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A review by thewiserslone
The First Binding by R.R. Virdi
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
This book made me so mad. It has beautiful writing and so much potential, but as someone who has read Name of the Wind, this did not feel like a very original story. I know that archetypes exist and in today’s world, it’s hard to be truly original, but reading this story went from “huh that’s a funny coincidence” to “that’s literally Rothfuss but in another font…” And while there were some differences, overall I felt like I was reading NotE with an Indian/East Asian influence.
Spoilers below, as I started noting every time this story and Name of the Wind felt too similar. This isn’t an exhaustive list, just things that aggressively stood out to me.
- Retelling of past myth told with present day intermissions
- Orphaned boy living in poverty with performance background
- Quirky teacher happens across MC and teaches him magic
- Partitioning of mind (heart of stone/ candle and flame), magic system based on cause and effect with secondary “mystical” element, student makes cocky error teacher has to fix during a lesson
- Teacher tells him of school where he can learn more of the magic
- Befriends mousey, kind girl who brings him gifts
- charmed by an elusive, beautiful woman who keeps mysteriously disappearing
- Found family killed in fire by ancient corrupt being, and he happens to be away when it starts
- Corrupted group of ancients (9) connected to the mythical magic, one of their signs is red smoke
- MC has to prove knowledge to masters for admission
- Rich bully at school tries to get him in trouble, or backfires and bully also gets in trouble
- Uses knowledge of herbs to ease punishment
- Master Binder is young and a little cracked.
- Takes MC to the asylum (Crows Nest vs Rookery) to see other cracked students and pushes him off top to have him prove his commitment to study
- MC at upper society residence, with different types of flower brooches meaning different kind of calling cards.
When he got pushed off the roof I almost DNFed, but I was 75% of the way at the point, so I finished it anyway.
Spoilers below, as I started noting every time this story and Name of the Wind felt too similar. This isn’t an exhaustive list, just things that aggressively stood out to me.
- Retelling of past myth told with present day intermissions
- Orphaned boy living in poverty with performance background
- Quirky teacher happens across MC and teaches him magic
- Partitioning of mind (heart of stone/ candle and flame), magic system based on cause and effect with secondary “mystical” element, student makes cocky error teacher has to fix during a lesson
- Teacher tells him of school where he can learn more of the magic
- Befriends mousey, kind girl who brings him gifts
- charmed by an elusive, beautiful woman who keeps mysteriously disappearing
- Found family killed in fire by ancient corrupt being, and he happens to be away when it starts
- Corrupted group of ancients (9) connected to the mythical magic, one of their signs is red smoke
- MC has to prove knowledge to masters for admission
- Rich bully at school tries to get him in trouble, or backfires and bully also gets in trouble
- Uses knowledge of herbs to ease punishment
- Master Binder is young and a little cracked.
- Takes MC to the asylum (Crows Nest vs Rookery) to see other cracked students and pushes him off top to have him prove his commitment to study
- MC at upper society residence, with different types of flower brooches meaning different kind of calling cards.
When he got pushed off the roof I almost DNFed, but I was 75% of the way at the point, so I finished it anyway.