The Binding

Book Title: The Binding

Author: Bridget Collins

Date Started: June 10th 2020

Date Completed: June 18th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Historical

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

The Binding is a carefully crafted story about two men, some books and a number of fires. I would recommend maybe skipping this review if you like to go into things with no context, though, as it's hard to talk about this book without touching on mild spoilers.

The story is based around the premise that books contain people's memories - the ones that they (or others) would rather be forgotten - and the 'binders' that have the ability to take them. It's a cool idea, and I actually would've liked to dive deeper into the world and all the little things that are mentioned: the trade of 'originals' and fakes (i.e. novels), the Crusades which supposedly involved burnings of binders etc. Though I do appreciate the focus on the main storyline - which is ultimately the heart of this book and a big strength.

One of the things that really impressed me was the inventive structuring of the story. It's quite complex when you step back and look at the timeline with all its little interwoven elements, but it feels very simple while you're reading it because it's so carefully and sensitively laid out. There were times when I was worried we were going to go down a cliched route, but then Collins mixed it up again and kept me engaged.

The one thing that was very predictable - and spoiler warning guys - was the romance. The two protagonists are very obviously in the hate-to-love trope from the moment they have a scene together. I think the fact that they're two men is supposed to throw us but, honestly, it's not particularly subtle once you 'get over' that. It's actually amusingly blatant. No less sweet, though.

There are some things that feel offbeat of a little obvious, but The Binding was a very enjoyable read overall. It's impressive how cool an idea the whole thing is based on, and Collins' retraint from making that a gimmick like so many other authors do. I look forward to what she comes up with next, and I certainly wouldn't turn down something set in the same world to see what else the concept has in its potential.