Order The Doors Of Midnight over HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's first review of The
First Binding
Read Fantasy
Book Critic's second review of The First Binding
Watch FBC’s
Video Interview with RR Virdi
OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFO: R.R. Virdi is a USA Today Bestselling
author, two-time Dragon Award finalist, and a Nebula Award finalist. He is the
author of two urban fantasy series, The Grave Report, and The
Books of Winter. The author of the LitRPG/portal fantasy series, Monster
Slayer Online. And the author of a space western/sci fi series, Shepherd
of Light. He has worked in the automotive industry as a mechanic, retail,
and in the custom gaming computer world. He is an avid car nut with a special
love for American classics.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: Some stories are hidden for a reason. All
tales have a price. And every debt must be paid.
I killed three men as a child and earned the name Bloodletter. Then I set fire
to the fabled Ashram. I've been a bird and robbed a merchant king of a ransom
of gold. And I have crossed desert sands and cutthroat alleys to repay my debt.
I’ve stood before the eyes of god, faced his judgement, and cast aside the
thousand arrows that came with it. And I have passed through the Doors of
Midnight and lived to tell the tale.
I have traded one hundred and one stories with a creature as old as time, and
survived with only my cleverness, a candle, and a broken promise.
And most recently of all, I have killed a prince, though the stories say I have
killed more than one.
My name is Ari. These are my legends.
And these are my lies.
FORMAT/INFO: The First Binding is 832 pages long
divided over one hundred & thirty-four chapters. Narration is in the
first-person, via Ari. This is the second volume of the Tales
of Tremaine series.
August 13th, 2024 will mark the
North American hardback and e-book publication of The First
Binding via Tor. Cover illustration is by Felipe de Barros.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The Doors Of Midnight became a must read
for me, the moment I finished The First Binding. RR Virdi has been planning an epic
story and I couldn’t wait to see how his sophomore effort would pan out.
Similar to its predecessor, this story
is also divided into two time periods. We begin with Ari sitting in a
jail being accused of what happened in the TFB climax. The second time period
has him back at the ashram, trying to sort out a sort of moratorium on his
academic life when he gets called out on a previous debt. I’m being pretty
vague over on purpose as revealing more will be spolirific to The First
Binding. From courtly politics to
tribal conflicts to mythological mysteries to magical dimensions, The Doors
Of Midnight has it all and more.
Where do I even begin with this book,
while being a sequel, I can simply say TDOM is The Dark Knight to The First Binding in every department. From its pacing to the overall plot to the magnificent
characterization, on every front, it outshines The First Binding. As with the first book, characterization is
simply top notch in both the time periods. With Ari, the author creates two
distinct personas, the wily charmer in the present and the scrappy smartass of
the past. Both are diverse in their outlook but yet retain the goodness within
their heart. For the experiences of the scrappy youngster have informed & molded
the charming storyteller into the dangerous enigma that he is. The readers get to really see the events that present
Ari offhandedly mentions or is asked about. We get to learn how legends
are made via these stories and sometimes how the truth is stranger than what
becomes the “official legend”.
Ari’s voice be it as a young kid or the older & tired spy
is never boring. Quite verbose and often sly, his remarkable voice is what powers
this story. This story is presented in first person limited POV in both timelines
and here’s where RR Virdi’s characterization shines brilliantly. We learn
all about the new people in past Ari’s life as well as the new Etaynian
adversaries. Every new (and old) persona that Ari meets is a complete
character and the older ones get extra layers added to them. All in all the characterization is as good (if
not better) as found in The First Binding. I missed Eloine’s presence
within this volume as she appeared less of a foil (as she was in TFB) and more
of a fleeting character who’s frequently missing when things get interesting.
I hope we get more of her in the 3rd book as she’s too important a
character to sit on the sidelines.
Another thing which I loved about The
First Binding was the rich prose. Herein we get another purple heaping further
proving RR Virdi is possibly one of the three best prose-smiths in the
epic fantasy genre. Here’s a tiny sprinkling of the richness within:
“Stories are memory. They are love.
And they are a kindness. Even when they are a lie. Sometimes, especially when
they are a lie.”
“For a lie told long enough and
come to be believed can in fact come to be the truth, long-held, and used to
deceive.”
“And whatever wetness that came
across his face must have been from the flurries that started to fall then.
Were anyone to say those were in fact tears, then let us forgive him for a
young boy’s joy.”
“An important part of listening,
truly Listening, is knowing when to be as still and silent as stone. For stone
has heard and seen the shaping of the world itself. And it remembers all things
that have happened above it. In stone rests the stories of all things.”
This and much more is to be found within this less
than 400K volume. RR Virdi knows how to truly paint a picture be it glorious
or grisly. There’s a lot for every type of reader and for me besides the ones highlighted
above, I found and loved many, many more.
- Hahnbadh & Naathiya
- Tarun Twiceborn and Esme
- Arun & Leilah,
- Feroz
- Another tale of Brahm the wanderer
- Athwun & Brahm
- Enshae’s origins
- Akela & his love
The stories take on a meta structure
within the story as well as for the readers. On one hand, they are deepening
the world’s history but they also inform the characters of mysteries &
perhaps hinting at the future. The author is doing something unique with this
structure and it’s for the readers to utilize Newton’s favourite tools and decipher
the reasons.
The plot doesn’t quite follow a
regular epic fantasy story structure, it takes its moorings from the older
epics and is more of a story that continues with its peaks and valleys. The aim
of these epics is to immerse the listener/reader within the story and RR
Virdi does his literary heroes proud herein.
The action is mostly on a personal scale
as this isn’t a John Gwynne or Paul Kearney type of fantasy. The action
sequences are few and far between and this might hamper those readers looking
for their action fix. The pacing however is absolutely on an insane level.
Considering this was a nearly 400K words book but it didn’t feel like it. I was
constantly racing through the pages and was often confounded as to which was my
favourite part between the two timelines.
Lastly I must address another weird accusation
that TFB & the author faced (and to this day, gets a lot of abuse). The
plagiarism accusations were a bit absurd to begin with and with the release of
the sequel, paints those denunciations as being what they are. A whole lot of
hot air from fantasy fans whose ire and chagrin are misaligned to say the
least. Another fun nod within this book is the encounter between Ari and
a being who western readers might think akin to a Fae creature. I would like to
see what they make of it.
Also for objectivity’s sake, I must
highlight that this isn’t a typical epic fantasy which readers have been
accustomed to. This is a good thing as the author take various mythologies
(Indian, Norse, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean) and melds them in the world of
Tremaine to give us a breathtakingly four dimensional world. Readers looking
for a simple good vs evil story won’t find it here.
For herein lies a story that is elegant,
enigmatic and epic from end to end. RR Virdi has successfully avoided
the sophomore slump and given us a sequel that takes the positives from the first
book and builds an engrossing story on its shoulders. Further highlighting the
fact that he’s slowly creating a league of his own and making sure that the RR
within his name is no false sign. He’s surely going to end up rubbing elbows
with the other two coveted writers sharing the same initials.
CONCLUSION: The Doors Of Midnight is the Dark
Knight of sequels, elegant in its sophistication, epic in its storytelling and enigmatic
about its secrets. You have my permission to breakdown doors and preorder this
book as the Tales Of Tremaine continues its epic march in anointing itself
as Gollancz -Tor’s next biggest epic fantasy series.
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