Loved the multiple romance storylines. The book was very easy to follow and was a relaxing read. Many diverse characters. I’m hoping for a second!

This book earns a solid 3.5 stars. While engaging, I found myself craving more extensive world-building and a deeper exploration of Leetle’s perspective.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

I love fae/elves and I love fantasy, so this has got to be one of the biggest letdowns of 2024 I've read so far. I'll start by saying I have not read The Final Strife, and after this, I'm afraid that I'm not sure I will. Sometimes I read an author's work that doesn't gel with me--and I think this is one author. But not only that, I did feel that elements were objectively bad, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around why this book has received so much positive praise.

This book had potential. Rivers of it. But it was held back by its prose, to begin with: confusing, weirdly described ("Salawa’s breathing elongated" is one example, but there are many.) It feels pretentious without any actual skill to back it up, a self-grandiose style that does neither the narrative nor the characters any favors. The worldbuilding was vague, uninspired, and borrowed from numerous (which is fine) things without being its own. The prophecies should have been revealed more slowly, as it took away the majority of the intrigue. The romance was flat and uninspired, as were the points of view, which often blended into each other without any real way of differentiating them.

Lastly--and one of the most damning things--is the sheer prejudice in this book (regarding the magic system of killing intelligent creatures to get power) coming from an author who claims to be against it.

If you like a fantasy that has lore, politics, magic, twists and turns, romance, and diversity. Faebound is for you. This book takes you on a journey of the Forever War. You learn about how fae, elves, and humans are connected but also disconnected. You also learn why the Forever War continues and what has to be done to stop it. You follow a Colonel of the elven army, her Captain, and her sister who can read prophecies. You meet many twists and turns along the way. Of course in a story where prophecy is used, some of the twists and turns are obvious, but a couple caught me off guard. This book is diverse in many different ways. You have a POC and LGBTQIA+ main character, but you also have both in side characters as well. There is also some diversity regarding disabilities. You have a character using a cane and one that has an arm issue caused by an illness as a child.

The magic used in this book was really intriguing to me. I’m not very well versed in the Fantasy genre, so the magic was unique to me. The use of a drum to work the magic and how magic works with Mother Nature and other’s magic was interesting.

I am going to rate this book a 3.75-4. There were times that it was really slow for me and I never really became attached to the characters. The book didn’t evoke the emotion that I expected and wanted. However, it did leave me wanting the next book.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for the ARC.

Even knowing that Faebound would be more romantasy than high fantasy, I found it incredibly underwhelming. The premise and the world-building were intriguing but the story lacked the complexity and maturity to keep my interest.

The book opens on the wrong foot with an incredibly rushed initial conflict. The decisions Yeeran makes that lead to her exile are irritating and incredibly out of character for an experienced soldier who has just been promoted to colonel. Though I understand the desire to write an older main character, this setup would have worked much better if Yeeran had been a young, new soldier. Immediately throwing Yeeran into exile leaves no time for the reader to get oriented in the world of the elves.

There is something very off about what we are told about the characters versus how they act on the page. Though these characters are older, experienced elves who have been living surrounded by war for their entire life they come across as incredibly naive and immature. The romance arcs, though interesting, lacked depth. It felt like the characters got together because they were supposed to rather than because they had developed any sort of connection.

There is so much about this book that just did not feel properly developed. Fascinating world-building potential was left completely unexplored in favor of bland and simple romance stories. The prophecies were so predictable it felt like a joke and completely sapped any tension from the story. The writing could also be a bit awkward at times with inconsistencies, repetitive moments across POVs, and stilted dialogue.

I am incredibly disappointed that I did not enjoy Faebound and I doubt that I will read the sequel.

Included as a top pick in weekly January New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Elven race has been split into several warring factions, based on the phases of the moon, so waxing, waning, crescent, etc. They have been warring for so long that it is known as the "Forever War". Yeeran is a newly made colonel in the waning army. On the morning of her promotion, her lover, who is also the chieftain, gives her a precious gift - a drum, made from the skin of an Obeah, creatures who contain magic. Her drum is also a weapon. The Elves use it to fire bolts of magic at their enemies. Yeeran takes her new squad out on a mission, but she disobeys an order, resulting in heavy casualties. Yeeran is then sentenced to exile. Her sister, Lettle, and her next in command, Rayan, follow her. They hunt down a massive elder Obeah, and Yeeran kills it, hoping that presenting the skin to her former chieftain will allow her to return to her tribe. However, they are quickly taken by the Fae, a race of being long believed to have vanished. Turns out that they bond to the Obeah, and killing one also kills the Fae that is bound to it. Also, the one Yeeran killed was bound to their prince. Crap.

I hate when I expect to love a book and I just...don't. Faebound could have been great, SHOULD have been great. Look at that cover! It's so pretty! But it was just...meh. I thought this was going to be the next great Romantasy novel, but the main love story felt forced, and the secondary one felt rushed. I didn't feel particularly connected to any of the characters. This is the first book of a trilogy, and I'm wondering if all of the story could have been wrapped up in one book. I have been reading fantasy for 30 years, and there wasn't anything groundbreaking here.

3 Stars.

“It is hard to see a leaf among the trees, there are many truths in the boughs still.”

Title: Faebound
Author: Saara El-Arifi
Publication: 1/23/24
Genre: Romantasy
My Rating: Really enjoyed it!
 
Synopsis from publisher on next slide. In short though this is an epic fantasy romance revolving around 2 elf sisters, 1 of which was exiled from Elven lands, and their travels to find something that can reverse it. Along the way they are captured &  imprisoned by fae which seems impossible as fae haven’t been seen for 1000 years.
 
What I liked:
Dual POV’s of sisters Yeeran & Lettle
Lore and world building right off the bat
Strong sense of place and role of nature
Sapphic, enemies to lovers romance
 
My thoughts: This was a great fantasy book full of action, war, power struggles, tests of loyalty, reconciling the past and romance. I really enjoyed that at it’s heart this was a book about sisters and their relationship. The beginning of this book contained a lot of setup of lore, mythology and mysteries, especially concerning what happened with the humans and fae. Where I really started enjoying this book was once Yeeran & Lettle were captured in Mosima (fae land). The wilderness setting was described so well and I love the role nature played.
 
Audiobook: This is a book I was fully captivated by and alternated between reading and listening to the audiobook. Thank you @edelweiss and @prhaduio for the copies that allowed me to do both! The audiobook was narrated by Bahni Turpin and I so enjoyed her narration. She was the perfect narrator for this book and made the characters come to life.

I really enjoyed this book. The world is so interesting and I could not put it down once I got halfway through. It did take me a few days to get to that point, but once I got to about 50%, I finished it in one sitting.

The world and fantasy elements are great, though I wish there was a bit more on the other tribes. I’m sure that we’ll get more into that in the upcoming books.

The book itself was well-written and was easy to keep up with, which is usually my biggest issue with fantasy. There was an appendix at the end with the characters and some of the concepts, but it wasn’t necessary for me.

I wasn’t sold on the enemies to lovers plot and found myself wanting to get back to the main plot. It felt rushed in a medium-paced book, to the point that I thought I skipped a few chapters. I did prefer the second lead’s romance, but it was more that we see the progression of it throughout the story.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the book and am very excited for the next book!

I have to say, this book is completely magical and you get sucked right in! The world is so rich and the characters feel so real; this is fantasy done right. This is my first adult fantasy believe it or not, and I am incredibly grateful that this was my introduction to the genre.

Let’s begin with the world-building because I was blown away with how it kept building up gradually throughout the story. It’s even more interesting how we as readers know the world through what Yeeran, our protagonist knows to be truth. Throughout the book, the truths of the world that she was unaware of are slowly unraveled. Histories that her people, the elven people, have forgotten are being brought to light once more. Alongside with the world-building the themes, discussions, and representation being woven into this story is absolutely incredible: disability rep, LGBTQIA+ rep, the realities of war and its effect on a group of people, being othered by society, and much much more. And what’s even more important is how many conversations in this book relate back to ours, and I want to thank you, Saara El-Arifi for exercising much care with these discussions that you have woven into this fantastical story.

Now for the plot and its characters, I first need to say that I appreciate these characters not being in their teens and being much older. Yeeran, Lettle, and Rayan are the core of this story and it’s quite beautiful how they interact with each other. The love that Yeeran and Lettle have for each other is so endearing; their sisterhood bond despite many things that may be left unsaid between them as they both have lived different lives. Where Yeeran is committed to her tribe, Lettle is dedicated to her divination. This domino effect of the plot is so satisfying, the set up in the beginning sets the story and its characters on a journey. The magic system in this book is fleshed out so well and it’s easy to understand from the very beginning.

Now for the romance, I enjoyed the couples especially since queer love is featured multiple times throughout the book. There was a bit of an enemies to lovers pairing in this book that I will not spoil but I found the gradual dip to lovers to be a little too fast especially considering the situation that made them enemies in the first place but I digress it was cute and passionate nonetheless.

Let’s make one thing super clear: this is how you do diversity in fantasy and I implore everyone to read this book and give it the attention it deserves.

Thank you NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 10%

I have loved Saara's other books so I am a little disappointed that this one didn't grip me in the same way.

The beginning of the book is incredibly rushed and we're not given any time to get to know these characters before the exile happens. As a reader, its hard to feel the connection of Yeeran and her partner when we ONLY see them once in a short scene before she exiles her. And we get almost no present interaction between the sisters before hand either.

Additionally, these characters do not read as late 20's/30 at alllll. Yeeran acts like a new soldier rather than a seasoned colonel and her sister Lettie reads like a late teen/early 20 yo.

Maybe it improves but I really lost all interest to keep reading after the first bit. And i learned that this is more romantasy than fantasy which I honestly just don't vibe with nearly as much.

Overall 3.5 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley, Del Rey, and Saara El-Arifi for allowing me access to the this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is a fae romance fantasy novel with character and relationship diversity. While I didn't completely love the book, I am happy to see the diversity in characters and relationships as a there is currently a lack in representation in the genre, especially for very popular books.

I enjoyed the reading this book but I wasn't in love with it unfortunately. I had some difficulty initially getting into the book because it immediately jumps into military action fantasy and it was hard to keep up and know what was going on immediately. After getting through the initial chapters the book really picked up and became more fast paced.

The world building was paced well and did not feel like an info dump which I really appreciated. It was really woven throughout the book to get a good understanding of the world and how the characters got to where they are. The plot twists and secrets were also a nice surprise even is some were a little predictable.

On a different note I felt as if there were some areas where the books as lacking. That would be in the politics of each of the courts/species. I expected to have more in depth political drama and scheming than what I actually got. Additionally, I felt as though there was a lack in relationship building and because of that I didn't connect with the characters love story. The two main relationships felt rushed and had an instalove vibe that I wasn't expecting.

Overall, I liked the book and would/have recommended it to friends who I know will really enjoy it as well.

(review also posted on Barnes & Noble and Amazon)

3.5 ⭐️
I really liked this!
Plot/Characters: This very much felt heavy on the slow build of a plot as a "first book" of a series. I struggled to really get into the book until about the 50% mark. I did not feel there was a strong character development or emotional attachment to any of the characters. The world building and details were beautifully written - I loved the idea of this underground city and magic. I also am a sucker for animal bonds, so to create the Obeah and this soul bond was a personal favorite detail. The two main characters had little personal growth in my opinion, i got a bit frustrated in the end at their stuck ways. I want to love Rayan, though I know so little of him. I hope we are getting more chapters from their POV in the next book because I am pumped for that story. I feel like all of the characters act younger than they are? For most of them to be late 20s/early 30s there were moments that they actually felt a bit like young adults/teens.

Romance: I would not mark this first book as Romantasy - due to the little romance that was present. BUT I can assume more will occur as the series goes on making it an "overall romantasy series". Although, when there was romance? OH I did enjoy it. The enemies to lover was tense and HOT.

Plot twists: The plot twist was fun, but I was not surprised by it. The entire time I was heavily questioning the actions and motives of said people, and when the reveal came I sort of thought to myself "i knew it! why didn’t y’all see it?” Also the moment in the end with Nerad felt rush and empty. It was a thing and then not a thing within the span of a page. I would have loved to see a more dramatic moment in that revelation.

Overall, I enjoyed the new world and the beautifully written magic within. I hope the next book is going to be a bit more chaotic and fast paced with craziness (and romance) bc this war is in full swing and I fear Yeeran is headed to the wrong side of it

This was SO much fun. I don't think I have ever annotated and marked up an ebook as much as I did this one, I couldn't stop highlighting lines and making notes and guessing what would happen next. I do not believe this should be classified as romantasy, personally, as the romance in this story- although a part of it, was not a very big part. I feel like the ratings may go down because people will come in expecting a romance with fantasy sprinkled on top but rather, it's the exact opposite! This is exactly the reason I loved it so much. I loved the dynamics between characters, particularly the sister bond, the bond between animal companions (very reminiscent of Eragon which was so nostalgic!) and the bond formed between new friends and a found family. There was so much political intrigue and the world building was absolutely amazing. The way that the facts of the world actually made sense, were consistent, intriguing, and explained power imbalances and the magic system and no plot holes were left unfilled! I will say the only reason I am not fully giving this a five star is because it did read very much like a first book in a series (which it literally is!) in the way that the character development did not necessarily happen. Particularly with Yeeran, she has so much growing to do and I think the majority of that growth will happen in book two. It did not take away from my enjoyment, but it did make some scenes frustrating because I just wanted so badly for her to LISTEN TO HER SISTER and stop being so stuck in her soldier ways. Although, her (and every other character's) flaws were so well understood, and I empathized a lot with the cast. I cannot wait for book two, and I do not doubt that Saara El-Arifi will start becoming a new favorite author because the writing was just what I love.

Overall a fun, intriguing read with a unique world and magic system! It took me a bit of time to get through, definitely wasn't a super addicting plot like most fantasy I’ve read. I'd say it's probably 3.5 but rounding up because I'm intrigued for book 2!

This book focused a lot on prophesy, so I enjoyed highlighting all through this book so I could pick up all of the breadcrumbs. The ending I mostly predicted but there were a couple shocking reveals! The obeah bonding felt strange to me, similar to the dragon bonding in Fourth Wing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I had such high hopes for this one, and unfortunately they were not met. I think the concept of the story was cool, and I could see major potential for the worldbuilding. But sadly, something about the writing didn't click with me - it felt very dry, almost like a monotone monologue. There were paragraphs where I looked back to see if any adjectives, at all, were used (and there were not). Almost read like a dry nonfiction than a fantasy. But still, I thought the idea of the story was cool. There are plenty of people who have loved this one, so definitely take my opinions with a grain of salt - I believe I'm in the minority here!

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC!

There's a lot of bits and pieces of Faebound that I loved, but unfortunately the rest of the book didn't work for me.

The worldbuilding seemed really interesting and what caught my attention in the first place (and that cover, omg!) and I think my favorite part was the magical animal companions. But the plot and the characters fell flat for me, and that really set my rating where it is. The story comes to a crawl shortly after the main characters reach the fae city, and as a reader I didn't really get to enjoy the setting or get much of a sense of wonder. There's magic in this world, but we don't get to see much of it. Our main character Yeeran wields drum magic, but due to an important plot point she feels too guilty to use it again and it is hardly brought up after the first couple of chapters.

The romances are what bogged Faeburn down the most for me, sadly. I was excited for the sapphic romance, but all the dialogue between characters was stilted and strange, and their inner monologues consisted of "omg they're so hot teehee", my biggest pet peeve in romance. Yeeran's sister Lettle and her love interest were the worst offenders, with Lettle acting like a sexually frustrated teenager anytime her LI was in sight.

Overall Faebound wasn't it for me, but I can tell El-Arifi has some good things going here and I'd be interested in reading more of her work.

Such an exceptional read!

This book will hook you into the Fae world with it's magic system, creation stories, culture, etc.

Two Elven sisters with a beautiful, regretful, grieving, and sometimes annoying sisterly bond, will be tested as they deal with being exiled from their homeland with the Forever War still waging. They then become prisoners of the fae who they thought were all but extinct due to human magic, only to uncover they were only imprisoned underground.

An enchanting tale of bonds, grief, hate, and love. The world building and journey we see our characters go through will have you wishing for more from the world of the Faebound.

I don’t know if it’s a 3.5 or a 4.

I remember buying the debut novel by the author but never getting to it coz it’s my usual shtick now. I did find myself gravitating towards Faebound a lot though, maybe coz of its gorgeous cover. And while I did manage to snag the eARC at the last minute, I waited to get the audiobook after release and it was definitely the best idea.

I was wondering how a Black author would create a world with fae and elves and I have to say, I really enjoyed the origin stories of the creation of the fantasy races in this book, along with their own magical abilities, giving it a very distinct feel. I feel like I can’t comment realistically on the pacing of the story coz I listened to the audiobook which was very good, and I took a long time with it coz I just don’t have enough free time in the day anymore. The plot though is much more character focused, with lots of bonding between characters, getting to know each other, building and breaking of friendships, love stories and more.

Firstly though it’s a story of two sisters. Yeeran the older one, a colonel in the army who gets exiled for insubordination and Lettle, a seer, who won’t just let her sister leave without following her on this new journey. They are followed by their friend Rayan, who is loyal to Yeeran and also feels a bit guilty about her exile. I loved how the two sisters are very dissimilar from each other, have different viewpoints in life and almost opposing desires, and despite their issues with each other, their loyalty is unquestionable. Even though Yeeran is the warrior, she is the one who is more trusting among them while Lettle is a bit more cynical and realistic about the world and people around them.

We also have a very interesting supporting cast in Rayan, the mysterious Komi, the fae royals Furi and Nerad, and the animal companions in Pila, Amnan and more. I especially liked the prickly, electric dynamic between Yeeran and Furi that starts with them being deadly enemies but morphs into so much more. The bonding with the obeah is also a fun aspect of the story and all moments between Yeeran and Pila were a delight.

I’ll be honest, though there’s some action at the beginning of the story and some revelations and betrayals towards the end, most of this book feels almost like a slice of life story, with some conflicts in between. It’s very focused on the various relationship dynamics and if that’s the kind of story you enjoy, this book will be for you. I think I definitely enjoyed it more because of the lovely narration by Bahni Turpin. I had also wrongly assumed that this was a standalone but now that I know it’s not, I guess whether I continue it will totally depend on my mood around the time of the sequel’s release.

This book was a bit too predictable/regular to be especially enjoyable. The premise and lore was absolutely great, however, it bogged down the progress of the book rather than enhancing it. It felt like it took wayyyy to long for the actual story to move on from what was told to us in the three paragraph synopsis. From there, the fae world was wonderful and I wished it was built on even further. The characters felt and their romances felt a bit too one dimensional. I may just not be the target audience even though it seemed like such an exciting book; while I had a good time reading it, this isn't really something I'm jumping to reread or think about afterwards for too long.