Jaclyn’s Review: The Binding by Bridget Collins

The Binding
written by Bridget Collins
published by William Morrow, 2019

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Target, Walmart, Kobo, Book Depository, Goodreads

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Did I enjoy this book? Wow, I really liked this book! Before I even talk about the story, can we talk about the physical book for a minute? The cover art is beautiful, and I loved the added detail of the rough edges on the paper. These physical details of the book set this apart before you even start the story. Now on to the story.

Binding is a process where someone can extract the memories from a person and write them in a book. The person being bound will then no longer have that memory as long as the book remains intact. Admittedly, I thought this book was going to focus more on the actual Binding process. The beginning part of the book focuses on the main character, Emmet Farmer, finding out that he is a Binder and learning how to make books, but the Binding process remains a mystery. However, by the time you get to Part 2 of the book, you no longer care about the Binding process and simply want to continue on in the lives of these characters. There are some plot twists, so I can’t comment much more on the plot without giving it away. As someone who can usually guess the plot twists early on in a book, I was able to predict some of the turns in this book but not all of them! I love it when a book surprises me! I really liked how the author showed you the “innocent” reasons for being bound, giving examples of something bad happening to a person that is outside of their control. In this instance, being bound is kind of like seeing a doctor. The author also showed you how this skill can be used for evil. For example, showing someone who habitually does bad things, then has the victim’s memories bound so they can’t remember or press charges. She also found a way to address why other people can’t simply tell a person who has been bound what their forgotten memory was. Overall this was a complex story that was very well developed and definitely kept me reading. Loved it!

 

 

Would I recommend it? I loved this book and would recommend it. There is a love story and some strong language, so if you are sensitive to those areas beware. I would not recommend this book for my mom or teens. I think this covers a more mature subject matter, so the reader should definitely be age appropriate. But if you are looking for a good, well-developed, unique story, definitely pick this up!!
 

 

About the book – from Goodreads: Imagine you could erase grief.
Imagine you could remove pain.
Imagine you could hide the darkest, most horrifying secret.
Forever.

Young Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a strange letter arrives summoning him away from his family. He is to begin an apprenticeship as a Bookbinder—a vocation that arouses fear, superstition, and prejudice among their small community but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse.

For as long as he can recall, Emmett has been drawn to books, even though they are strictly forbidden. Bookbinding is a sacred calling, Seredith informs her new apprentice, and he is a binder born. Under the old woman’s watchful eye, Emmett learns to hand-craft the elegant leather-bound volumes. Within each one they will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If there’s something you want to forget, a binder can help. If there’s something you need to erase, they can assist. Within the pages of the books they create, secrets are concealed and the past is locked away. In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, rows upon rows of books are meticulously stored.

But while Seredith is an artisan, there are others of their kind, avaricious and amoral tradesman who use their talents for dark ends—and just as Emmett begins to settle into his new circumstances, he makes an astonishing discovery: one of the books has his name on it. Soon, everything he thought he understood about his life will be dramatically rewritten.

 

 
 

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** This post first appeared on Every Free Chance Books (everyfreechance.com) on June 4, 2019.