I approached this book with elevated expectations, yet found it to diverge notably from the author's earlier works. While I loved world-building and character-driven story, I was surprised by the amount of romance and spicy scenes in the book. The predictability of the narrative and an unfavorable pacing, characterized by a sluggish beginning and a hurried conclusion, diminished my overall enjoyment. However, for enthusiasts of romantic fantasy featuring lesbian protagonists, this book will be a great read.
Thank you NetGalley for ARC.

A startling impressive romantic fantasy that you don't want to miss! It was very eloquently written and beautifully romantic. It has an extremely unique magic system, animal companions, and prophecies. It was extremely diverse and set in a gender fluid world, sapphic, plus disability representation. I thought the pacing was great and honestly loved every second of this book. I can't wait to see where this trilogy goes.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6148054183

The world building in this novel was amazing. So unique so refreshing and so thorough. I loved the twists in the story, and I felt like they all surprised me but still made sense. Can’t wait to read the next one!!

Faebound follows 2 elven sisters, Lettle and Yeeran, who find themselves in an unimaginable situation after Yeeran makes a huge mistake during her first day as commander on the battlefield.

When Yeeran, the youngest elven commander in the history of the forever war, a 4 way battle between the different elven tribes, is exiled, her sister Yeeran and subordinate Rayan follow her into isolation in hopes of saving her. But when Yeeran unintentionally kills a fae prince, someone who shouldn't even exists, Yeeran, Lettle, and Rayan are unexpectedly thrust into the realm of Mossima, an underground fae city that is even more dangerous for the elves than the battlefield of the forever war.

The blurb for this book was so interesting that I knew I wanted to read it as soon as it was released! It was fast paced and I couldn't put it down. I loved following both Yeeran and Lettle as they start to uncover the truths of the fae realm, make friends and enemies, and struggle to fit into a world that was not meant for them. This book had a lot of surprising twists and turns that kept me engaged the entire time.

Some things that were really positive features of this novel include the BIPOC and queer representation. There are gender fluid/non binary characters galore, and it features a sapphic romance. I couldn't put the book down due to the fast pacing of the plot and how interesting the world building was.

Something that I found needed a bit of work was the romance that Yeeran has. I just found it to be a bit unbelievable given the circumstances, and I never really felt like I was routing for them. The reason why I am giving this book only 4/5 stars is because the sex scenes were not well written. I just wanted to skip right over them, especially because I wasn't too convinced that the romance was realistic.

Overall, I think if you are interested in stories where there's a bit of fae mixed with elves, this could be the book for you! Theres also a bit of mystery, although I think a lot of it was easy to figure out due to heavy foreshadowing. This is definitely for the adult age range. I definitely will be continuing on with the series! 4/5 stars

Thank you so much to netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where to begin. ADD THIS TO YOUR TBR! Appreciate NetGalley for the ARC. Expect elves, fae, animals and magic!!! Everything about this book was beautiful. I wish I could describe it with more eloquent words but I loved everything about this book. From the diverse characters, the fluidity and respect for LGTBTQIA+ members. There is something in this book for everyone. There are relationship dynamics that will resonate and touch everyone in some way, shape or form.
WHAT A WAY TO START OFF A YEAR OF BOOKS!!!! Brilliant character development, plot, intrigue. I honestly can often guess where plots and characters will end up and this book left me guessing until the very end. Such an amazing read!!

This cover caught my attention and the synopsis intrigued me. I thought the elvin sisters was a different idea from all the fae stories out there. The prologue was great. I was really captivated by the gods and how this world was created. Unfortunately I forced myself to 20% and had to dnf this book. It was way more war fantasy than I was expecting. The romance had no chemistry and felt weirdly placed in the story. The child soldiers were not the story I was wanting. I hope it finds its audience but it wasn't me

This book was amazing! If you are looking for fantasy, romance, talking animals, elves, fae, POC, and LGBTQIA+ representation then look no further!! Get ready to go on an adventure with Yeeran, Lettle, and Rayan. Faebound kept me wanting more and I am so looking forward to the next book!
Thank you for providing me with the ARC of this book. I can’t wait to actually put it on my shelves.

First, a huge thanks to NetGalley & Random House Publishing for an e-Arc of Faebound.

This was one of my 2024 anticipated reads and it did not disappoint.

I don’t want to give too much away but I had a great time with this. The characters (except Salawa), the magic, the world-building, romance and my favorite, the animal companions✨.

I loved Yeeran and Lettle for entirely different reasons; they’re sisters but they could not be more different and that was easily one of my favorite things. However, they are both very strong female characters who aren’t going to go down without a fight; but which also means that they oftentimes made a bunch of stupid fucking decisions that I wanted to rip their heads off and be done with it. I enjoyed both POV’s and how each of them reacted to certain situations and twists & I can’t wait to see how their final decisions play out.

Only downside is that the story was pretty predictable at times; made more obvious by all the prophesies that are revealed but there were still twists I did not see coming.

Please keep in mind this was definitely a Romantasy book; not a high fantasy. If you like some of the big popular Romantasy books; chances are you’ll like this one as well.

take notes because this is going to be THE fantasy book of 2024 people!!!!
legitimately one of the best initial books in a series i've read in ages. the twists??? the magic?? sapphics fighting and then kissing???

★ ★ ★ ★ • 4

Non-traditonal fae and elves with a unique take, and book-universe mythology. Went into this with high expectations, and wasn’t disappointed. Faebound was one of my more anticipated reads after hearing glowing review after glowing review all over bookstagram and booktok.

Admittedly, this one isn’t a casual read and has very indepth world-building so annotations are necessary to keep track of details… That end up being extremely relevant in the plot later in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review! Very thankful to have the opportunity to read this ahead of the official release.

When I saw this finally was available I requested it immediately. I between this release wanting to read the final strife I was highly anticipating this. I really loved the intro and found that the writing style really pulled me in from the beginning. I love the writing style and the choices that Saara El-Arifi. I really look forward to rereading this with the audio version when it comes out. As I have not read her other series I will be going and reading that immediately I really can't wait to see what the author brings to us next.

My first 5 star read of 2024!
I have been waiting for a fae book that centered black and characters of color and when I got approved for this arc, I read it in one night. The worldbuilding, the relationship between Yeeran and Lettle, I have never felt so at home in a book and it felt amazing to read characters that looked like me. I am so excited to see the public reaction to this book because it made me feel so seen.
Thank you NetGalley!

This was a really good book! I really liked the world, the characters, and the magic system. ALSO, THE REPRESENTATION WAS OFF THE CHARTS IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE!!!

The plot was more simple than I usually expect from an Adult high fantasy book. Most of the twists were very easy to call way in advance. I also found that the two romantic relationships lacked substance. Specifically Yeeran and Furi, who went from enemies to lovers in like 12 pages. Lettle and Rayan’s relationship was more flushed out but still wasn’t as great as it could be.

The Obeahs were my favorite part about this book!! Every fantasy book should include an animal sidekick that can speak to the main character. Pila was great, I loved her, my favorite character.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Bellatine, Del Rey, and netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

2.75 stars

Disappointed with this one. It started out fairly interesting with an intriguing storyline, but I never connected with any of the characters. They seemed very two dimensional to me and I think I was having some issues with the pacing.

Eventually I started skimming to make it through the rest of the book. I think some will enjoy this, but I just don't think it can stand on its own when comparing to other fantasy books out there.

This is going to be one of the best fantasy releases of 2024. Faebound is a story of two sisters, Yeeran and Lettle, a war colonel and a diviner respectively, who become exiled to find a surprising truth about their world. Some high level highlights include sapphic romance, a mystery to solve, immaculate world building, and these adorable creatures called obeah that you're going to love.

Something about the first 30% of this book pulled me in the same way that ACOTAR did on my first read - the world is interesting and excited, I found Yeeran to be interesting and exciting to follow, and I loved the way that lore and stories were interwoven into the story. There are a number of prophecies that play into the story and I was really engaged by trying to figure out how they would come to be.

Ultimately, this is a story of queer love, found family, realizations about the past, and a lot of secrets. This book has become my whole personality and I'm not even a little upset. I'm so grateful to #NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for an ARC copy!

Having a bit of a fae reading moment right now, and this book was my favorite of the bunch! The world is captivating, the writing solid, and the lore is really interesting. I was immediately drawn into the story and invested in the characters. Yeeran is my favorite of course, flaws and all, and I appreciated watching her journey unfold while hurting from the PTSD - from both her military and relationship past - she was fighting through.

The magic system was one of my favorite parts and I love how each character's approach/ability in different forms of magic reflects who they are. There's a lot more to uncover in the lore and curse-breaking and I think it was set up really well. This book covers a lot of ground for a first in a series, and it feels like its going to grow in scale and scope even more over the next books. Can't wait to keep reading!

Two small nitpicks: First, this book is so obvious. Usually I get a jolt of self-satisfaction from figuring out plot twists but here the clues were broadcasted rather than breadcrumbed. They eye-rolling did unfortunately detract from the experience a bit.

And second, I get this is a romantasy book, but these characters are shockingly lusty. It seems to be all they can think about even when their lives are in danger constantly. I feel like the author was caught between writing a fantasy and romantasy and added in the lust to compensate? I rooted for at least one of couples (the sapphics of course) and I was meh on the other (straight) one, so I'm not mad about it per se, but I think the horny levels could have been toned down at least 25%.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the world and vibes of the story, but I simply can't overlook how boring and shallow most of the book is. This book could heavily benefit from another draft where the author more heavily focuses on the complexity of the plot, politics, and characters

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my (very) honest review.

I'm genuinely glad that I seem to be the minority in my opinions, and I hope that more readers enjoy this. Sadly it just wasn't for me and I will not be continuing this series.

I almost DNF'd this a handful of times, but finished it against my better judgement.

Loved the queer rep, animals, and drum magic. Also the world, even though the actual world-building had too much telling and now enough showing for my taste.

The biggest problem I had comes down to the writing style. It didn't work for me at all, and made this such a chore to read. From the dual POV sounding like same person, to the flat and dull narrative, to the stakes not feeling important.

The romance didn't feel believable (very insta-love) and again the writing felt so stiff to me. Also have to mention that the characters read way younger than the ages they're supposed to be.

I also knew the twists way to early, which probably added to the stakes not feeling important. It was just so hard to care.

I love the lore and the world-building in this one so immensely, what a fresh look compare to everything that is already out there. I also love the sibling dynamic in this book. As for the romantic relationships, I found them to be a bit lacking in comparison, I thought that their dynamics could've been stretched out more and get a more rounded development. I also found the beat of the book to be a bit predictable, which isn't to say that it's a bad thing but it would've been nice to be surprise here and there too.

Absolute 5/5 for this adult fantasy debut (one and a half peppers for spice)! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Finally, a fantasy/romantasy that has fully adult protagonists! The story is written so that it is accessible and easy for someone to understand without getting lost in the worldbuilding. Plot easter eggs are scattered throughout, and while I was able to pick up on them and predict what was coming, this didn't deter from my enjoyment of the story.

In Faebound, you follow elven sisters Yeeran a Lettle as they navigate a Forever War between tribes and discover that their understanding of the world and their creation myths might not be what it appears. There is political intrigue, war, broken hearts, pining, and so much more. Each character is unique and colorful and I love how the fae culture is built around gender fluidity. The series gets a pepper and a half for spice, as much of it takes on a fade to black sort of writing, but again this doesn't deter from the overall story. I cannot wait for book 2!