very important character in this book but I don’t want to review this character as yet, she just isn’t so fully formed here in this novel and I feel like with what little we have, reviewing her isn’t a good idea. I do wish, given the pivotal roles she is seeming to play, that she was a bit more fleshed out but we will just have to wait until book 2 for it.

Language/word use:

I have waxed poetic about so many things in this book but here, here is the true mastery of this author. I don’t have adequate vocabulary to describe the beauty and lyricism of the writing in this book. It reads like a song, it reads like a poem all while actually being a novel. The stories told by the Storyteller re long form oral history poems drawn with words that bring them to life, the songs beautiful or menacing depending on where they land in the novel. The way Mr. Virdi weaves his story using words is incredible but it is in how the words are used that the true beauty lay. It is as though he envisioned the story as a tapestry and is weaving it using language.

The quote at the top is lifted directly from the book.

This is a must read. Not a maybe read – a must read. It is going to go on my permanent re-read shelf because it is 100% the kind of novel that if you read it again, you will find something you missed the first time around.

Book review : The First Binding by R.R.Virdi is an excellent epic fantasy novel. It's first in series of Tales of Tremaine.

The story revolves around Ari, the story teller and Eloine. As their chemistry with each other sparked, Ari then proceeded to tell her the truths behind his many deeds, fame, and titles/names. Right from his childhood, entirely told through his first-person.

The author jumps back and forth between the past and present time frame, and I enjoyed reading both time frames, but the main highlights of the storytelling strengths in the story undoubtedly lie in the past time frame. It is a novel about coming-of-age, found family, kindness, empathy, storytelling, magic, truth, and lies. And most of all, it is a novel about stories and their importance.

I am thankful to netgalley and the publisher for providing me this book in return of an honest review.

I loved reading this fantasy novel but it was too lengthy. It's my first novel with 1000pages length. I recommend this book to readers who can read such a lengthy book. It's worth reading.
Happy Reading!

#netgalley #thefirstbinding #books #bookstagram #read #readers #readersofinstagram #review #reviewers #reviewersofinstagram #book #blogger #fantasy #fantasynovels #bookblogger #bookrecommendations

If you enjoy big epic fantasy coming of age doorstops, I believe that there is a lot to enjoy in Mr. Verdi’s debut novel. I saw it described as “the Name of the Wind” with south Asian flair and that is a pretty good description but it is also where my problem with the book begins.
It is fine to be inspired by something plenty of authors and a whole rpg industry were so inspired by Tolkien that it essentially led to the existence of the modern fantasy genre. Brian McClellan was obviously inspired by Brandon Sanderson, who was inspired by Robert Jordan (even before he went on to finish the Wheel of Time). Its actually pretty fun to try and trace the “linage” or inspirations in the genre. Patrick Rothfuss has released two very popular fantasies so it only makes sense that someone would be similarly inspired by his work and seek to emulate it and if I thought that was what Mr. Virdi had done I could appreciate it for what it is.
Unfortunately, I believe is what Mr. Verdi has done was to take many of the set pieces and framing from Rothfuss’s novels put them in a bag and shake them up some while modifying the particular settings and names in a way that was so obviously derivative that it didn’t allow me to enjoy this as an original work.
Hopefully now that he has exhausted most of the material he was inspired by Mr. Virdi’s next work will be more enjoyable to me. I would definitely recommend this to someone who hasn’t read Patrick Rothfuss (or at least hasn’t read his books multiple times).

Thanks to the Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

The First Binding starts slow, introducing the main character as a mysterious storyteller in a pub. His identity is slowly revealed over the next few chapters. By chapter 5, I could get a taste of where things were headed, and by the end of chapter 6, I was hooked. The First Binding is a much longer book than most first books in epic fantasy, but it savors the journey. Readers will savor the journey as well.

Early chapters give the impression that this is a classic tale of good and evil, light against darkness. However, there is no clear force for good. Any reviews complaining about this probably never finished the book.

The First Binding isn't an epic fantasy with 20+ points of view or the sort with a straightforward plot. Instead, like The Ascendant series by K Arsenault Rivera, The First Binding focuses almost exclusively on one character, Ari. The plot shifts between the tired wanderer telling his story and various phases in his early life. All this slowly unveils the mysteries of the magic system and the mysterious forces Ari is hunting.

R. R. Virdi reveals just enough about the magic system and the mysterious forces he seeks to make for a satisfying conclusion and create a longing for the next book. The magic hooked me early on and held my interest until the end. The First Binding is a novel that rewards patience. I suspect many negative reviews were written by people who gave up early, wishing for more hand-holding.

Those who press on will discover a rich and magical world. The magic system is all the more intriguing because it is often only hinted at rather than explained in full detail. The First Binding is a stunning start to a new series that you will not want to miss, and I look forward to discovering more of Ari's story in the sequel.

I had high hopes for this one after seeing a lot of positive early buzz. Unfortunately, for me, the prose was not strong enough to justify sinking many many hours into a book of this size. I had to DNF this one, I'm sad to say.

The comparisons to the Kingkiller Chronicles are apt and this will please fans of that style. A recommended purchase for collections where epic fantasy is popular.

A brilliant fantasy that is far and above the usual European fantasy that is often held up as a standard for the genre. Wonderfully original and breathtaking, I couldn't get enough and will have a full review posted on the blog shortly!

Thank you to Netgally and Tor for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my most anticipated release of the year... now, I've DNF'd it only 12% in.
I won't rate this book and I'm not going to tell you that this book is bad. I'm only here to tell you why I decided to not read on.

The First Binding was a 5* prediction for me and had my dancing in my room the day I got an ARC.
I love books about stories, especially if they are tragic yet romantic - as this book very much promised to be. Add to that a setting inspired by the Silk Road, a framed narrative and a very personable author (at least that's my perception given R.R. Virdi's twitter account and the interview he did with Petrik Leo), and I couln't be more excited to finally read this.

Futile to say, I'm dissapointed.
As I said before, I'm not here to hate on this book or call it awful - having only read 12% of the story, I don't think I'm in any position to do that.

Neither was everything about these ~100 pages I read bad. I did like the setting and what we learned about it. How it differs from other places Ari (the protagonist) has travelled to in such little nuances as tea and what makes this region in particular special and unique. There was particular attention payed to the food which I found very charming.
There's a story told by Ari in the first part of the book. With that, I was most fascinated by the way Ari interacted with the material and played his audience. It was such a cool way of presenting a story... sadly the story itself was very underwhelming which let even that scene pale in my recollection.

Now, let's get to the different aspects of The First Binding that had me call it quits so early into the story:


1. the portrayel of women in the book. It's been literally years since I saw a woman written so poorly. We have one female character that we actually see act on the page and that is Eloine. She's a singstress and in my opinion had mcuh potential to be really cool and interesting. When she first appears on the page, she's accomplished, flirty and confident. But Virdi's writung destroys that impression by totally objectifying her in the eyes of Ari and basically every man inthe room. Later then, she basically throws herself at our protagonist and turns in his presence from a seductress to a stereotypical damsel in distress - whom Ari of course honorably defends while sending her to run away from the imminent danger.
Aside from this very obvious instance of misogynistic writing, we have loads of sexist remarks sprinkled in throughout other conversations and scenes:

"'So, what is it?' His voice dropped conspiratorially. 'The woman, eh?'
'It's always a woman' I kept my voice level but gave him a knowing look."

Once, a remark like this might be forgivable to me, but this was the third time something like thta was said and at that point it becomes just blatantly noticable.
Another obvious example was:

"Eloine pulled away and flashed the innkeeper a smile that would have had any man tripping over his own feet, and any woman glaring daggers at the back of her when she turned around".

Excuse me, what?!

While a book inspired by The Name of the Wind will always be intriguing to me, please, dear authors, don't take this kind of inspiration from it. It's outdated, ages terribly and is, quite frankly, offensive to a vast portion of your audience.


2. Ari. If Kwothe from The Name of the Wind was an arrogant protagonist, Ari is worse. In my opinion, Virdi made quite a bad decision when he chose to write the framework to his story out of Ari's eyes first person. With The Name of the Wind, much of Kwothe's arrogance can be dismissed as vices of his youth as he's, at the time the story gets told, visibly changed and depressed. Ari walks into this story still inusfferably boastful and aloof. He's not only "good at everything" because of being an unreliable narrator - no, he's desplaying it in the present timeline full of glowing arrogance and is clearly overpowered.
Whilst we are told several times that his backstory in in fact quite tragic and sad, I never felt that in his behavior or attitude and I can't say that I believe it.
And in all honesty, I'm not even remotely interested in learning about his life's story for another 700 pages. No, not in the slightest.


3. The use of prose. I don't think R.R. Virdi's prose is bad by any means. There are at times beautiful quotes of which I even highlighted a few. The problem is, he uses the beautiful writing he has for the worng things. Describing across several paragraphs the unboxing of a chest but not taking his time to fully appreciate the gorgeous scene of the roof - which I don't think I have to explain left me dissatisfied. I did still decide to at least read until Ari finally starts telling his story, as the prose was to me very consumable and easy to fall into. But then, the first chapter of his backstory doesn't read like it's told at all. It read like a flashback or mundane scene in another timeline. There was not magic to it, no atmosphere. And after the fascinating performance earlier in the book, I simply expected more.

And so fell the last saving grace of this book and I decided, that no, this book wasn't worth my time. It's the first ARC that I've DNF'd and not gonna lie, I feel terrible doing so.
On the other hand, this book still has an average rating of 4.5* and probably won't suffer too much. And this way, other readers will hopefully be able to go into this book prepared or find a review they can relate to if they have similar struggles. I myself, was quite relieved to see other people DNF'ing this book or gibing it 1 or two stars. I made me feel less alone with my opinion.

Still I'm glad I gave this book a chance and wish the author all the best. Maybe this book will be for you if it's wasn't for me.

4/5 Stars Loved the cover for this one. Loved the writing style. Characters were layered and vibrant and leapt of the page better than some of the other books in fantasy I've read this year. Really feel like this will make a great audiobook. Thank you, Net Galley, for providing me with an ARC!

When I read the description of R.R. Virdi's THE FIRST BINDING, I was excited--it was compared to the Kingkiller Chronicles, and I love that style of epic fantasy. Then I tried to actually read THE FIRST BINDING, and I was...bored. It starts with a guy. In a tavern. Trying to draw attention by being mysterious and inscrutable. Which, of course, was exactly what the author was doing, along with a great deal of metatextual commentary about storytelling. It was incredibly annoying, not to mention boring. I really, really wish I'd liked this book, but after that opening, it never took off for me.

The First Binding is a South Asian inspired high fantasy debut reminiscent of The Name of the Wind. I walked into the book in search of the most important thing in the world of escapism. An unforgettable story. And I ended up swept into one of the most memorable ones.

“All stories are true from a certain point of view. But, I know you want a clearer answer than that. To be honest, I don’t. But I’d like to think so. I’ve often thought that might be the most important part of belief and stories, choosing to believe the pieces we want. Otherwise, what good and fun are they?”

The year 2022 so far has been full of great reads for me; in all the books I’ve read in the past four months, none of them received anything below a 4-stars rating. But there was a downside to this. Despite all the wonderful books I’ve read this year, there was only one book (Illborn by Daniel T. Jackson) that received a full 5/5 stars rating from me so far this year. The First Binding will be the second one. I haven’t read anything by R.R. Virdi before this book. And still, The First Binding made it to my list of most anticipated books of 2022 due to its gorgeous cover art by Felipe de Baros and its strikingly similar blurb to one of my favorite books of all time: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Despite the immense popularity and praises for The Kingkiller Chronicle, I can count with my hands the number of superb fantasy books/series that utilize the same framing narrative as The Kingkiller Chronicle did. I cannot get enough of it. Framing narrative is one of my favorite types of narrative to read in a fantasy book, and The First Binding is another example of an excellent framing narrative usage.

“Stories have grains of truths hidden within them. The problem is pieces and things are lost to time and translation, especially when told distance and traded through different languages. But there are always kernels to find. The wise one knows how to do so.”

Before I get to the meat of the long review, I need to mention, first and foremost, that Rothfuss didn’t invent the framing narrative in the fantasy genre. He popularized it for modern fantasy, and he’s in my opinion a master at it, but he didn’t create it. It is easy to immediately call a newly released fantasy book that uses a framing narrative as The Name of the Wind inspired. Sometimes that’s rightfully deserved, but the opposite tends to occur more frequently. I will, however, say as a huge fan of The Kingkiller Chronicle, whether it’s subconsciously or not from the author, The First Binding is HEAVILY inspired by, at least, The Name of the Wind. I could list you all the similarities, but that would end up spoiling things for readers who haven’t read The Name of the Wind and The First Binding. Basically, almost all the key events that happened to Kvothe in his past timeframe told in The Name of the Wind happened to Ari as well, one way or another, almost in the exact chronological order. But this isn’t me claiming The First Binding straight up copied Rothfuss’s debut novel. I mean, there’s even an Easter Egg to The Name of the Wind in the book!

“I made my way to the bed, setting my belongings down at one side. My hands went to one of the journals I always carried, turning it open with a brush from my thumb. An old and familiar story flashed before me and I smiled.
It was of a red-haired boy who grew to be a man many thought a demon. Partly on account of his odd hair color, but more so for the deeds he came to be known for and by. By the end of it all, they say he killed a prince. Some say a king. Wizard. Bard. Hero. A villain.
The world saw it easier to mark him both, none, and sometimes, pick between depending on the day. Only he knew the truth.
And now I found myself understanding why he never told us the true accounting of things.”

As I said, The First Binding is definitely inspired by The Name of the Wind, but there are enough originalities and distinctions unique to this novel that helped The First Binding stand strong as its own thing. All of this is to say, if you don’t like The Kingkiller Chronicle, I doubt you will like this one, too. This review is almost four months ahead of the book’s publication date, and I feel it’s important to set the right expectations for future readers as best as I can. But if you’re a fan of The Kingkiller Chronicle, like me, and you crave a dose of the magic told in The Kingkiller Chronicle again, well, The First Binding is for you. And let me tell you why.

“Everyone wants their story to matter, and they do. But people forget that. Everyone wants someone, just that right someone, to listen attentively with wonder and happiness to the greater moments of their life. And everyone wants someone who’ll sit by and listen without judgment over the moments we fell. Especially when we’ve gone too far, at least for ourselves.
I think I found that person in Eloine.”

The First Binding is the first book in the Tales of Tremaine series by R.R. Virdi, and although this is not the author’s first published book, this is indeed his first high fantasy novel, and the genre is better off with Virdi’s contribution to it. The stories in The First Binding revolves around Ari, the Storyteller. The novel begins with a beautiful passage about stillness, silence, and its breaking in a similar fashion to A Silence of Three Parts in The Kingkiller Chornicle. And then, within the Three Tales Tavern in the current (the present) time frame, Ari encounters a mysterious singer on the run that he named Eloine. As their chemistry with each other sparked, Ari then proceeded to tell her the truths behind his many deeds, fame, and titles/names. Right from his childhood, entirely told through his first-person POV. It’s worth noting that the past timeframe itself didn’t begin until page 80, and my recommendation to you is to be patient. The narrative jumps back and forth between the past and present time frame, and I enjoyed reading both time frames, but the main highlights of the storytelling strengths in The First Binding undoubtedly lie in the past time frame. It is a novel about coming-of-age, found family, kindness, empathy, storytelling, magic, truth, and lies. And most of all, The First Binding is a novel about stories and their importance.

“The hardest thing anyone has to go through in their lives is exactly that, Dannil. It is the hardest thing for them. No one can take that away from them. No one can dismiss it out of hand. We are, all of us, given the difficulties we are, and it’s not our place to try to put the hardships of others into places of value. They are hard. That is enough. And they need a place to forget those hardships. And so do you.”

One of the many ways Virdi renewed the intensity and the compelling factor of the book was by frequently emphasizing how easily stories and legends get twisted, voluntarily or not, from their origin. Whether we realize it or not, in telling a story to someone, little by little, a story could transform constantly. This is how Ari earned his many titles. There is truth to his names, but the audience’s ignorance and willingness to submit themselves to a specific story also played a huge part. When a story has been told multiple times, will an individual choose to believe the truth revealed that differs from the story they’re used to, or will they choose to believe in the familiar stories they know? One of my favorite books, Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau, mentioned: “Once the mind commits to a story, the facts become secondary. Truth bows to bias.” And I do honestly believe there is a lot of accuracy to this statement. This is also what Virdi highlighted a lot in The First Binding, and I loved it.

“Knowledge. The first things told and recorded were stories. Not great started with stories-lore-and the tales those people told their families first, before letting them spread wider in the world. You eventually learn everything is a story of something. A story of empires fallen and the ones that took their place. Stories of great men… and the worst of them. Stories of bindings and how they came to be, or how we think they did, and stories of how coinage systems work. But they are all stories first. Before any of the facts, the first keepers of knowledge kept stories.”

And great stories are not exclusive to Ari. Powerful tales exist behind everything and every individual, and all of them are unique depending on your perspective. After all, there is a story behind everything and everyone. But for the purpose of reviewing this book, we will, of course, be talking about the main character, Ari. It has been a few years since I’ve reread The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss or Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. And my goodness, I forgot how satisfying it can be to witness the truth behind the attainment of a specific title or fame. For example, Ari mentioned that he buried the village of Ampur under a mountain of ice and snow before he started telling about his past. Then he killed their god. We, readers, get the opportunity to read these events, and personally speaking, I highly enjoyed reading every revelation behind Ari’s fame so far.

“Names are parts of our story. The ones we are given, the ones we choose to use, and the ones we let others call us by or gift to them. Together, they form parts of us and our identity, and with that knowing, you come to understand the heart of that person. And a heart, like many things, can be bound.”

Finding out why Ari earned the title of Khoone (Bloodletter) or Unburned, among his many names, was rewarding to me. Ari is thick-headed, quick to anger in his journey for revenge, and obsessive about learning. I have no doubt that whether this book will click with readers or not will depend a lot on the prose (I will get to this later) and whether they could overlook Ari’s brilliance and flaws to feel invested with him. I personally could. We can tell that Ari as a storyteller in the present timeline is of legendary status. But Ari, in the past timeframe, has suffered a LOT. Similar to Kvothe, his brilliance is balanced frequently by his torment, especially during his time as a Sparrow in the streets of Keshum. Or even the bullying and prejudice he has to overcome in the fabled Ashram. He learned, multiple times, the hard way that there shouldn’t be a cost to kindness.

“Bondage isn’t done with ropes and chains. No. It’s done with honeyed whispers and poisoned promises never meant to be kept. And if you follow them—believe them—you may never live long enough to realize those promises and dreams on your own.”

I found Ari’s pursuit of knowledge, Bindings, and the art of storytelling to be admirable. Though he is prone to anger, he can’t keep his mouth shut most of the time, but Ari has some appealing qualities to him, especially in kindness which he proved time and time again to his friends. Ari’s friendship with the member of The Sparrows and Ashram, especially Radi, were some of my favorite scenes to read in the book. I think with coming-of-age fantasy with a magic school (yes, Ashram is a magic school) setting, it is mandatory for the main character to be accompanied by precious friends who genuinely care about each other. It’s even more necessary when there’s a rich and spoiled bully (like Ambrose from The Kingkiller Chronicle) in the book. Ari got that friendship in Radi, and hey, have I mentioned there’s an animal companion for Ari, too? A stray cat named Shola, and what a riot Shola is.

“Is he here to perform? Even though I hadn’t developed a keenness for music at that point in my life, I wanted to see my friend in the heart what he loved most. It was right, and more than that, I owed it to him. But, there is a simpler reason well—a better one.
He was my friend.
And that is always reason enough.”

I should note that if you’re starting this book expecting a lot of actions or battle scenes, it is very likely that you’ll find yourself disappointed by it. The First Binding is not a novel with many battle scenes, it did contain a few battle scenes in the last quarter, but battle scenes and actions were not the main charms of the book. The First Binding do, however, have more than enough intrigues, manipulations, and so many mysteries in its rich mythologies to strengthen the core of the narrative. I actually think the Game of Families at the end of the present timeframe was the least captivating part of this entire book for me. The Game of Families was not bad per se, but it fell in quality compared to Ari’s retelling of his past. I certainly loved the kite fighting more, and I cannot wait to read more revelations of Ari’s names in the next book.

“There’s something to be said in practicing old skills, no matter how impractical they might seem. Trials a lifetime ago had taught me nothing ever loses its usefulness. And that being prepared pays well, sometimes in saving one’s life.”

To put it as simply as possible, it feels appropriate for me to claim The First Binding as The Name of the Wind inspired novel infused with a South-Asian world-building. The world-building, the magic system, and the prose are the factors that transformed The First Binding to be its own thing. The world is extremely rich in its myth and history, and there is a myriad of room for theory-crafting if you’re into that. The stories within stories were enchanting. Reading every section about Ashura (think of Ashura in the book as a mix of The Chandrian and Halifax), Brahm (The Creator in Trimurti), Abrahm, Radhivahn, and more were alluring. The Indian-inspired Mutri Empire and the brutality of the caste system felt well-realized. And lastly, the magic that revolves around the principles of faith and beliefs proved to be a good decision. The binding is a combination of soft and hard magic systems influenced heavily by the power to believe. This means the user must REALLY believe in something even when the reality is different than intended. Essentially, it is like rewriting reality. For example, fire always burns, but a successful binding can turn the burn effect into freezing when they truly believe in it. The foldings and the bindings were complex, and they never failed to be interesting to me.

“Believing is easy. And it’s the hardest thing ever. Just forget everything you’ve learned about how the world works, and believe it works how you want it to, no matter what. And no matter the cost.”

I loved this book. This book is 800 pages and 350,000 words long, but I never felt bored reading it. I felt distraught the sequel is not available for me to read yet. The First Binding is Virdi’s first high fantasy performance, and the immersive stories he put on this tome have ensured him a spot as a high fantasy author to keep an eye out for. I thoroughly enjoyed Virdi’s accessible and lyrical prose. I shared many quotes in this review, but I actually highlighted more than 40 passages in the book. I wish I could share them with you, but I will leave the rest for you to read and find out for yourself.

“Belonging is one of the oldest calls and cries our hearts make. And when they go unheard, pain fills those empty spaces. It makes that part of us go distant—grow cold. Ice forms and it’s ever harder to let anyone ever come into those places again.”

My instinct says the sequel will be even better. If that’s indeed the case, it’s only a matter of time until Virdi and the Tales of Tremaine will be remembered for many years to come. The First Binding is the first volume in a new magnificent and ambitious high fantasy series to obsess over, and I can see myself coming back to this world multiple times. The First Binding even made me pause playing Elden Ring for a week. Let that sink in. It requires something exceptional to stop me from playing that masterpiece, and Virdi’s high fantasy debut fulfilled the requirements. If you are a fan of The Kingkiller Chronicle or keen to read a great take on framing narrative, be kind to yourself and the author by pre-ordering and reading this incredible book when it’s out. Tor Books promised to get R.R. Virdi a Trex with a laser beam cannon if The First Binding attained 100,000 pre-orders. Let’s get Virdi his Trex.

“Kindness is freely given, without the want of reciprocation, let, obligation, or lien.”

You can pre-order this book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Blackwells (Free International shipping)

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

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When I initially read the premise of The First Binding I was intrigued. The line: "This is how I let loose the first evil", sent chills up my spine and the summary gave me D & D vibes. The length of the book didn't intimidate me, there had to be substance to all these grand claims that were being made. I wanted to know about the death of Gods, old magic, and curses. I needed to know. I requested the arc and was overjoyed when it was accepted. Immediately I downloaded The First Binding and tried to start on this literary adventure, Key word here being tried.

I didn't get very far. The minute detailing of the first character sitting at a bar and ordering a drink was painfully slow. I'm assuming it was to draw the reader into the story, similar to how the character was trying to heighten anticipation to the tavern goers, unfortunately it did the opposite for me. The 800+ pages now felt daunting, my enthusiasm quickly waning. I've tried to pick it up multiple times but so far haven't had a desire to continue and at this point I doubt I'll get it back.

I DNFed it within the first chapter out of lack of interest and boredom, maybe the story picks up but I don't have it in me to force myself through more of it to find out.

I have been loving the amount of diverse books we have been getting in recent years and I am so glad that The First Binding is included in that list. This book is a breath of fresh air for the fantasy genre. It is deeply imaginative, lyrical, and overall gorgeous. The magic system is so fun and I'm sure that a lot of readers will love it!

Beautiful, lyrical and atmospheric. The opening grabbed me immediately.

**More extensive review to come**