The opening lines of this book lay out what you can expect:

"I walked into the tavern in search of the most important thing in the world.
A story.
And I ended up swept into the most dangerous one of all."

If the tone, rhythm, and structure of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss was your jam, then The First Binding by R. R. Virdi will be as well. The world details differ, but this book rolls with the punches the exact same way.

So, everyone who loves epic tome fantasies with oddly rigorous magic, mythological backdrops, thieves, quests, and story-obsessed, spiteful, and dramatic main characters, come one and come all! I'm fairly sure you'll love it. The ending, while not exactly a cliff-hanger, does promise an exciting continuation in the next book (which already has a release date of Oct. 2023! I imagine the series will not emulate Rothfuss' in its delays at least).

I think I have over-tired myself on epic fantasy after a few decades of it, and I'm sad it had to happen on such a promising book. If I once again get the hankering for an epic though, I do know where to return to.