I was very excited for this book, but unfortunately, I couldn't read past the beginning. There was just so much language to get through to what was actually said that it soon exhausted me. And I couldn't get behind the main character at all. Reading other reviews, it seems the action picks up a little while the main character gets worse, so I decided to leave be. I hope others find it more exciting.

Intriguing, substantial, and interesting from beginning to end. Virdi’s prose is excellent, the characters are compelling and well-composed.

Novels over about 5-600 pages really need to justify their length, in my opinion, and Virdi does a pretty good job of doing so in this first series instalment. I’m interested to see what happens next.

Thanks to NetGalley & Macmillan for the ARC in exchange of an honest review (that took forever because I’m back to uni and it’s totally kicking my ass but HEY! Better late than never, right?)

Okay, so, The First Binding was pretty impressive and consuming. I truly couldn’t put it down from the beginning. The world building and its entire context will drawn you into the story.

I love seeing the author’s background as a main inspiration, often fantasy feels very westernized but The First Binding gives you other colours.

It is very slow in the beginning (despite all the action.) The first chapters are about setting a tone, creating a mystery around Ari and all the paths he traveled and needs to travel.

My only issue? The female characters. Most of the descriptions have the male gaze as their main and sole audience and I get it but also it’s 2022, no need to enable certain behaviours just because your female character is a, and I quote Mean Girls lol, regulation hottie. No full lips, no big eyes, no beautiful body = all boys would dream of doing so and so.

Will I recommend it to everyone? Possibly not but I will still give it to certain readers. Is it the worst book when it comes to taking into consideration female readers? No, but it’s also not the greatest (wink wink to Kuang & Shannon.) Is it beautifully written? Yes, the author is very very talented and I’m sure he will have better pieces in the future.

Final rating: 3.75 ⭐️

Unfortunately I chose to stop reading this book early on. I realized very quickly that the writing style of this book would not be for me and I did not want to finish it and then end up having a rant review on my channel. Briefly the writing style was overwritten and too melodramatic and self important for me. I knew instantly that this main character would bother me and I was spending every page making snarky comments in my head so for those reasons I chose to stop reading this book.

The First Binding is written for those who love storytelling. It is a story within a story, within yet another story and Virdi's lyrical writing style makes it compulsively readable for as long of an epic that this is. This was one book that I didn't want to end!

The premise sounded really interesting, and the setting was great, but I struggled to get into it, especially with such a long introductory section.

The main character came off as pretentious and arrogant, and instantly made me dislike him. I’m sure he was supposed to be more of the cool and mysterious character, but I couldn’t bring myself to like him.

As mentioned previously, the premise is good and interesting, but the execution wasn’t great. I struggled through to 15% before I gave up.

Ari is a storyteller, a legend, and a myth. When he meets a woman named Eloine in an inn, the two start to talk and Ari begins to unravel the truth of his story from the lies and exaggerations.

Virdi's The First Binding is truly epic fantasy. Inspired by South Asian mythology and storytelling, it's full of stories within stories and does move between the past and the "present" within the story. I really loved Virdi's writing style and I found the world-building to be really thorough and vivid. Although I enjoyed the first half of the book, learning about Ari's childhood and his first encounter with magic, the second half of the book was my favorite. Everything really ramps up at that point and we learn more about Eloine in the present, and I was entranced. Ari is a nuanced character, someone you can sympathize with while still not agreeing with all of his choices. If you love storytelling, epic fantasy, and mythology, you should absolutely check out The First Binding when it comes out on August 16th!

This novel is a story within a story, and sometimes a story within that. Ari is a binder, and a storyteller - The Storyteller - a magic wielder who uses folds and bindings to fashion changes in the world. He stops at a small inn to tell stories, and ends up telling his personal story to a woman with multiple names, an autobiography within a narrative frame of the present. Ari's family is murdered when he is a very young child, and his life is shaped by that - he is an orphan, a thief, a murderer, and a student, with the deep emotions that such a background can bring. Despite that, he retains his compassion for others, and the combination of compassion and deep emotions - particularly anger - lead to significant troubles for him.

The concept of magic as bindings and folds - the explanation of which I'll leave to the novel - is an interesting one, and Ari's story is compelling, but the ending of the novel seemed abrupt and didn't, to my mind, really fit, as if the author couldn't determine a proper ending and thus stopped writing - an interesting concept for a book well over 800 pages. While I enjoyed the novel as a whole, the ending left me with a sense of incompletion that seemed unusual in context. It may be that the author is planning a sequel, but this volume seemed rather long to end so abruptly.

The First Binding is the epic fantasy debut of author R.R. Virdi and is an intriguing and exciting first entry in the Tales of Tremaine series. The novel itself is a massive 817-pages.

In a similar fashion to Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind and Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Vampire, The First Binding is about an important character revealing their epic tale, telling the truth about their becoming legendary or infamous and how they ended up at the position they are in at the present time. It's been a while since I read The Name of the Wind (and gave up halfway through The Wise Man's Fear) but there are a few apparent similarities that stuck out to me that could put some readers off, whilst enticing just as many to give it a chance and pick up what I found to be a pretty special story. It's beautifully written, vast in its scope, features a world with considerable depth, and a flourishing rhythm throughout. After only 50-pages I was completely invested.

In The First Binding, The Storyteller (Ari) is a red-headed, magic-wielding performer, who wears a blood-red cape, and is hunting an ancient evil known as the Ashura (who are disregarded by most as being nothing but farfetched tales to frighten children). He can weave his tales how he wishes, sometimes merging stories together, twisting them, outright lying, increasing his legend, or changing the truths to however suits his needs or audiences. This is all intertwined with his magic usage, which could seem to his observers as cheap parlour tricks, yet, he may be utilising the Bindings. He's developed an impressive knowledge of the stories regarding the Lands of Tremaine and the Golden Road. Some of the novel's finest worldbuilding moments are presented through Ari's tale-telling, for example, the history of the Gods, such as Brahm.

I'd estimate that about 25% - 33% of The First Binding is set in the "present day" period. This is more than I remember The Name of the Wind being and the present-day actions here seem more dynamic and important than in Rothfuss' debut. The story of Ari's youth is told to the almost as mysterious, charming, and witty Eloine, whose past is also shrouded in intrigue. When I was scribbling some review writings, I noted that Ari's history is told in chronological order which I distinguished as Theatre, Boy Thief, Travelling, and then Magic Academy periods. I believe these descriptions give a brief indication of what to expect, without really spoiling anything. Ari's age as the storyteller isn't disclosed. I was trying to work it out as I'm sure there are a few hints, but, due to the magical nature of this fantasy world, he could be anywhere between 30 and 100+. The flashback storytelling sections of Ari's life cover his early youth to teenage years.

Jim Butcher reflected that Virdi's The First Binding was written with passion and love and I think he's completely accurate. It's poignant, poetic, and neatly paced, with some noteworthy standout setpieces, and many moments that present a unique sense of awe. The novel has a lot of what you'd expect too, including intricate training montages, magic tutoring segments, bitter rivalries, misunderstanding love, true friendships, horrid happenings, and curious motives of supporting characters, and I absolutely loved that kookiness of the characters in the Crow's Nest. The fact that there might be a God wandering somewhere in the mix as well really piques my curiosity. Observing the artwork on both the advanced review copy and the first edition hardback; it looks sweeping, bold, and beautiful. Virdi's words painted mental images for me that were just as striking and will stick with me for a long time. Just recalling some of these moments and images now, I can't help but smile.

I've mentioned the books from The Kingkiller Chronicles a few times throughout this review, and the influence is definitely there which I believe Virdi has acknowledged. I'd say The First Binding stands strong as a peer rather than an imitation and personally I enjoyed this book more than any of Rothfuss' (although The Slow Regard of Silent Things is pretty wonderful). I don't have too many negatives about my reading experience. Having to state a few minor issues, I became disinterested quickly with a couple of the songs, certain moments seemed to drag and I think the length of this novel was intimidating to the extent it slowed my reading pace. The intermissions returning to the present day were mostly well-timed but until the excellent political game of intrigue, favours and masks close to the end, these seemed more filler than the tales of Ari.

One moment that made me chuckle-groan though was: we were witness to an awesome training section where Ari is taught about a sort of sixth sense where, even if he can't see what's going to happen, he knows when someone invades his personal space so he can react sharply and naturally with a sword or motion to defend and protect himself. That was fine, until the next intermission chapter when Eloine manages to flick him unaware, playfully on the nose (or forehead) leaving him pretty dumbfounded. Although I remember this moment as being a bit silly, overall The First Binding is a high-quality fantasy epic and I can't wait for the next book. 8.5/10.

I received an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to R.R. Virdi and Gollancz and Tor Books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Somewhere around 3.5 stars. This book was mostly easy to stay engaged and interested in, though there were a few spots where it dragged on a bit and I started to lose interest. It does switch between two timelines - the current time and his history and how he got where he is now that he is telling to someone in the current time. Usually the transition isn't too bad but sometimes it can frustrating to make the switch and it felt a bit like two books in one. One of the things I struggled with was that knowing that this was the first of an epic fantasy series, the story wouldn't be completed in this book. Although things develop through the current time and there is a direction both timelines are going in, there wasn't a specific goal or issue that would be resolved. Overall it was mostly enjoyable.

Wow this was absolutely epic and at the same time, well focused on the characters and storytelling. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.

Ari is a legendary traveler who’s killed a god and buried an entire village. He’s a hero in some stories and a villain in others. However, one night, he shows up a tavern and begins to weave the true tale of his life.

The First Binding by R.R. Virdi is an epic fantasy set in a South Asian inspired world that I was really excited for. However, this was an incredibly frustrating read.

I’m going to be up front here and say that I couldn’t stand the main character. Ari is an insufferable narrator who blames women as the main cause for life’s woes … and yet he continues to hit on them with awful pickup lines. I kid you not, at one point he neighs at a woman while trying to flirt with her. I would have gotten up and walked out on him right there.

On top of that, even the simplest of actions are written in the most overwrought purple prose to the point that I found it entirely distracting.

Lastly, admiring another person’s work is one thing, but this book feels like it’s trying too hard to emulate The Name of the Wind’s premise and style (especially toward the beginning). In fact, the first page almost too closely parallels The Name of the Wind’s opening where Kvothe describes the three kinds of silences.

All in all, I couldn’t get into this book and I really don’t foresee myself continuing on with its sequel either.

The First Binding is a story treasure trove, surrounding the stories of mankind and gods. Suffice it to say, it's written in the style of old Indian epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. It is a gigantic bibliographic story of a character who has done much in his life, but I do not see the main character, Ari as the villain of the story. Rather, the characters around him shaped his life into what he became today. Suffice it to say, I didn't end up liking Eloine in the story because she had her own motives, and was driven out of an interest to gain, but not too much to benefit Ari. She was an important character that held her own ground, and she was a very dominant personality.

It's hard to summarise such a long tale as this because each chapter has a story to tell. The prose is written in a fanciful way to achieve this effect, illuminating us towards the works of older styles of epic lore and literature. I also read the note of the author thanking Jim Butcher for his advice on this: if the novel will sell, it will sell. And I agree. This novel will sell because it tells a story of creation, of beginning and time. And to talk about Ari, at every single moment of the book I never felt that he was the villain because he never did do anything that would cause harm to others. Rather, if he did, then it was out of his own selfish motives and greed. It's said that in Hindu Mythology, we have multiverses. Different multiverses of the same world.

Specially written in the Puranas, one of the most epic and oldest literature of Hindusim that notes that there are hundreds of planets like this. In one area of a different world, Ravana, the King of the Asuras, would be a hero. In another area, he would be a tragic hero brought to become a villain. In the same way, I feel as if there are hundreds of different multiverses out there, I have no doubt that if Ari was given a time machine or some way to travel back in time and correct his mistakes, I have absolutely no doubt that he would. And I would urge the author to look into some time travel for the sequel of this wonderful novel.

In the end, it's a story spanning hundreds of characters, of descriptions that will make the world come alive, and it does not hide the horrors of war, or caste, or brutality. This would be a perfect series for a TV series, and I would love to see something like this being adapted one day. This is an epic novel, and it's a great novel. Wonderfully written, it's a rich exploration into Hindu Mythology and a unique combination of West meeting East. Love it, 10/10.

The First Binding by R.R. Virdi was a real treat. I novel that invites you to slow down and let reality melt away as you are introduced to new worlds, characters, and situations.
As a personal rule I reserve 5 star ratings for books I want to re-read at some point. The First Binding is one of those books. I found myself slowing down in an effort to make the book last longer.
This is a story about Ari,
"I buried the village of Ampur under a mountain of ice and snow. Then I killed their god. I've stolen old magics and been cursed for it. I started a war with those that walked before mankind and lost the princess I loved, and wanted to save. I've called lightning and bound fire. I am legend. And I am a monster.
My name is Ari."
It is also a story about stories --those we tell others and those we tell ourselves, why we tell them, what they do for us and what they do to us.
Thank you #NetGalley, #Tor, and R.R. Virdi for the ARC of #TheFirstBinding.

The First Binding is a book to be savoured. Like a slowly unfurling flower, each chapter adds layers and layers of richly-drawn narrative. I found the stories nestled within stories a super compelling concept, and the prose was rich, vivid, and wonderfully lyrical.

Ari is an intriguing character. He is flawed, impulsive, often stubborn and headstrong, and lives by a strong internal moral code. But his true gift is in the way he forges relationships with people, using stories to build bridges across societal divides. In a way, I feel that's the true heart of this book: stories are what brings us, as humans, together. The First Binding is a homage to storytelling and is a masterpiece of modern fantasy.

TL;DR

The First Binding by R.R. Virdi is fantasy to fall in love with. It’s an excellent world filled with characters that move you. This book is an instant classic. Highly recommended.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.

Review: The First Binding by R.R. Virdi

Comparing two books to one another is an easy way to relate to a story. It’s also unfair to both books as they exist and were written on their own. Both authors put their labor and love into the prose on the page without thought of the other author. But. There’s always a but. How can I review a book when nearly every chapter if not every page makes me think of the other book? It almost feels as if these two books are in conversation with each other. I have done no research; so, I don’t know if it’s intentional on the part of the author. It could be entirely intentional. Either way, reading R.R. Virdi’s The First Binding reminded me so much of Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind that I can’t think of one without the other. Since I love The Name of the Wind, The First Binding quickly became a book I fell in love with. In fact, I recommended it to the other Rothfuss fans in my office because of it. But to be clear, Virdi’s story is not a knock off of Rothfuss’s. The First Binding is wonderful all on its own. It’s a book that rewards readers who look at craft as much as story. In The First Binding, R.R. Virdi has written an instant classic.

A cloaked man enters a tavern is who our story begins. His little demonstrations get the town talking, and as they gather for his show, a female singer interrupts him. But the cloaked man continues on to tell a story aimed at the local audience. Upon finishing the story, he lets the story sit in silence. It earns him the right to stay and earn a living at the tavern. The singer steps up next and charms everyone including the storyteller with her song. Then she and the storyteller flirt with one another. The cloaked man is the famous storyteller Ari, he of many stories and many lies. The singer won’t tell Ari her name; so, he names her Eloine. They flirt more. Their double entendres aren’t subtle. Soon, Eloine convinces Ari to tell her the story of him.

The reader is transported to a playhouse in the city of Keshum. Ari works as a stagehand running underneath the boards executing the special effects for the shows. His dreams are to trod the boards himself one day. Because they are Sullied, of the lowest caste, the playhouse is very poor. Ari lives underneath it in a bunk he hollowed out for himself. He is a clever young man whose mouth often causes him more trouble than it should. The owner of the theater seeks patronage from a local drug lord at around the same time a stranger arrives. It turns out the stranger is a magician, a binder, who is seeking out stories. Ari catches the binder’s attention and begins to train with him. At the same time, the owner of the theater sets Ari to training in stage fighting for parts in upcoming plays. Ari’s days are dedicated to training mind and body. He is happy and dreams of traveling to the Ashram, a magical school to learn binding. But, as with all fiction, the protagonist isn’t allowed to be happy for long. Tragedy strikes the theater, and Ari finds himself without family. He’s soon scooped up into a gang of orphans like himself. His role is to scam, to steal, to beg, and to earn by any means necessary. But the streets of Keshum are so dangerous and Ari is so grief stricken that he begins to lose the magical training the binder gave him. His dreams of traveling to the Ashram are being pushed away simply to survive. There is much more to Ari’s story, but this is roughly a third of the book.

The First Binding is a mostly first person point of view novel being told by Ari, himself. Occasional third person point of view chapters punctuate the book. The book is another brick of a fantasy novel with over 800+ pages of joy to be had. Despite being a brick, it has an excellent pace that keeps the reader glued to the page. The beginning is a little erratic, but once Ari settles into telling Eloine about his past, the writing and pacing become much more assured. The best writing comes from people telling stories in this book. Virdi slips in rhymes so subtly that I didn’t notice until the third day reading the book. This is a well-crafted – possibly, meticulously crafted – book.

Ari

This is Ari’s story; so, how much the reader enjoys the story depends upon how much the reader likes Ari. He is an excellent character if a bit over-the-top when flirting. He balances between being likable and being petty in many ways. He is a very capable person, especially as a child, but he’s not perfect. More than once, his reach exceeds his abilities, and sometimes he pays for that. Sometimes, however, it works in his favor while complicating his life further. I think I liked Ari more as a child than as an adult. This could also be because I think the childhood sections are more cohesive as a story than the adult portions.

Ari’s parts of the story are first person, and this necessitates treating the narrator as suspect. How much of his story is true? How much is embellishment? Virdi writes him as introspective with an eye towards earning the readers and Ari’s audience trust. Ari admits to mistakes, to errors, and to being flat wrong. He admits to embellishing the stories about him and flat out changing the actual circumstances to benefit him. These are important for the reader to see Ari as a whole character. However, the question lingers, is he telling us this to manipulate us and to manipulate Eloine? That is part of the fun of the book for me.

South Asian Stories

I don’t know any South Asian stories. It’s definitely an area I haven’t read in. So, I feel that I’ve missed depths to this novel by not having that knowledge. This doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the novel, but I feel like there’s a level to this story that I’m missing out on due to my own ignorance. Reading The First Binding makes me want to seek out more of these stories. I’d love to learn what influences R.R. Virdi had and what he thinks influenced the creation of this book. I’d like to seek out those stories to open my own world just a little more.

If you’re well read in South Asian stories and you’ve read this book, please, let me know in the comments what you think influenced Virdi’s telling.

A South Asian Kvothe?

Time and again, I kept feeling The First Binding was very like The Name of the Wind. I mean this in the best of terms because I love The Name of the Wind. So, is The First Binding a knock-off of The Name of the Wind? No, and how dare you for asking. R.R. Virdi wrote an excellent book that stands on its own, and it’s a book that, if there’s any justice in the world, should become as popular as Rothfuss’s work.

Ari and Kvothe are both theatrical storytellers. To remove all complexity from the characters, they’re basically bards. They are both orphaned with magical talent seeking out a school to harness that talent. They’re both fighting against demons from lore. They’re both attracted to women who won’t tell them their real names. So, there’s lots of similarities between these two characters, but there are many important differences as well. Kvothe is hiding as an innkeeper at the beginning of his story; Ari is working as himself in taverns. Kvothe keeps himself apart and alone; Ari seeks out family. Kvothe is the smartest, most capable person at all times in the story; Ari thinks himself the smartest, most capable and, yet, often isn’t.

Beyond those similarities, Rothfuss and Virdi care about storytelling: its power, its purpose, and its effects on people. While we care about the plot, want to know what happens, want to have a complete story, there’s a lot of pleasure in how both of these authors tell the story. They both employ imagery, sound, and rhythm to bring joy to the prose. I recommend reading both authors out loud to see how the prose flows.

Conclusion

R.R. Virdi explodes on the fantasy novel scene with an excellent, lyrical debut. This brick of a book keeps the reader glued to the pages. I loved The First Binding, and you will, too. Highly recommended.

I'm tapping out at 7%.

And that sucks!! I was really looking forward to this book, but when I found it took me moving mountains to get 25 pages into my eARC, I decided I should wait until the audiobook was released before jumping on that and giving it a go that way instead. I got a little further with the audiobook, but at the end of the day, my attention was still swaying, and I really want to focus on books that excite me right now. Unfortunately, THE FIRST BINDING wasn't doing it.

I can absolutely see the magic and the beauty in this book - the lyrical prose, the very clearly well-thought-out Desi-inspired fantasy world, the magic and mystery of storytelling. A <i>lot</i> of work went into this, and I can tell. Unfortunately, my discomfort reading the way female characters are portrayed in this book, as well as how it's told from the perspective of someone who is - let's be honest - a bit obnoxious, are what's stopping me short. And as someone that typically reads stories from a queer lens, this book felt a bit <i>too</i> cliche. I feel like I've read this before in the classics, and I don't really mean that in a positive way.

I might give this another go sometime in the future - maybe on a long flight or a car trip or an opportunity where I can really let myself get lost in a story like this. But for now, I think I'm going to pass this along to someone who will enjoy it more than I will.

(Thank you to Tor Books for this ARC!)

This is the story of Ari, who is a wandering storyteller. It has the same sort of vibe as The Name of the Wind, which you will see it compared to a lot.

The book is beautifully written and the world it creates is very well built and easy to imagine. I liked Ari as a character, and so his story (or stories, as it were) were easy to vibe into.

My biggest criticism of the book is that it is very, very long. That by itself isn't bad. I like big books and I cannot lie. But, along with the sheer length of the book is the fact that it is very often slowly paced. This book took me what felt like forever to read. That isn't necessarily bad, but it also wasn't great.

Still, I would recommend this book a hundred times to anyone who liked Name of the Wind, because it'd be easy to assume they would like this one too.

I've seen a lot of people compare this to The Name of the Wind, and on some level that's fair. If you're a Kingkiller fan, you're probably familiar with the framing narrative R.R. Virdi uses in The First Binding. But I think this book stands on it's own as an incredible entry to the fantasy genre. Virdi does an amazing job of spinning magic, worldbuilding, and even the narrative structure itself out of the real world. It's fantasy rooted in the human condition, which means it's the best kind of story there is. Even beyond that, it's a damn good read. I'm excited to buy a physical copy even after being able to review an advance copy. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to do so.

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish this book in it's entirety. I had a hard time getting engaged in it from the start, and ended up DNFing it just after the main character starts to tell his life story, flashing back to his childhood. From what little I read I can say I found the concepts of magic in the world to be very cool and part of what kept me reading as long as I did was my curiosity about the magic system. The idea that there is literal magic in storytelling, that can captivate an audience. I think that idea is something I haven't seen explored much in epic fantasy and that really appeals to readers, because stories already mean so much to us. It's difficult for me to put my finger on what kept disinteresting me during the set-up part of this narrative. I found the main character to be a little unnecessarily coy, he was being very mysterious and clearly not explaining things because he was going to delve into this lifelong flashback that would ultimately take up most of the book. But during the setup it mostly just kept me from connecting with him at all. And the mysterious singer he meets was also mysterious and just kind unwilling to be much more than a beautiful mysterious stranger. I just found myself not really enjoying their flirtation and interactions. In terms of worldbuilding, I can imagine most of the heavy lifting would have been done by the main flashback storyline, because during this whole first section I didn't get much of an idea of what the world was really meant to look like. I knew this book was South Asian inspired, but I couldn't really see or feel that during the introductory part I made it through. It felt just kinda bland generic fantasy backdrop.
To summarize, I was very drawn in by the premise of this story, the magic system, and of course the fantastic cover. But for me the main narrative took a little too long to get going, and by the time it did I just wasn't finding myself invested in this main character's story enough to continue.