it’s not very often (read never) I get approved for a fantasy ARC but alas here we are. Faebound was such a delight to read and the worst part of it is knowing it’s over. El-Arifi creates a world in which sexuality, gender, and gender presentation is so fluid and beautiful. There are so many things about this book that are important to highlight:
✨ representation of queer, afro/arab, people with disabilities
✨ bonded magical creatures
✨ enemies to lovers
✨ a bit of spice

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️ .5 /5

Thank you @penguinrandomhouse for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyed this one quite a bit-- with the sapphic romance and dual POV. Found the magic system quite intriguing, and look forward to seeing what's next.

“Faebound" served as the ideal first read for the year!!! The seamless blend of fantasy, romance, political intrigue, and unexpected twists, some anticipated and others pleasantly surprising, crafted a beautiful narrative. The effortless portrayal of diverse characters elevated it to the status of a top-tier book in my opinion. I will look forward to the next in the series and learning more of what this world holds.

Initially, this book has a lot going for it. There's a unique fae world with the promise of a lot of world building. There are two very different sisters who each bring a unique personality and magical talent to the story, and there's the promise that more will be revealed throughout the story. While the premise does hint at romance, I assumed based on the synopsis that this story would be heavy on the action. Unfortunately, that isn't quite the case, spoilers ahead!

This story promises an epic fae world and a lot of danger with some romance. In reality, once the characters reach the fae world, which should be the most exciting point in the book and the kickoff of all major action, very little of substance happens. If I were asked to draw a plot chart of this book, there would just be exposition, a little bit of rising action, back down to exposition, a gigantic leap to the climax, and then...it just kind of ends.

The two main characters are 28 and 34 and yet they read like they are 14 and 17 at best. The romance is meant to be filled with tension, and one of the couples is supposed to be enemies to lovers, but it's all just very tedious and lacking in substance. In particular, enemies to lovers is so overplayed. I'm going to start skipping books with this descriptor because they don't do enemies to lovers via character development and meaningful political differences. Instead it's just like a constant switching up of "I hate her, oh no she's really hot" and I do not find that interesting.

In particular, I don't find it interesting when this is basically the plot of the book, replacing any meaningful character development and plot. This is a fantasy book with a war and at least 2 DIFFERENT major conflict, including between two different types of people (elves and fae), and yet I couldn't really tell you a major piece of any of the conflict or why it matters.

Finally, the writing just did not work for me whatsoever. I did like the author's debut, The Final Strife, which was fun and adventurous at least. I am not sure if this book was rushed or what happened, but the writing is distracting, to say the least. I honestly feel as though the book was not edited. Perhaps a non-arc version of this book will be more polished, but as is, this doesn't read as adult fantasy.

I fear that the success of major fantasy series that heavily feature romance is going to continue these trends into 2024 and indefinitely beyond, but let me be one fantasy reader to say: A good fantasy novel does not need a dominant romantic focus. It really doesn't need ANY romantic focus, but plenty of fantasy novels include strong romantic subplots. However, the FOUNDATION of the book, if it is an ADULT FANTASY, should be the FANTASY PLOT. The worldbuilding, the magic system, the character development, the hero's journey, whatever is most central in that book. A romance can add so much to a book, but it is not a substitute for any of the things I just listed.

Anyway, I had high hopes, and I hope for those who do love romantasy that this exceeds expectations, but it didn't work for me.

This book was everything I've been craving in a sapphic high fantasy romance with fae and elves. We have enemies to lovers, intrigue, twists, magic, and the world building was absolutely amazing!

I have only one issue with the book, and that is the characters and the readers are given the same information, but me as a reader figured it out, but it took our MCs way too long to put 2 and 2 together, and at times it was excruciating.

However, looking past that, this book is a fun ride, with dual POV, of two elven sisters, one a colonel in the elven army using drum magic, and the other using divination magic. We see them cast out of the elven society and brought into the world of the fae, where they have magical companions and a beautiful setting. We see the sisters adapt and fight for their freedom and to change the world.

I'm so looking forward to the next book in this series, I'm dying to know what happens next and to dive more into this world!

Thank you so much NetGalley, and Del Ray books for the eARC!

I'm a Saara El-Arifi autobuy after reading Final Strife last year and I will say, Faebound was one of my most anticipated reads for 2024! That being said, I think this was a fun, light read (definitely fully in the romantasy category), but not quite as intense or complex as Final Strife. I really enjoyed it though and El-Arifi is forever making strong characters that I absolutely love - filled with flaws and a hard exterior, warrior Yeeran her sister Lettle, and friend Rayan, are thrust into the fae world, a space and place that they never knew existed.

I particularly appreciated El-Arifi's attention to the world-building, magic system, and of course sapphic relationships <3

With lots of twists and turns, I eagerly await the next installment!

4.5 stars

Such a good start to the series! It has excellent world building, political intrigue, enemies to lovers, fae vs. elves vs. humans, and animal companions. It’s dual POV with some strong characters and compelling relationships. I obviously loved encountering the fae and learning about the complicated history between the three races and the different kinds of magic they were gifted by the gods. I also especially loved the fact that one of the MCs is a diviner and receives prophecies from the Fates which play a big role throughout the book.

This definitely got more and more exciting as it went on and I absolutely loved all of the twists! There were a couple of predictable things, but more than enough surprises to make up for it. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series!

Thank you to Random House for the ARC!

“Faebound” is a tale of two elven sisters, Yeeran and Lettle, raised in poverty during the Forever War, each having found her own path and purpose in life. Yeeran is a recently promoted colonel in the army, Lettle is a diviner slated to become the tribe’s next shaman. Though they don’t necessarily agree with one another’s choices, they love each other fiercely. When Yeeran is banished for disobeying orders during a scouting mission, Lettle follows her, along with the steadfast Captain Rayan. Yeeran believes if she can bring something of value back to the tribe she may be welcomed back in - and spots her opportunity out in the wilderness when an elder obeah, the source of all magic, leads her to an oasis. Unbeknownst to Yeeran, the obeah are sacred to the legendary fae, who are believed to be extinct. Killing one is a crime for which Yeeran, Lettle, and Rayan are all imprisoned in Mosima, the underground realm of the fae, which has its own power struggles into which the three protagonists are all soon embroiled.
The strongest part of this story is the bond between the two sisters. Yeeran and Lettle fight, disagree, hurt one another, comfort one another, and protect each other. Each is working on her own plan to escape Mosima, sometimes in ways that conflict or bring out years-long rifts and traumas. It’s also impossible not to love them as characters. As always, Saara El-Arifi’s worldbuilding is impeccable, with old legends taking on new meanings throughout the story, and the political systems are intricately detailed and feel real and true. I did find a couple of the twists and turns at the end to be fairly predictable, particularly the meaning of Lettle’s prophecy, but there were also a couple that took me by surprise. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next installment!

There are not enough superlatives to accurately depict my love for this series so far - I am so grateful that I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for my feedback.

Sara El-Arifi’s writing is exquisite, she has created a world that I never wanted to leave. I loved learning all the details surrounding the elves, fae, and obeahs. I have no doubt this is going to be a best-seller for 2024 - I am already highly anticipating the release of the next book in the series, I can hardly wait!

Faebound gives us the dual POV alternating between elf sisters Yeeran and Lettle. I don’t want to reveal or spoil this story so let me just enthusiastically encourage fantasy readers to immerse themselves in these pages and see for themselves. I don’t even want to share details about my favorite character because even that might give too much away (hint: it’s an animal companion). We have enemies to lovers, sapphic and hetero spice, witty animal companions, anti-war and colonizer themes, magic, secrets, vegetarian fae, and just so much juicy goodness to be discovered.

I chuckled throughout this book, I shed some tears, I gasped, it was a whole experience that kept me wanting more - it was so hard to put this book down!

I have a feeling the fantasy girlies are going to LOVE this. This was one of the best fantasy books I’ve read in while, everything was on point. I felt instantly connected to the characters and the setting was incredible, I felt part of the world which was vast and magical. I think this was definitely be a 5-star for many people, the only thing that kept it from being a 5-star is this reads more as a high fantasy so some parts felt a little dense, but I think that as long as you know what you are getting into you will be fine, and even if you don’t typically read high fantasy I would recommend.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

I squealed with excitement when I was approved for this ARC. I thought I was getting an epic elven battle story about… well, it felt like LGBTQ+ ACOTAR 2.0 with cool world building. Unfortunately, all the plot beats followed ACOTAR, but the motivations weren’t there and the backstory didn’t work with them, so it all fell flat. Feyre (in ACOTAR) was protecting her family and killed a wolf while hunting to feed her sisters, but Yeeran was exiled after she was responsible for the death of over 300, and she wanted to… buy her way back into the tribe with a magical wolf pelt to fight an arbitrary war she doesn’t believe in because she knows nothing else?

It was a dual-POV but Lettle and Yeeran’s voices sounded the same, in part because the writing style is heavy-handed and over-narrating. There are prophecies that… well, basically spoiled the book’s ending. The writing is accessible, though, and didn’t require much thought.

The pacing was way off. World building happened during the action that slowed it down, and then when nothing was happening, nothing was happening—no learning new things, no character developments… anyway, it really dragged for me. I almost cut out at 22% but this is supposed to be “the” book of the year. Book 2 is at least well set up, but I’m not particularly committed to continuing on this adventure.

My favorite line was “Hello, little mouse.” I assume this was an homage to Haunting Adeline. (None of those vibes, don’t worry.) I’m always here for Easter eggs. 👍🏻

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of The Ending Fire trilogy, so I was pretty curious about Saara El-Arifi's new book. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as I enjoyed The Final Strife. It's still a solid book for what it's trying to be, but my expectations might have been too high.

I'll start with the good in my opinion. El-Arifi's world-building remains as strong and imaginative as ever. While the world of Faebound isn't like that of The Ending Fire books, it's still very imaginative and interesting. Mosima in particular, was a really cool setting and the themes it instills into the story are fascinating. The African inspirations make it quite unique as well. The magic system is also very interesting. Like The Ending Fire books, this book also has queernormative world-building and a diverse range of characters. I also really liked the Obeah and how the bond worked.

The overarching themes of this book are also interesting, as it discusses notions of war, power, duty, family, freedom, violence, and free will.

I was aware beforehand that this would be a romantasy story, which is fine, but in being so romance-forward, I think the author foregoes her biggest strength, which is plotting. Honestly, even considering it simply from the romance angle, I didn't buy the romantic development of either the f/f or the f/m romance. Both felt very insta lust-y and the romantic developments didn't feel very natural. There were plenty of obstacles in the relationships, but at some point in the story, they didn't matter anymore for reasons I guess? I was never very invested in Rayan and Lettle's relationship, and although Yeeran and Furi's dynamic seemed quite interesting at the start, the development wasn't executed very well. At some point, they were all suddenly in love, but I wasn't really sure how. The book tries to portray Salawa and Yeeran's relationship as being not really love, however, that relationship felt far more believable.

The plotting is not only hindered by the romances(and it is as the characters spend a lot of time pining and rarely moving the plot forward) but also the framing. The story has a heavy reliance on prophecy and that along with the descriptions very clearly telegraphs the story beats and plot twists from a mile away, and makes the whole thing very predictable. The protagonists, Lettle in particular, just feel like observers for most of the story watching things happening around them because of prophecies. Lettle eventually gives up her whole purpose for love, which made me really question if she needed a POV at all. Given how strong the plotting and twists of The Ending Fire trilogy are, the plotting of this book really disappointed me.

At the end of the day though, this is a romantasy book. Romantasy books aren't usually known for their plotting, though there are exceptions. From that angle, it's an overall solid package with a lot of aspects that make it unique in the romantasy space. And perhaps there are readers who would appreciate the romances and romance forward nature of this more than I did.

The book does end on an interesting note plotwise. While reading the book, I was not aware it was the start of a new trilogy. I didn't think it had quite enough to it to be a trilogy, but I suppose we shall see if I continue with the series. I am not sure whether I will or not yet.

This was a bit of fun world building with fairies and elves and magic. The two female characters made for strong leads and it was interesting to follow them through this journey. I enjoyed their bond as sisters especially. The book was lacking something for me. I normally love this setting but it was just alright this time for me. The romance was lacking a bit and sometimes the action dragged and felt underwhelming, but otherwise it was a worthwhile read. With some more development, I think it will make for a great series! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm always on the lookout for sapphic fantasy so when i received this arc on netgalley i was excited to read it, especially because it seemed to have such great reviews. however, i was soon feeling pretty let down :/ i think i guessed every twist but one, some i saw coming from hundreds of pages away. it felt like there were no actual stakes and like none of the characters had more than a sliver of personality. the world had a lot of potential and the magic systems seemed interesting at first but i think everything just needed to be more fleshed out. also i know this is my own fault for not doing research but i hated having to read straight romance. loved the deer-kitty magical hybrids though, i imagined them to kind of be a feline satori from zelda

3.5⭐️

The world is super fun. I can’t wait to learn more about the background between fae, elves, and humans.

The romance is not believable. I could have done without it actually. I dislike instalove books though and this gave me more instalove than actual connection.

This book felt like it is missing something. A big thing for me is character interaction. Things didn’t feel real or genuine. It felt a little bit stiff.

The book is still great and I’m still excited for more world building and character growth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for the arc. This is my honest review.

A fairytale with elves and fairies; a magical world with warriors and prophets; a bit of romance; some court intrigue and family complications; tie all these together with some easy to read prose and you have Faebound, the first book in a new trilogy. At the center of the story are two sisters, elves, one warrior and the other a mystic. One sister follows the other into her exile and they end up in the fae realm. Some of the events of the story are quite predictable even without mystical powers but the story is told well and that writing along with some solid world-building carried it forward. There was a bit of military fantasy at the start of the book but transitioned into a story more about (romantic) relationships and families though there were hints at the end that the second book would likely return with some military/battle elements. I'd recommend this read for anyone looking for their fairy tale heroines to be a bit more warrior than princess. (3.5 rounded up to4/5).
I received advanced digital access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

I have been so excited to read this book and I was not disappointed. The writing and the world building was amazing. I would highly recommend this book!

I wanted to love this so bad… I love the fact that this is a queer normative world and the disability representation. I’m also a fan of talking animal companions, so I loved that as well. The magic system was interesting but a little underwhelming. I loved the descriptions and the setting of the fae world, which was just so magical. Sister relationships are so special but can complicated and messy. I like how the author portrayed Yeeran and Lettle’s relationship so realistically.

For my least favorite parts, I kept falling asleep during all of the world building. I usually don’t mind world building, but the way it’s done is just so boring. I love the entire idea of this book, and enjoyed where it ended up going in the end, but I don’t know… I found it to be extremely predictable. When Lettle receives the prophecy for the first time and we first meet who fulfills it, I immediately knew it was about them. I was shocked by how easy I caught on. In fact, all of the prophecies were very easy to know who they were about/who would fulfill them. None of the plot twists were surprising, but what was surprising is how none of the characters caught on to any of it. The insane insta-love between both couples in this book seemed incredibly forced and unnecessary. The intimate scenes, while brief, shouldn’t have existed at all, because they didn’t add any substance to their relationships or drive the plot in any way whatsoever.

Thank you for the ARC!

DNF. It was difficult to follow unfortunately but I will give this another try in the future. I was really looking for ward to this arc.

I really enjoyed this book. The world building was great, I liked the main characters and the story itself. This is going to be a big hit in the fantasy world. I love books containing the fae, and many others do, too. This will definitely find a place on many people's bookshelves