Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for providing me with an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review!

We’re not even a full month into 2024 and I think I may have one of my top books of the year right here. Wow wow wow, I cannot say enough about how incredible this novel was. Everything, from the wholly unique world building to the comprehensive and realistic characterization to the writing itself— there was not one part of this novel that was a miss. It was fantasy in its truest form— fantasy as fantasy should be written. My only complaint was that I now have to wait for the next books to come out to know the continuation and conclusion of these characters’ stories.

Run, don’t walk, to your local book store to pick up “Faebound” the *second* it comes out. Or, even better, preorder it right this second. You will not be disappointed.

This book grew on me as it went- the beginning was a little rough, and some of the dialogue felt robotic and forced, but as the book and characters settled into the pacing, it got more enjoyable. The characters have a lot of life, depth and personality, and once that came out, I was engaged in their stories, I just wish it had happened earlier. I don’t think I was really invested until the last 100 pages or so.

Also, the romance didn’t quite click for me, and I think this goes back to the dialogue- it just didn’t quite feel like the characters knew each other that well or were coming together out of anything except “mutual hotness”. Very Insta-lovey, which isn’t my cup of tea.

Overall, think the best part was the way the author built the world through the use of small details and side characters that made the world feel full of life and not one-dimensional. Also love the diverse representation.

I didn’t dislike this book by any means, but it never really captured me or gave me that “I can’t put this down” feeling. Underwhelming, but not bad. Will I read the next one? Probably. Would I recommend it? Eh, maybe.

Great storyline. Characters you fall in love with. Interesting plot. Writing prose has me hooked. Can’t wait to read the full completed book now that it is available.

Thanks to Del Rey for the copy of this book!

FAEBOUND is everything you hope for in the first book of a series: it engages and invests you in the world and the characters, and has you immediately wanting the rest of the series. I loved the lush worldbuilding, magic system, and social commentary. There are also two romance storylines, and while they were a focus, they didn't take away from other major plot points, which happens a little too frequently in fantasy, I think. I loved the inclusivity of this book, and of course, the lovable animal companions. This is honestly just an expertly-written fantasy that hits in all the right places. Don't hesitate to pick it up!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC,

To everyone that has this book as one of their anticipated reads you won’t be disappointed. This is a world with elves, fae, and humans. It’s extremely diverse, set in a queer normative world, there’s politics, romance, disability representation, cool animals and tons of magic.

We follow two sisters who are elves, one is exiled and of course the other follows her. They’re are captured by fae and are freaking out because the fae and humans haven’t been seen in a long time. The two sisters are now in fae territory thrown into fae court and politics. Everything they thought they knew they’re are realizing they really didn’t know the whole truth and maybe they myths they were taught are actually very true and hold keys meanings.

This romantasy was super fun to read, it was a bit predictable at times but overall I really enjoyed the story and will definitely read the next book in the series.

I received this as an Advanced Readers Copy from Del Rey in exchange for my honest review. Yeeran is a warrior in the Elven army. There were originally 3 races; Human, Elf, and Fae, but through constant warring, the only known race is the elves. This story starts with some world building and relationship building before Yeeran is ostracized and forced out of the elven community, with her sister following. As they learn about the Fae and a part of the world they didn't know existed, we learn more about them, and their relationship with each other.

I loved the non-European Fae and the culture they have. I love that both the Fae and Elves have an advanced society which welcomes all gender relationships and expressions. I feel like the world and society are so beautiful and creative. It is a bit of a slow story, and slow relationships. There's a lot of time where we, as readers, are stuck in the characters heads and feelings. I didn't love the complicated and violent relationships Yeeran seemed to have with her lovers. Perhaps they'll put a trigger warning in the final book, but I'm not a huge fan of violence toward a partner. I think this book was entertaining, and interesting, but I think now that the world is built, and now that we know so many characters, the next book will be able to really go hard into the next story. Even though the middle of the book was very slow, the last few chapters of the book were absolutely fantastic. 3.5 stars.

Such a creative magic system and engaging world building for the first novel of this series. This novel follows 2 sisters, Yeeran and Lettle, in a fantasy world of Elves and Fae. Battles, politics, cultures colliding, animal bonds, gender freedom and sapphic relationships — this book weaves it all beautifully together. Chapters shift perspectives which flow so well within the overall narrative. Looking forward to book 2. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing group for the ARC of Faebound.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4
Spice: 3/5

Tropes:
Hidden society
Magic animal bonds
Queer representation
Sibling bonds
Rivals/enemies to lovers
prophecy


This story takes place many years following wars between Fae, elves and humans. The humans have been eradicated and the fae have been cursed and cast off to another land. Only the elves remain, warring amongst themselves for a valuable resource. When Yeeran is dismissed from the military and exiled, she and her sister are forced to journey into the wilderness surrounding their community. Lettle, her sister, is a diviner and has more of a free spirit. Despite their vast differences, these two sisters are incredibly protective of each other and their loyalty to one another was a major highlight for me.

The world-building was masterfully done and each place is alive and vibrant- this story is just begging to be made into a Pixar movie (minus the spicy scenes). The societal structures were well-developed and complex. This story was beautifully written, however the pacing felt off. Although this story was full of plot twists, I could see them coming from a mile away, which really diminished the impact for me. Overall, I enjoyed the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House publishing for the eARC and the opportunity to review this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

What a lush and interesting world this author has built! Really enjoyed reading all about it and getting swept up in this fantasy. I would have liked more development of the romance, but it’s not uncommon to have the fantasy elements outweigh that.

I'm a devoted Saara El-Arifi fan, and my experience with “Faebound” marks the third addition to my collection. Was this my favorite from her, no but, I still enjoyed it. The world building, characters and conflict were all awesome. With the prophecies revealed in the story, it was a tad bit predictable. I think this first book has raised my expectations on what’s to come! I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one. From the get, this book was captivating and I found myself invested in the story quickly.
I love that the worldbuilding felt really natural and not like an info dump. And OMG the world??? So lush and beautiful!!! It was truly a treat to learn about the land and the different inhabitants.

The beginning felt so unique and interesting, but towards the middle of the book I feel like we lost some of the momentum until the last 10% where the story started tying together in a satisfying way. I do think that most of the twists were really predictable, but there was one that I didn't see coming.

Overall, a good first book of a trilogy and I'm definitely interested to see where book 2 goes!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing the ARC.

I absolutely loved this book, so much that I believe it will be one of my top reads this year. The story was so beautifully written and evocative that I felt completely immersed in the story. Told in dual POV between Yeeran and Lettle, we see how the two sisters traverse the dangerous landscape that is their world. They are caught in a neverending war, and when Yeeran is exiled, they discover that there is so much more to it than they first realized.

The storytelling in this book is rich and vivid. El-Arifi paints a beautiful picture with her worlds and I felt that I could easily imagine what it was like to live there. Yeeran and Lettle are fun, dynamic characters that felt very real to me and made me want to delve deeper into their story. The book suffers a bit from pacing issues about 2/3 of the way through, but not so much that it detracts from the story. And while I appreciate the sapphic romance, I do feel that it was a bit forced and need more context and build up.

Amazing book. If you like fantasy, you'll love it.

Thank you so much for this ARC. I was very excited to read this.
However I have to be honest because that is the point of reviewing right?
For me I was struggling to get into the book. I loved having a dual POV however I found the book to be slow moving. Not much happening in the first 20% of the book. I really liked the world and the premise I just wanted more action and higher stakes I guess.

This is the best book I've read so far this year, and I'm confident it's going to be one of the top fantasy books for 2024. I loved being transported into this world, where three gods created the elves, humans, and fae. The elves are alone on the earth, locked in a "Forever War" with each other over limited resources, while humans and fae have gone extinct – or so we think.

The author's world building is rich and engrossing, but it's also easy to understand and makes for a quick, enjoyable read. We're introduced to earth magic, sun magic, moon magic, drum magic, and so much more, and there will be so much more to learn over the subsequent books – for us and the characters (who have lost so much of their history over years of war).

There were only a few things that didn't work for me: one is that the romances all felt forced and happened too fast without enough context. The matches were heavily hinted from the beginning, but there was no time to see feelings build or change, so the romances (one in particular) were very abrupt and not believable. On the other hand, many of the "twists" had too much of a foundation and thus ended up very predictable. The characters figured things out painfully slowly compared to how obvious the twists were as a reader.

But I did love this book and can't wait to learn more about this world and spend time with these characters as the series continues! Saara El-Arifi did a fantastic job weaving together complex but likeable characters with a unique but accessible magic system to create an all-new world with so much left to explore.

<i> I've been waiting for you for a long time. </i>

5/5 stars
1/5 spice

Faebound is filled to the brim with beautiful and unique worldbuilding, I think that is where this book really shines. The world these characters are playing in has so many interesting little details. I love the magic system, it's unique while not being overly complicated. I also liked the twist on the classic fae/human romance by adding elves to the mix as well.

I appreciated the normalization of queerness in this book, I would love to see more fantasy take this approach. As a nonbinary mom, it was nice seeing a femme presenting they/them nonbinary mom in this book.

I am keeping this book at 5 stars because the first half really just had my giggling and kicking my feet, it was fantastic. I felt like I was reading the next ACOTAR and that this book would just give me everything I wanted. It did, for a while. However, the pacing did start to fail around the 65-70% mark. It went from a pretty comfortable pace to very suddenly every aspect of the plot is escalating and everything is happening. This might be for some people but I prefer a steady pace in my books.

<b>That being said this still does truly feel like a 5 star fantasy read to me, it's the best thing I've read in at least 6 months and I can't wait for the rest of this series. </b>

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A story of sisterhood and defining yourself instead of letting the world define you. A fun read, highly recommended.

Characters: 7.5/10
Well thought out, descriptive, and likeable characters throughout the entire story. I wish I got even more of them, their motivations, thoughts, feelings, etc. Hopefully later in the series!

Atmosphere/Setting: 6/10
Although descriptive, it was hard to visualize certain settings and I wanted more explicit detail regarding what the characters were experiencing in their environment. There was a lot of telling, not as much showing. I did appreciate how we discovered the world with the characters, and not all at once.

Writing Style: 8.5/10
Beautifully written throughout, with strong dialogue and detailed interactions between characters. However there were two moments in the writing that I found a bit distasteful - using the word "urine" was just an ick for me personally, and renaming "feces" to "faeces" was just odd...

Plot: 10/10
Lots of unexpected twists and turns, I loved how most of the plot was revealed in the moment through the characters rather than beforehand. I thought I knew where the story was going, and I was wrong every time!

Intrigue: 9/10
Although there were some moments I grew a bit frenetic for the next "big moment" to happen, this book kept my captivated throughout and I found myself thinking about it almost daily, theorizing on certain plot points and ruminating on unanswered questions. Very fun to read!

Logic/Relationships: 9/10
Not perfect, but very well done. The world made sense, and I wasn't left with any plot holes that I expect won't be addressed in the next book of the series. Between slowburn, enemies-to-lovers, and found family, I was more than happy with the relationships in this book.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall, I enjoyed this book for the plot and writing. It was a pleasant reading experience and I would gladly recommend this to other fantasy lovers.

CAWPILE 56/70 = .8 = 4 stars!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

thank you so much to Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review

i had such a good time reading Faebound. the world building was so interesting. i did think some of the events were quickly moved on from. even some of the characters moved on from certain things way too fast. yeeran moved on pretty quickly from her ex lover as soon as she encountered furi. at times i couldn’t keep up from how fast i was also expected to move on. overall it’s a 3.5 stars and it was enjoyable to read.

PHENOMENAL BEAUTIFUL AMAZING I'm in love with every single character, I'm in love with this story and the magic systems. This is one of the most well written books I've read in a long time.

This book made me so excited! My heart pounded through every chapter which made me fly through this book. The plot was exciting and fast paced and the characters were interesting but relatable. I highly recommend this book and will be telling all of my family and friends to read it!