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A review by thereadingmum
The Binding by Bridget Collins
4.0
I'm glad I read this after The Silence Factory. I think I would have been even more disappointed with TSF than I was because The Binding is so much better.
The writing, the story, the characters are all excellent. I was sucked in immediately and rapt throughout so that I sped through this almost-chonky book.
It's set in what seems a parallel universe around the Yorkshire town of Castleford in Victorian England. This adds to the mysterious atmosphere and the sense of displacement that the main character, Emmett, feels. It has a dark academia feel to it with books and the binding of books seen as a sordid but sometimes necessary thing akin to sex and prostitution. The privileged and rich, as per usual, abuse it and others for their own base desires.
The other reason this was better than The Silence Factory was the ending. It was satisfying with enough mayhem to keep it from being happy clappy.
The writing, the story, the characters are all excellent. I was sucked in immediately and rapt throughout so that I sped through this almost-chonky book.
It's set in what seems a parallel universe around the Yorkshire town of Castleford in Victorian England. This adds to the mysterious atmosphere and the sense of displacement that the main character, Emmett, feels. It has a dark academia feel to it with books and the binding of books seen as a sordid but sometimes necessary thing akin to sex and prostitution. The privileged and rich, as per usual, abuse it and others for their own base desires.
The other reason this was better than The Silence Factory was the ending. It was satisfying with enough mayhem to keep it from being happy clappy.