Name of the Wind's little brother?

I've written a really long review for The First Binding by RR Virdi, you can find the whole one below the ------ line

TL;DR version ⭐⭐⭐⭐

* Heavily inspired by Kingkiller Chronicles
* Similar prose to that, but not as perfectly executed
* Similar character to Kvothe as well

* Gorgeous India / South Asian inspired world
* Loved the tone and style
* Works especially well as audiobook

The one star missing? Womenz!

Lots of eyerolling about how the main character reacts to women, and the describing of them.
Not misogynistic, but rather the "mysterious, gorgeous, amazing and strange creatures called women" sort.

I also really didn't like female main character, I just can't stand the haughty and mysterious type.

Also lots of pieces liked this:

"A woman. Of course, there's always a woman"

"She had a point. Most women always do. But it can be a terrible danger to let them know you know that."

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Alright, this is gonna be hard to put into words, but I'll give it a try... Overall I really enjoyed this, but I do have some mixed feelings.

First off, I listened to this as audiobook, and this book really works incredibly well that way. Like Rothfuss' series, this is a story told within a story. The whole prose and style is designed to work well as an orally told story. I have both print and audio, and must say the flow and rhythm definitely was way superior in the narrators voice, compared to my own flat reading voice

So, I started this knowing it took a lot of inspiration from Name of the Wind, and has a lot of similarities. And boy does it. Mostly it felt more like an homage to it than a steal, but some scenes just got a bit too close to scenes I know so well. Not enough to really bother me, but enough to raise an eyebrow every so often. A tiny little bit at the end also made me listen up closely, and maybe there's a good reason for it coming up in later books. We'll see... Getting past the intro all about stillness, I was immediately hooked.

While the prose isn't as perfectly executed as in Rothfuss' books, it had a similar feel. If you like that sort of purple and flowery prose that tends towards the poetic, you'll enjoy this. There's quite some small bits that rhyme and I loved the flow of the language.

I was gripped by the tone and the story told immediate. (The brilliant audio narration definitely helped there as well!) Like edge in the seat hooked. Loved it.

The character also is a lot like Kvothe. He is both incredibly clever and very sure of himself. I fortunately, his cleverness doesn't come with patience or wisdom, so he gets himself in all sorts of trouble all the time. He has a really good heart and constantly looks out for others, which I really enjoyed. However he also is telling his life as a young boy, and he is also full of what feels like rightful anger to him and he's not willing to take any crap. This is a major part of his learning curve. For me it was really easy to identify with him there...

I also adored the different cultural flavour. I'm not at all good at geography, but I got a strong India / South Asia flavour from it. The setting, the climate, the food, the mythology all went hand in hand with bits of new words and turns of phrases mixed in. A really smooth and mastefull handling let me walk right into this new world. Foreign enough to be fascinating, but still being easy to digest while reading, even if you're not familiar with the culture.

Great book so far, yes? Yeah, here comes my main concern, and the reason I can only give 4 stars: Female characters.

Let me preface this by saying the majority of the eyeroll inducing bits that really got to me, where in the early bits. So it pays off to prevail though this.

Women. These utterly mysterious, strange and magical beings that can't be understood. Glorious. Need to be worshipped really.

There's a long explanation with plenty of quotes coming. As I said, most of it is in the first bit, as the insta attraction one is in the frame story. Other women (with smaller roles) later on read much better. As most of the book is Ari telling about his childhood, there's much less page time for the puppy dog eyes in the second half...
Other than the "WOMENZ!" I'm done with this review, so you can also just stop reading here...

Enter woman number one.
✒️She wore a dress the mixed colors of autumn leaves. They blended together across her chest and waist so that you couldn't tell where one shade began and another ended. Her skirt fell to just above her ankles. A sash, the color of pressed olives, was bound tight against her waist. The ensemble left her arms and parts of her back bare.

If anyone rivaled me in terms of grandeur this night, it was her. Her hair was bound in a loose tail, coiled over one shoulder, with strands flitting free at her temples. She had the Etaynian complexion, kissed by the sun and smooth as river stone. Bright eyes. Full lips. The sort that gave young men all sorts of ideas.✒️

But no, no. That one actually isn't important! Wait a few more minutes and enter woman number two!

✒️Something jangled from the shadows, like metal against glass. Clear, crys- talline it chimed and jingled. A sound like a rain of iron beads on panes of frozen glass. I turned to the source, ripped from my performance to find I'd been wrong about which woman rivaled me in grandeur that night.

I've told many a story in my life, been part of nearly as many, and she before me could have walked off the pages of any of them. Hair, darker than a raven's wing, fell behind her in thick and wild curls A band the color of rouge ran through her black tresses. The ribbon wound down her head and around her neck, disappearing between her breasts, Golden hoops hung from her ears, hooking my gaze as they caught the fire- light, and her skin was a shade lighter than the people of Karchetta's. It was like sugar, cooked low and golden with spices, promising to be as warm and sweet to kiss and touch as it looked. We traded glances and I nearly lost the folds of my mind, and the binding with it. The fire around my staff snapped and flickered, almost in rebuke. Her eyes carried an unruly intensity, like a sea in storm. They were deep emeralds washed with sage and flecks of bright pear. The sash tied tightly around her waist mirrored them, enriching them all the more. The woman's outfit was the antithesis of mine. Her blouse was the white of snow, cut low to reveal her shoulders and tease a view most boys would flush at. Gold bangles hooped her wrists. They chimed every other step. She walked barefoot, ringing twice over due to the anklets at her feet. The metal contrasted the brightness of her violet skirt. She hummed, low and long, with the clarity of silver and brass. The sound threatened to rip me from the folds of my mind. My hold over my bindings wavered, the fire sputtering like it'd been doused with water. The unseen and ever-so-fine threads of air quivered as if ready to snap.✒️

There she is, and the main character just immediately is lost. With Kvothe and Denna I could at least understand him being young and naive. But here the MC has supposed to be older, very experienced and sure of himself. And yet, enter a pretty stranger and *boom*, everything goes out the door. He has to tell her his life's story right away, something he's never done. And no matter what she does, she's got him in her hands. Like the Denna problem, but times ten.

Here the audiobook really didn't help, as the narrator gave her a tone and accent that was immediate unlikable to me. Noticeably, the only character (male or female) in the whole book he voiced like that. Maybe it's mysterious and attractiyto other people? I personally can't stand the "haughty and mysterious" type. Might well be a me problem, but for me it really grinded.

There's all the innuendo, and blushing and hot breath on cheeks, and I cringed a few times. Add to this quite some other bits like the following, and oh it annoyed me so much!

✒️"Did you find it pleasing?" A loaded question, one that would trap many a man. But I walked into it nonetheless with the only thing one should carry; the truth. "Yes." "But you wouldn't stare." It wasn't a question. I returned to her earlier comment, feeling it best to address it and put the subject to rest. "I'm not most men. And for that, you'll either find me wildly entertaining, or odd and irritating. That's been my experience with women, at least."✒️

✒️Eloine's eyes flashed hot again. "When I asked for a clever man, I'd hoped he'd be clever enough to know when not to be." I permitted myself the shadow of a smile. Going too far in prodding a woman was never conducive to one's health.✒️

✒️A woman. Of course, there's always a woman.✒️

✒️She had a point. Most women always do. But it can be a terrible danger to let them know you know that.✒️

✒️"Did you find it pleasing?" A loaded question, one that would trap many a man. But I walked into it nonetheless with the only thing one should carry; the truth. "Yes." "But you wouldn't stare." It wasn't a question. I returned to her earlier comment, feeling it best to address it and put the subject to rest. "I'm not most men. And for that, you'll either find me wildly entertaining, or odd and irritating. That's been my experience with women, at least."✒️

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