Happy 2021 to friends old and new! Oak + River Books’ first post of 2021 features historical fiction-meets-low fantasy novel The Binding. The author, Bridget Collins, has over a decade of published writing under her belt. Exploring more of her work is on my 2021 list of to-dos (note: not resolutions 🙂 ).
I purchased The Binding by Bridget Collins back in October, intrigued by the bookbinder aspect (which I am unfamiliar with) and, as always, lured by a pretty cover.
Emmett Farmer is taken to a bookbinder’s home/shop to become their apprentice. The storyline twists and turns as we meet an assortment of interesting characters. The premise of the story is that books are off limits – telling you why would be a spoiler so you’ll have to dive in to find out.
Imagine being told books are bad then suddenly being sent off to learn how to make them. How confusing that would be!
In full transparency – I felt that the beginning had a few slow moments but the plot picks up and before I knew it, I was sucked in!
Collins definitely did some research on the details which makes the story come to life. I appreciated that the characters had very distinguished traits and some I wanted to see more of.
Dare I say it: there is totally room for a sequel and I will not be upset if that happens! I would love to learn more about what happens to Emmett as he emerges from being a young man into full-fledged adulthood.
The Binding is Collins’ first adult novel. To learn about her young adult works, I recommend visiting her author page on Goodreads and exploring from there. Learn more about her adult works – including the upcoming novel The Betrayals (not related to The Binding) – at HarperCollins.
Happy reading, friends!
