Two Knotty Boys Back on the Ropes - guides to a better sex by Entrenue - review by Kayla

The Two Knotty Boy's Second Book, "Back on the Ropes" is basically a continuation of their first book which includes step-by-step instrucitons on how to do some basic rope bondage. Unlike the first book (which was black and white) the second book was a pleasant surprise - it's all in color. (I wish EF would include some examples of inner pages.) The book is the same size as the first book and is also softcover as well. However, instead of having paper-thin pages, this book has a bit more of the photography-type of paper that makes the pages a lot thicker and prettier. All of the inner pages are all in color (including the photographs), and it looks like this book got a nice redesign for the sequel. This book was published in 2009 (I did not know it was that new!) by Green Candy Press. The front of the book shows two attractive women in bondage, so it's not exactly public safe. (Plus, you will want to try these steps as you read them.)

Like in their first book, the Two Knotty Boys give step-by-step instructions on how to complete all of the ties. Each one of the ties begins with a picture at the start of the chapter that shows the finished tie. From there, the tie is explained, step-by-step, with a picture for each step as well as texture underneath the step explaining exactly what is going on with what is pictured. I found the pictures to be a bit hard to understand. At least, when you consider that some of these ties can be found up on their website with video that shows the ties. (Not all of them though which is why the book can be helpful.)

Something else that another BDSM player pointed out to me: The Two Knotty Boys are great at knots. And that they are. However, a lot of their stuff is just decorative. For example, there are some pretty knots (about 17 pages of purely how-to-do-knots), and there is a lot of pretty bondage, but most of it is decorative instead of practical. For example, there is some wrist decorations as well as, if you look at the cover, you can learn to do body harnesses like what the women are shown in. And while there is some practical ones like pretty ways to tie up the wrists and ankles, most of this book is more along the lines of decorative western bondage than practical western bondage or Shibari-style.

All of the ties are presented on *actual* human beings in the pictures - no illustrations for this book. I'm happy to report that, while all of the subjects were in good shape without much fat, the authors did choose to use both male and female models which made me happy. Racial diversity was also represented. The most that you see for nudity is bare breasts. There isn't any bare genitals or anything like that. Most of the models seem to be pictured in their bra and panties or just some tight-fitting boxers for the males.

All of the ties seem to be pretty easy to follow. I wouldn't call it amazingly easy, but I had no problem following them. (I also have rope experience.) Some beginners really might be scared off by this book a bit because it doesn't explain every single basic. However, if you use this book along with looking at some of their videos on the website, it should make a lot more sense. Plus, the pictures are pretty useful, and even if it doesn't look just like the picture, you can pretty much assume how to make some of the ties in this book just by looking at the pictures.

I do have a slight complaint about some of the ties though - quite a few of the ones in this book definitely require some pretty fancy knot work. I suck at knots. Really. I just like my very basic knots, thank-you-very-much. However, there are tons of Chinese knots and coin knots, and other pretty knots. And while they look pretty, I honestly can't figure out how to accomplish some of these ties without being able to do the knots with ease. This means that, to some of the body harnesses or middle-of-the-book stuff, you will need to know how to do the knots presented at the beginning of this book with ease. (I hate practicing knots. Really.) This could easily be off-putting to someone who has never picked up rope and doesn't want their partner to sit there for five minutes waiting on a knot.

This book does start off with a couple pages about the basics of safety and information with your rope bondage. This is where the Boys tell you that they do repeat some of the basic information from the first book, so buying the first book isn't required to do anything in the second. Then we get some pages on how to do basic knots. From there, we have the chapter on "Clever Tricks" which includes a rope collar, a rope shackle, prisoner's cuffs, and some rope gags. The next chapter is "Unique Iterations" which includes some rope flogging cuffs (with extra wrist support), ankle wraps, and prone ties that keep the wrists to the ankles. The next chapter is "Decorative Applications" which includes a rope belt bucket, a rope blindfold, and a hair corset. The next chapter "Maximum Exposure Ties" includes lots of body harnesses, a dildo strap-on harness, and a head cage. The next chapters are "Intermediate Harnesses" and "Advanced Harnesses" which are basically just a collection of harder-to-do chest and body harnesses - some ties up the wrists and some don't. (Just as a sidenote, each chapter's listing is not ALL it includes but just a taste of what it includes.)

(As a sidenote, there is a Table of Contents for this book that lists all of these ties by name, so if you know the name, you can reference it easily in the book.)

Really, though, the book is pretty easy to follow. Some beginners might be a bit scared, and this one is definitely a step harder than their first book, but not by much. I'd say that most people would have no problem doing most of the ties in this book. As I said though, most of the ties are more decorative than practical, so make sure that you want to do some pretty things as well as tie up your partner before picking this book up because, since there are lots of pretty things, the ties will take a lot more steps and longer than they would if they were just practical. It's a good rope bondage book, and it holds its own in the realm of other rope bondage books.

I just really don't use this book anymore. It was fun to look through the first time, but the book really is focused on "knots" and not really too much of the ties. It works well for beautiful, decorative bondage, but unless you really practice some of it, the bondage usually isn't as tight as it could be, and it really won't hold your partner captive. If you want a book that will teach you rope bondage for photography or looks though, it's certainly worth looking into.