Reviews

El Encuadernador / The Binding by Bridget Collins

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sharmelon's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

culturekath's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

floatwiththesticks's review against another edition

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4.0

For the first half, I was sure this book would be a 2.5⭐ read and THEN it hooked me. Part Two felt like such a shift in storytelling. I'm going to have to read this book again one day...

hanej24's review against another edition

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4.0

Enjoyable once it got going but I struggled to get through part 1, I think due to the timeline swap. I would have preferred the timeline to run in order and I think I I would have enjoyed it more that way. However it was a very compelling storyline and I raced through parts 2 and 3. The description was beautiful all the way through and I really cared about the characters by the end. I would definitely give this a read!

ellipsiscool's review against another edition

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3.0

I love the concept of this book, in which "binders" can remove the memories of a willing customer and put them in a book. Love it so much.

The first half is incredible, eerie, reminiscent of a classic Gothic novel. The build up to figuring out what happened between the two protagonists is well done and interesting.

Then suddenly it's a romance novel. I did enjoy the romance. I fell in love with both characters, but it took over the story. I really wanted more world building. I have so many questions.

Is binding the only type of magic? How many binders are there? Is there a way to identify who is a binder? How does the government function when it has such a tactic at it's disposal? Why isn't it regulated? I can't imagine the government wouldn't be trying to regulate it. How does it effect religion? How would a church explain this ability? What exactly happened during the Crusades? Lucian mentioned handling books at school. Is academia taking advantage of people for the sake of historical record? Are people willingly giving up their memories to educate young people?