This book took a bit to develop and find its feet for me—the beginning is interesting enough with a good inciting incident. But some pacing issues with the romance in the beginning and the overall conflict was slow. There were many predictable plot lines (e.g. the prophecies, which usually elude me, were pretty obvious to me). But I really like the world this story builds. As with other novels by this author, I’m waiting to see how this unfolds—if this is anything like her other series, it should develop into a more complex narrative and I’m here for it!

Summary: an elven warrior and her sister must navigate through the far court. Twists and turns abound.

First off, lovely cover. It was a decent story. I liked Yeeran as a military soldier. It’s not often you get a strong woman as a main character.
But it wasn’t the new fantasy world I wanted to get lost in. It didn’t flow, I didn’t feel any particular connection to the characters, and parts just seemed thrown in.

This actually lived up to the recent hype I had seen around it! Not that I expected something terrible but this was pleasantly surprising. I really liked the main character Yeeran and her sister Lettle. The author did a fantastic job at world building and character development, it had me absolutely sucked in. I loved learning about the elven tribes and all the background lore. I think this really helped you relate to the characters and while they each had flaws, their personalities certainly made up for it! I really enjoyed this one!

I really wanted to like this book but I had an incredibly hard time getting into it. I kept picking it up and dropping it and eventually DNFed it. I really did like the diversity of the book but I didn’t really like the writing style. I did not find myself liking any of the characters. Reading it just felt very distant and almost clinical. I had a hard time picturing the world and felt like this moved too slow and then too quickly. I also found myself frustrated with the characters and how it seemed like Lettle switched moods so quickly for no reason and she came across as rude to me a lot. I did get frustrated with the Obeah sounding like they were so highly regarded but then also just casually hunted to extinction. I may try to read it again in the future. But for now it’s just not working for me.

I have heard so many good things about this author’s other fantasy series, so I was excited to jump in on the ground floor of this new one, but I was left feeling a little disappointed. It was a very strange experience — I wanted to keep reading to find out more, but when I was reading, I was taken out of the story by clunky writing and lack of characterization. It felt very simplistic, but at the same time, I really enjoyed the story and the beautiful world building. So yeah — torn on what my final thoughts are.

I absolutely adored this book. The characters, the romance, the world building, the magic?? I loved all of it. I really enjoy Saara El-Arifi's writing and will continue to read everything she puts out. This is what fantasy is about to me. Diverse and queer normative worlds with people fighting against oppression. Just everything about it was so wonderful.

I was so excited to read this book and the concept is there, but overall it just fell flat. The world building is extremely interesting. But I also struggled to finish it.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Del Rey for access to an eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

All that Yeeran has ever wanted was to protect her sister and the rest of her people from their enemies in the other Elven tribes and to one day help win the Forever War. But when her chance to make a real difference comes around and a horrible mistake leads to Yeeran's exile from her home in the Elven Lands and separated from everyone she loves most, including her younger sister Lettle, she knows that she has to find a way to earn forgiveness from her tribe's chief and to reclaim her place among her people. Lettle, however, having foreseen a potentially horrible fate for her sister, chooses to strike out to find Yeeran. And just when they have been reunited, calamity strikes. Yeeran, Lettle, and their by now mutual friend Rayan are taken captive by the Fae who their people have long since thought dead and gone from their world and taken back beneath the ground to the Fae's homeland.

Old prejudices and hatred bubble up to the surface, and soon, the trio are wrapped up in the depths of Fae politics and culture, desperately trying to find a way to escape and return home. But all may not be as it seems...for the Elves or the Fae.

This book was *incredible*. Really, that's the only thing I can think to say about it as a whole, so I'm going to try and break it down a little bit more. The worldbuilding and magic system of Faebound are fascinating and so, so well thought out. The way that Saara El-Arifi even wrote out a creation myth for this beautiful world she'd created was so fun and such an amazing way to set the scene of the story you're starting into at the beginning of the book. The characters are all well written and have a series of flaws to go along with their positive traits that make them seem so much more real than they might have otherwise, and goodness gracious, the *tension* between the different Elven tribes and later the Elves and the Fae was so intense I was genuinely stressed a few times. Also, the *romances*. They were impeccable. I loved every second of love I got to read on the page, and having both a beautifully written enemies-to-lovers sapphic ship and an equally amazing annoyances-to-lovers ship as the 'side' romantic plot offered up a little bit of something for anyone to enjoy. I was frothing at the mouth for both of them, personally, and I am now frothing at the mouth, continuously, as I wait for the second book to come out. Five stars all the way.

I had heard so many great things about El-Arifi’s Ending Fire Trilogy so I had been very much anticipating, Faebound a fantasy with fae lore and creatures. Faebound took me awhile to get into, but it still held my attention and I was so excited to learn about this world and the creatures, and the characters. I can’t wait to see where the characters story leads in the next novel. I definitely recommend this if you want a fantasy with a diverse cast and an engaging plot.

The story was captivating, it had excellent world-building where you could envision what was happening, but it was not overwhelming. I loved the characters.

An elven warrior gets exiled from her military position only to discover a hidden world of fae.

I had a hard time getting into the story, even with the faster pacing. I think the main issue was that I couldn't connect with the sisters, their feelings didn't always come through the writing so the events of the book just didn't have as much of an impact.

Really interesting magic and Fae Lore! I did like the sister bond and how it drove their actions. There were many players in the story and the politics was very interesting. I was shocked a couple times from the book and that was fun! I'm intrigued and would like to know how the story will play out! The underline romance had my eyebrow up! I did enjoy it and I was very surprise how much there was going to be romance moments. A good debut novel into a new series.

The narrator was good for the audiobook but I did not like the voice for the younger sister. It made her a little annoying.

I really enjoyed the world building and magic system that Saara El-Arif created in Faebound.
My favorite part were the magical creatures called obeah and the magesight. Yeeran and Lettle are the main protagonists who are in their late 20s/ early 30s but they do come off as younger and somewhat immature. There were some pacing issues towards the last 25% where things happened really fast. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more by Saara El-Arifi.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eArc in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. I loved the concept of the world and the magic but I feel like there was not a lot of depth to it. I also felt that the romance was very rushed and came out of nowhere with the sister.

Faebound is the first of a trilogy set in an Afro/Arab world following two Elven sisters in a world of Elves and Fae. I thought that this book sounded really unique and I really like fantasy stories that inspired by real world places that I'm not super familiar with. Add in a very cool cover and I was very excited to read!

The world in this book is amazing! I really liked how it was set up and how it was unlike anything else that I have read in a fantasy story. The magic system is also very unique. I liked the queer representation and always love a good rivals to lovers, which I thought really worked in this!

While the world and magic system were very interesting, I wasn't as much of a fan of other parts of the book. I am notorious for having difficulty following fantasy plots despite loving fantasy. A lot of the time it doesn't matter. Here, it did kind of matter. I don't really get what happened in the last quarter of the book. The names were a little similar to me and I had a hard time remembering who was who, to the point of when there was a cute part at the end with annotations from the characters, I had some trouble realizing the impact. I'm a little worried about reading the sequel and having no idea what happened in the first book.

Note: There is some fairly graphic violence towards fantastical animals, which I didn't expect, but doesn't last too long and is part of the plot.

Overall, I recommend this book if you're looking for a new and unique fantasy! 3.75 stars rounded up to 4 from me. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the eARC of this book, my thoughts are my own!

“Faebound” is a uniquely written book, set in a world where humans and fae no longer walk the Earth. Only the elves remain. The story focuses on two fiercely protective sisters, Yeeran, and Leetle. After a mistake, and a sentence of exile for Yeeran, the sisters embark on a journey that neither of them could have foreseen. This book’s twist and turns will keep you engaged despite some pacing issues. This book starts off with heavy world building, but that soon falls away to focus on the romances rather than the action driven plot. All in all this one fell in the middle for me.

I really loved the Arab/Afro slant to the fae. It's exhausting to read so many white faerie stories over and over.

I loved the setting and the characters, but found that it really struggled pacing wise in the second half and that made it a bit hard to finish.

This book has opened a new world for me--I will absolutely be picking up Saara El-Arifi's other books.

Faebound has a little bit of everything! I think there are aspects that anyone can enjoy whether its magic, world building, strong yet flawed characters, sapphic romance, and discussion of topics like colonialism and war. All that being said, because there are many topics being explored, some aspects felt a bit underdeveloped--not that it prevents a person from immersing themselves in the story.

I can't quite articulate why, but something about Faebound sets it apart from other fae inspired fantasies. Perhaps the lore, magic, and politics in Faebound felt more grounded. I know, I know, grounded--what a thing to say about fantasy. Truly though, the themes of war, family, and unrest offer more emotional weight to the story than other fae inspired fantasies I have read previously.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc! What a great read!

This is the book of the year for me. Amazing world building with Arab-Afrocentric influences and an incredible cast of characters. Great sapphic romantasy with a great sister story.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book! I’ve read a lot of fantasy books, but most of them have been extremely popular before I read them. Although I wouldn’t recommend this book as an intro to fantasy, if you are a fantasy lover, I would definitely pick it up!

Pila and Golan were by far my favorite characters. Their witty banter was so entertaining that I kept making me want to pick the book back up. If you love Fourth Wing, Pila very much gives off Tairnan vibes which I was so excited for.

This book was very action pact on the fantasy side but at parts I was left wondering what it would lead up to. I’m definitely interested in seeing a second book come out of this series because I want to know what happens next!! I also see a potential for a prequel to discuss more of how things really came about since there some uncertainly behind it all.

Last note: I thought it was so cute showing the journal at the end!! Seeing the different characters notes in it was a sweet bonus to include.