Book Review -:- Two Knotty Boys, Back on the Ropes

This volume doesn't cover as much about safety, because honestly by now you should have the jist of it. It does go over some (such as the two finger rule, communicating, watching circulation, etc.). The book has a section called Clever Tricks.

Really, it doesn't need anything more. Before it goes into clever tricks it does spend a good chunk of pages covering more functional and decorative knots. Almost twice the length of the first volume it covers more overall, but it doesn't repeat anything it showed you in the first book. There are some variants that will seem familiar and another nice touch this book has is giving you some ideas with what do to with your partner once you have them tied up. (The punny games are just adorable), because let's admit it - even the best imaginations in the world could use a nudge from time to time.

It's also got one of the most beautiful rope gloves I think I've ever seen anywhere, and while the knot the glove utilizes isn't easy to do, a little practice goes a long way. Between volumes one and two you can easily cover your partner in an entire rope outfit! (Give me a minute please...)

There's a maximum exposure section, two sections for intermediate and then advanced harnesses, etc. Simply Elegant is probably the best way to describe the book itself. The knots are beautiful, and at the same time they're not over-bearing on the framework that they give you. It's a nice balance, and is set up in such a way that you get to spend as much time enjoying the process of tying up as you do getting to enjoy said person after they are tied up.

A good thing to remember if you're the one getting tied up, is the importance of communication. Everyone makes mistakes, and just because you were tied up a similar way before doesn't mean you need to tough out any discomfort the second (third, fourth, fifth, etc.) go round. There's variables in ropes and knots just like anything else, and trying to keep quiet just to stay tied up longer is a bigger risk to yourself, and will probably make the person who tied you up feel like crap for hurting you.

I know personally I'm going to have to keep myself in check, I Looo<3ve the feel of rope on my skin, and I can see slipping into subspace because of it. I'm sure on the one hand this is fantastic, but on the other hand it's going to inhibit my ability to communicate properly, or even completely feel what's going on with my own body. TKBs actually warns against it in the book ^^;

All in all I can't say anything negative about these books. They're imaginative, concise, easy to read and easy to follow instructions. For beginners and pros there's something in here that anyone could build on, of that much I'm sure!

Book Review -:- Two Knotty Boys, Showing You the Ropes

Much like the two books I reviewed before this one, TKB spends about 20 pages on basic safety, communication, and basic knots. It's all black and white, and a larger format book than Douglas Kent's books.

A couple pictures are blurry, but keep in mind there's got to be over 200 photos in this book. Step by step illustrations of knots, harnesses, decorations, gags, arm binds, corsets, strap on harnesses, etc. Basic, Decorative, Dominance, and Sex are the categories that the book is broken down into, though these areas can easily and repeatedly overlap one another.

What was most interesting to me was how decorative everything was overall. Kent's books really dove into the technical side of things, simplicity as art and such, while TKBs seem to focus on the visual beauty of the knots, as opposed to the overall beauty of the idea of Shibari itself.

Putting the two together ought to be interesting, and could make a good book all on it's own.  Since there's not such an emphasis on Shibari with TKBs there's far more room for flexibility of the kind of people who could use the rope work they teach in their book. Stretching and being flexible are never a bad thing, however the level of bend-y-ness you need to use their harnesses and ideas is a lot more relaxed than with Kent's books. Also in the two volumes of theirs that I have (and I'll cover the other one here soon), they never once go into suspension bondage.

Which is perfectly fine, they give you SO MUCH other stuff to work with. I felt like a kid in a candy shop and I'm not even the one in this relationship that's going to be doing the tying. (Though I might have to practice enough to tie myself up into a rope teddy someday >.> )