DNF

I usually try to give a book 40-50%% if I've requested it for review. Failing that, I aim for 20% as a bare minimum. So sorry to say I didn't make it past 7% for this one,. The voice/style was off-putting from the get-go, and I was ready to put the book down at 4 or 5%, but felt that was unfair, so I stopped for a day, then picked it up again, thinking I'd at least get to my 20%. But wasn't to be. Sometimes a voice or style just isn't it for you, and that's the case here. So apologies for the lack any true substance here.

All's I can say is that the level of detail felt excessive to a fault, an incredibly frustrating fault. To be clear, I don't mind detail or length. Bleak House is one of my favorite books to give an example, and I've read the entire double-digit Malazan series of book 4 or 5 times. So I don't mean detailed as in the book has a lot of detail or description. I mean excessive detail in that I was constantly given information that served no purpose: it didn't propel plot forward, didn't enhance characterization, and didn't create mood/atmosphere. We're talking four paragraphs on opening a dresser drawer (not a made-up example). Add to that conversation that was similarly frustrating and felt overly mannered, and beginning the story with a told tale (the main character is a storyteller) and two songs (by two other characters) rather than, well, the story, and it was just too much. Obviously, mileage may vary.

If the premise intrigues you, I'd suggest using a library, and if you respond more favorably, keep going and good for you.

I was so excited for this book; I'd heard it compared to The Name of the Wind, and regardless I always enjoy a long fantasy epic. However, this book didn't work for me at all. I absolutely hated the main character. He struck me as the kind of person who loves the sound of their own voice. He was incredibly pretentious and such a huge part of the book was him using overly poetic language to describe the most mundane things, like the counter at a tavern. One thing I did really like was the setup of the world; I would've liked to get some more background and learn more about the government, mythology, religion, etc. of the world, but Ari constantly talked about completely irrelevant things instead. The world has a lot of potential, and the author has a nice writing style, but the main character has a lot to be desired.

The First Binding
Gorgeous Cover!!!!
Middle ground Magic…
Story telling at its finest from a traveling performer/ Storyteller ( I know that doesn’t sound familiar and in a bar. Mmmmm…..

But I needed to get the obvious out of the way.

Ari …the traveling performer/ Storyteller.. is very detailed oriented, energetic with great connections with people. Reminded me of the singer of Iron Maiden ( Bruce Dickinson) that type of entertainer!!!

Great storyline….
Awesome Character /World building development

I loved the premise

It’s told through Ari performance 🎭 was very impactful

Note: I was given a advanced reader copy for a honest review. NetGalley

I give it 4.5 ✨ stars even though Goodreads doesn’t give this option

The premise was promising, but I didn't derive pleasure from reading this book. The tropes felt a bit cliche and overdone (lots of light/dark dichotomy, as another reviewer pointed out). I also disliked how the narrator of "The First Binding" introduced the first female character in an objectifying way.
Despite not liking the depiction of women in the book, I did find the world-building well-done, and the commentary on caste systems was important.

Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to hold my attention for the several hundred pages of the text—the storyline felt really familiar as a fantasy reader (too much light/dark dichotomy for me, which I've seen so so much in the genre). But I'm looking forward to checking out more from the author!

A disclaimer: I did not get far into this book at all. My usual rule is to not DNF a book before at least the 20% mark, but readers, I didn't even make it to 10% before I wanted to throw this thing out a window. So it is very possible that First Binding gets much better after a rocky start. Take my following review with a fair bit of salt.

The biggest issue I have with it is something that I doubt other readers will even notice: the 'rhythm' of the prose is off for me, like listening to a song that's just a little out of tune. I really wish I had the technical knowledge to be able to explain this, because it's an issue I run into a lot - often with books other readers enjoy, so I do think it's more a me-problem than a book-problem. But when you put a comma after 'but' and 'though' at the start of every sentence, my eye starts twitching, and I'm not a fan of first-person anyway, so The First Binding was already working at a disadvantage.

But this is just so pretentious. It's over 1000 pages on my Kindle, and I'm willing to bet that's because the entire thing is the main character loving the sound of his own voice way, way too much.

The worst sort of prison held the Three Tales Tavern.

An emptiness.

A stillness.

And that is always meant to be broken.

It hung like a cord gone taut, quivering and waiting to snap. It was the quiet of held breaths, wanting for a voice, but ready to bite at any that dare make noise. It was the soundlessness of men too tired to speak and with an ear to hear even less. And all the stillness of an audience waiting for the play to begin.


This opening reminds me, painfully, of the opening to the first draft of the first book I wrote at 13, which was an awful lot of purple prose about the fact that it was raining. I just Cannot. It's so...I'm blanking on coming up with anything other than pretentious again. I think it's largely because this is in first-person. You can get away with this kind of thing in third-person, I think, sometimes, if you're a good enough writer. But first-person? If you speak like this in first-person I already think your narrator is a jackass, and that's not a great way to begin our relationship.

It just gets worse and worse from there. The magic system is intriguingly different to anything I've seen before - it involves 'folding' the mind like origami, as best I can make out - but that can't trump describing the first female character you take notice of as having skin like cooked sugar. I really hope she turns out to be an ice-cold assassin or something, but she's introduced as a singer who strokes men's collars and bats her eyes and is The Most Beautiful and wow this is a very Straight Male book, isn't it?

None of the drink left a trail of foam and froth across her lips. It was like it refused to adhere.


I'm having flashbacks to Kvothe obsessing over Denna in Name of the Wind.

And the singer isn't even the first time we get these vibes; before she's introduced in chapter 2 (in a chapter titled A Dark and Wild Woman, which, how about NO) we get this;

"It's a silly thing--a woman was involved."

There always is--always.


And this

Her. How so many stories start.


I really hope I'm wrong, and this book subverts all my new expectations of it, but everything I read screamed 'dudebro book' and I am just not here for that.