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8bitbrainstem 's review for:
The First Binding
by R.R. Virdi
Can we all just agree to be honest here for a second? The First Binding is not the spiritual successor to Name of the Wind…..It IS The Name of the Wind.
I feel like I’m going insane reading all these reviews praising the ingenuity of this debut novel, when in reality this exact story was written over a decade ago by another author. Yes, the setting has a different cultural inspiration. Yes, the magic system is totally unique and frankly quite intriguing. HOWEVER, despite not having read Name of the Wind in over four years and also having indulged in over 500+ stories since then I was able to identify a shockingly long list of plot points, character traits, tropes, and actual story progression details that felt completely ripped straight from another story. This isn’t an homage to one of the most recognizable fantasy stories in decades. THIS IS THE SAME FREAKING STORY.
Let me be clear- Patrick Rothfuss does not own the framing device and other authors have also utilized it to great success. That is not a problem. Those other stories relied on the storytelling backstory to frame completely unique stories. The First Binding completely ignores this point and matches the story encompasses within the framing device to such a degree that if it were the final term paper of a high school English class it would be flagged as plagiarism almost immediately.
My most overwhelming umbrage with the fact that no one else seems to want to acknowledge this point comes from the glaringly obvious truth that THIS AUTHOR HAS SO MUCH TALENT. Its transparent from the opening pages that Virdi has an obvious, natural talent to craft a beautifully written story. The prose is flowing, pleasing, and full of the enriching details that show the author gave his heart and soul to tell this story. The problem lies with how in any given instance, The First Binding blindly follows in the path blazed by Name of the Wind. This outright spoiled my enjoyment of the positive aspects of the writing. No amount of elegant prose can disguise a story devoid of an original idea. Dress it up with any little details you like in a poor attempt to justify that no one challenged Virdi to buck the temptation to blindly copy + paste the above mentioned details into his story. If only he had occasionally attempted to take his story or characters in a different direction, made some small concession to an original idea I may not feel the need to hate write a review so bitter that I’m actually giving myself acid reflux thinking about it.
The longer I reflect on what was one of the single largest time investments I’ve put into a story this year (18+ actual reading hours believe me I counted them) the more I’m ready to chalk this up as one of the most overhyped, disappointing “debut” books of all time. ~~Originally, I was going to give The First Binding 4/5 stars, but if I’m holding myself to the same honestly metric I’m asking other readers to admit to I’m realistically going to give this 2.5/5 stars for a blustering overblown rehash of what another author has done better.~~
I feel like I’m going insane reading all these reviews praising the ingenuity of this debut novel, when in reality this exact story was written over a decade ago by another author. Yes, the setting has a different cultural inspiration. Yes, the magic system is totally unique and frankly quite intriguing. HOWEVER, despite not having read Name of the Wind in over four years and also having indulged in over 500+ stories since then I was able to identify a shockingly long list of plot points, character traits, tropes, and actual story progression details that felt completely ripped straight from another story. This isn’t an homage to one of the most recognizable fantasy stories in decades. THIS IS THE SAME FREAKING STORY.
Let me be clear- Patrick Rothfuss does not own the framing device and other authors have also utilized it to great success. That is not a problem. Those other stories relied on the storytelling backstory to frame completely unique stories. The First Binding completely ignores this point and matches the story encompasses within the framing device to such a degree that if it were the final term paper of a high school English class it would be flagged as plagiarism almost immediately.
My most overwhelming umbrage with the fact that no one else seems to want to acknowledge this point comes from the glaringly obvious truth that THIS AUTHOR HAS SO MUCH TALENT. Its transparent from the opening pages that Virdi has an obvious, natural talent to craft a beautifully written story. The prose is flowing, pleasing, and full of the enriching details that show the author gave his heart and soul to tell this story. The problem lies with how in any given instance, The First Binding blindly follows in the path blazed by Name of the Wind. This outright spoiled my enjoyment of the positive aspects of the writing. No amount of elegant prose can disguise a story devoid of an original idea. Dress it up with any little details you like in a poor attempt to justify that no one challenged Virdi to buck the temptation to blindly copy + paste the above mentioned details into his story. If only he had occasionally attempted to take his story or characters in a different direction, made some small concession to an original idea I may not feel the need to hate write a review so bitter that I’m actually giving myself acid reflux thinking about it.
The longer I reflect on what was one of the single largest time investments I’ve put into a story this year (18+ actual reading hours believe me I counted them) the more I’m ready to chalk this up as one of the most overhyped, disappointing “debut” books of all time. ~~Originally, I was going to give The First Binding 4/5 stars, but if I’m holding myself to the same honestly metric I’m asking other readers to admit to I’m realistically going to give this 2.5/5 stars for a blustering overblown rehash of what another author has done better.~~