Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC!

Faebound was one of my most anticipated books of 2024. I was drawn in by the stunning cover, of course, but also the acclaim and hype surrounding the author’s debut, The Final Strife. However this book did not work for me, and I unfortunately had to DNF at 20%. Here are the reasons why:

1. Worldbuilding. My immersion in the story was hindered by a somewhat cumbersome introduction and worldbuilding. I typically prefer worldbuilding to unfold gradually, seamlessly integrating into the narrative, and allowing the reader to slowly settle into the new and unfamiliar world. Unfortunately, in this case, it felt forced, making it difficult to feel immersed in the story.
2. The characters. As a character-driven reader, I found it challenging to connect with the two sisters. In any romance book, including fantasy romance, strong characterization is the key to my enjoyment and investment in the story. The characters also read more like teenagers than characters in their late 20s and early 30s.
3. Overall intrigue: Despite the strong premise, I was not able to be fully engrossed in the storyline. For me a fantasy romance should be like candy - fun, addicting, impossible to put down. While the initial setup held potential, I found myself uninterested in the direction the plot was going in. I might have more patience in an epic fantasy, but for a fantasy romance I honestly felt bored and had to force myself to keep reading.

That said, I would still recommend this book to readers who are looking for a new, exciting fantasy romance to read, especially given the amount of representation in the story. It just didn’t work for me, unfortunately.

There's a lot going on in this one. I enjoyed the diversity of characters, the premise of magical instruments was interesting. It took me a long time to get into the story, but there were a lot of twists and multiple POV to keep you engaged. If you're looking for a book with Fae and elves, warring tribes, LGBTQ+ reps, disability reps, epic betrayal, you'll enjoy this book.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FINAL STRIFE, comes an enchanting new trilogy.

Faebound is the new book by Saara El-Arifi and the first in an exciting new trilogy. I really loved this book. The characters are compelling, the world-building is perfect, and the plot just keeps moving. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Rushed Story and Rushed Romance. World-building, Magic, and Creatures are cool. If you’re looking for a good fantasy from the same author read The Final Strife. If you want an okay story, read this.

The plot: Yeeran is an elite elven warrior captain with a thirst for blood and powerful drum magic. Her sister, Lettle, possesses powers of divination and fate-telling. On the first day after Yeeran’s promotion in the army ranks, she makes a horrific mistake that leads to her exile from the elven lands. Lettle follows her into the unknown and the pair unwittingly end up in a mysterious fae kingdom with strange beasts, unfamiliar customs, and more danger than they could have predicted…

My opinion: I was really excited about the premise of this book and the intriguing dynamic between elves, fae, and humans. The execution of the book left me wanting due to a few elements that I hope will be improved in the remainder of the trilogy... The overall narrative felt superficial, with character personalities and motivations only minimally explored. The lore of the various species was also left largely untapped, perhaps with an aim of preserving mystery for future books. The Insta-love between the two sisters and their lovers also felt unrealistic - particularly for Lettle who was written as a very immature character. Lastly, the “twists” were really predictable which made the resolution less satisfying than it could be. Overall, I believe there is a lot of potential for the world and the storyline progression if a bit more investment is made in character development and world-building in subsequent books of the trilogy. I look forward to reading the next installment to see what happens.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC!

such a good fantasy book! i havent read one in a while but this was a great reintroduction to the genre.

Overall I would give this a 4 stars! This book started a bit slow but I grew to love all the characters a lot! The last 3rd took me by surprise and I love the ending. Overall I definitely would recommend this to anyone who likes fae and bonds with magical creatures! Thank you Netgalley for the arc!

What a fantastic start to a new series! This story hooked me immediately and I found it hard to put down. The world is perfectly crafted, filled with mythology that makes it different from a typical fae story, and the magic system was cool and unique. The twists the story took had me on the edge of my seat.

I loved both of our main characters, Yeeran and Lettle, though at times they did feel younger than their ages would suggest, mostly based on the actions they take at times. I am always happy to get sapphic romantasy, but I did feel like this wasn't as strong as the other elements in the novel.

I think this will have a wide audience. Those who love fae but want something new, sapphic romance lovers, and even those who just enjoy a well crafted fantasy. I can't wait for the next book in the series!

This is such a difficult review for me to write. I wanted to love this one so much. It’s one of my most anticipated books for the year and I went into it fully believing that it could be a five-star for me, but sadly it wasn’t. The saying that it fell flat, was exactly how I felt about this one. I needed more from it, more depth from the characters, world-building, plot, setting, etc. I also found most of the “mysterious” prophecies to be very predictable. I felt like I knew everything that was going to happen long before any of the characters did, and that was very frustrating. It didn’t help keep me engaged in the story. There are a lot of these “reveals” and yet I still felt like nothing was really happening, like it was more on the cozy side. It had so much potential to be epic, yet nothing ever felt fully fleshed out. While I appreciate an adult fantasy that isn’t 600+ pages of too much fluff, I dare say that this one needed 200 more pages to really captivate readers. It wasn’t bad, but it was rather disappointing. I don’t know what exactly to pinpoint as the reason for this, but it was an emotionally bland read for me. I’m undecided as to whether I will continue the series in the future. I liked the characters, the story world, the magic system, and I can see how the plot could thicken in future installments, and maybe the stakes will feel higher as well. But I definitely need more from it to feel fully invested and convince me that it is a series worth continuing/finishing.

I have recently gotten into fantasy books & Faebound was a good hangover book after ACOTAR! It was pretty fast paced which I enjoyed a lot. The storyline was super cool too. I would definitely read Faebound if you enjoy fantasy or if you want to test the waters with fantasy, Faebound would be a good intro.

Faebound is a very interesting fantasy book to read. I did not find myself connecting with the characters, though that just maybe me personally. I think my expectations were too high, I just couldn't completely get into it. Despite this, I think I'd be interested in reading the next books just to see where the story goes.
2.5 stars

This book had a bit of a slow start but, once it picked up I could not put it down. It has a unique take on Elves, Humans and Fae in a wonderful slow burn LGBTQIA+ Romantasy. Faebound was a rollercoaster. There were some events I was able to predict, but, more often than not I was left guessing and the reality ended up better than my predictions. I can't wait for book 2!

Overall this book was fine. But it wasn’t memorable to me. It was interesting enough that I will likely read the sequel when it is published but not something I am on the edge of my seat waiting for.

The general premise of the book had so much promise. I loved the concept and the world but the actual story had flaws to me. The magic system, the elves, the fae, and the conflict were all very interesting and I enjoyed the world building and magic system.

Things I loved:
-the magical creatures
-the way the magical creatures were part of the magic system
-the sibling relationship

My biggest complaint is that all of the romance in the book seems forced or rushed. In some aspects it even seems almost unnecessary. I love a good romance subplot, but this felt forced and not genuine.

Another thing I didn’t love about this book was that the “plot twists” were all very predictable. It felt like the author didn’t trust us as readers to think and figure things out on our own. I figured out the general lay of the main plot points fairly early in the book. Most of the “plot twists” are presented as prophecies that I believe were intended to be mysteries about the plot twists but IMO they spelled the plot twists out completely leaving little mystery to them.

The structure of the dual POV read very disjointed at times. I had difficulty keeping up with the timeline between the two POVs though I did enjoy getting to see things from both sisters POV.

Generally this book was not bad, but it didn’t feel special either. I’d probably give it a solid 3.5 stars.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024, unfortunately it missed the mark for me, and while I wish I liked it a lot more than I did the over all plot fell a bit flat. Between the predictability of the prophecies and the over all pacing I found myself taking a lot of breaks through out and really struggled to be captivated by the story.

This was my most anticipated read for 2024, and I was thrilled when I received ARC approval.

I’m going to start with the positive. I enjoyed the world presented in this book, and I found the magic system intriguing.

However, I greatly struggled with getting into the book, to the point where I decided to wait 2 weeks until the audiobook was released. Unfortunately, the audiobook made the situation worse, as the narrator’s voice was much older than the characters’ ages. While at the same time, the voice the narrator gave Lettle sounded like a whiny, petulant 12-year-old.

I went back to reading the ebook without the audiobook, but I continued to struggle. I did not feel an emotional connection to any of the characters, and the relationships in the book felt forced and clunky.

There were multiple instances in which I considered DNFing the book, but I do not DNF ARCs, so I pushed through.

Although this book did not work for me, I am planning on reading The Final Strife and the books in that series by this author, because I’ve heard great things about those books. I’m not sure why the author chose to venture into a different type of fantasy. Maybe it was to write fantasy that was appealing to a greater audience, as opposed to more serious and complex high fantasy, which tends to have fewer readers.

This is my first Saara El-Arifi novel and it single-handedly made me add her entire backlist to my immediate TBR. This novel was exquisite.

I have no notes. The romance was there and believable and entrancing. The world was so interesting and well-developed. The politics! I don’t want to say much more because I don’t want to ruin anything- I think this is a perfect novel to go in blind for. Amazing.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read one of my most anticipated books of the year early!

This is an intricate, fast-paced romantic queer-as-the-norm fantasy that I devoured in a few days. The world-building was almost seamless-- with only a few clunky passages that while important, took me out of the story--and the characters were realistically complex. While the plot wasn't completely unpredictable, it was still an enjoyable ride, and the final plot twist really did surprise me!

While the basic underlying story is one we've read before (a girl stumbles upon a hidden, thought-extinct magical world and realises she has power of her own) the magic system was so refreshingly unique (the drums, the divination, the creatures!). For me, it was the characters that made this book for me. Each character was complicated and while they didn't always make the right decisions, you still found yourself rooting for them. Yeeran is battle-hardened and jaded, but learning about love for the first time. Lettle is driven and dedicated, but has been burned too many times before. Rayan is an enigma you are almost convinced is destined to remain on the sidelines of the story as he is sidelined by our narrators. And Furi is a warrior who prioritises her community above all else, even at the expense of love.

I loved how the romances played out (despite at times feeling like they may have moved too fast) and especially the normalisation of queerness and gender fluidity within this world. It is always refreshing, and still too rare in fantasy, to see this normalisation.

Overall, a great fantasy and I can't wait for the sequel!

Wow. Just wow! This book really lived up to all the hype I've been seeing. Amazing world building and unique magic structure. Nice little twists and turns. I can't wait to see where the second book goes!

I went in with very high hopes and sadly this wasn’t for me.

I found the pacing a little two slow and I found myself getting bored at times. The world building was very interesting and had a lot of potential, but the dialogue felt clunky and I didn’t get an emotional connection to any of the characters.

Faebound was a breath of fantasy fresh air, even though the writing left me wanting. The world building, magic system, and lore were unique, interesting, and really well established. However, I found the prose to be clunky. When the scenes were filled with action and tension, I flew through the book. But the down times were full of awkward, robotic dialogue and characters that felt dry and flat.

I was also confused by the decision to make this an adult fantasy. Maybe the intent was for it to be a slow burn? But there wasn't much tension beyond innocent pining, giving me the impression this was YA. Then all of a sudden about 3/4 of the way through, there were a bunch of spicy scenes that just came out of left field! I was like wait a sec, what? We're doing this?? 🤣 I didn't think the story needed it, as it almost felt like an afterthought.

All that being said, I ultimately enjoyed the book and will continue with this series. I know there's going to be some huge battles and war scenes coming up that I'm really excited for!