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.

I thought the world building in Faebound was really interesting, but that it could have gone a bit farther. It started off promising and then the world started to stagnate a bit. I also felt the pacing was a little off. It seemed to drag a bit, and most of the plot twists were very predictable. While the characters individually were interesting, the romances weren't really doing it for me. The prose itself was very readable, and I was interesting in following the story, but it also felt ambivalent about the novel as a whole.

Thanks to NetGalley and Rey for the eARC!

This book took me by complete surprise! Not going to lie the premise kinda sounded mediocre and .somewhat familiar but boy was I so wrong! I had a blast from the first chapter to the very end! All Romantasy readers MUST READ THIS BOOK! The world building is perfect! Not overwhelming but just enough that you feel immersed in this amazing world! The characters were absolutely incredible as well! Saara El-Arifi is a genius!!

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is unbiased, honest, and completely my own.

Loved!!!! This story pulled me in so fast and did not let go!! I loved the magic system and the three gods, and how everything is so interconnected. Yeeran and Lettle are sister goals! I love how fiercely they love each other and look out for one another. Rayan is a great character too, I love his story and I can’t wait to see what happens next. There were so many twists and turns, and I loved how everything came together. All of the breadcrumbs in the beginning of the story started to pop back up more towards the end, and then started to make sense and shock me in completely different ways. I cannot wait for the next book, and I highly recommend this!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

In a world where the Fae and Humans no longer walk the earth, it’s only the elves that now walk the earth. But all is not well in the land as the Forever War rages on. Yeeran is the youngest colonel the Waning Army has ever had. She has always been out to prove herself, not only to her people, but also her Chieftain (and lover), Salawa. On her first day as Colonel, Yeeran makes a deadly mistake and is sent to exile because of this decision. But Yeeran isn’t facing it alone. Yeeran’s younger sister, Lettle, is chasing after her because it was she who encouraged Yeeran’s decision. As fate would have it, Yeeran makes ANOTHER decision with the hopes of saving herself from exile, only to be ensnared by the Fae. After a millennia, the Fae have shown their face and now Yeeran is paying the price for her decision, again. In this time of Fae captivity, will Yeeran learn her lesson or will a new lesson be taught?

This book has given me mix feelings. I really enjoyed it because it was so easy to get through! The world building is great and the cast of characters are quite interesting. So why the mixed feelings? This book is laying the ground work for the series. The ebbs and flow of the story and the plot are minimal but the world we are thrown into is written with the expectation that you don’t know anything about it! I guessed some of the major plot points very early on but it didn’t strip the enjoyment away. I plowed through this book in about 3 days. I liked this book a lot but it may not be for everyone. Overall I did give it 4/5 stars. I’m interested to see the next one!

I see why this is one of the most anticipated books of the year! It has a lot of elements of an enjoyable fantasy-romance read. The story follows two sisters who are brought into a new realm and have to learn to survive (and maybe escape?). It has a lot of tropes that people tend to enjoy ("who did this to you," one bed, enemies to lovers, betrayal, prophecy, secret identity). I enjoyed the book and it was heavily focused on the characters and the relationships between them (less on an adventure, plot-based story). I am really looking forward to book 2, because I could see how this book is setting up a lot of potential conflicts for the future. I am hoping we get more POVs in the future (this one gave us the two sisters POVs).

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey for providing an eARC of this book.

Faebound was one of my most anticipated novels of this year. Announced as the fantasy romance of the year, I was excited to delve into El-Arifi's take on fantasy romance, as well as, my introduction to her novel. I believe the novel started off strong with the prologue introducing us to the creation myths of this world. However, it was right after this that I found the plot started to meander and go off track, giving itself to convenience and unbelievability.

While the language of this series is a lot more accessible compared to the author's other series, the Final Strife, I actually believe it works to the detriment of the novel. A little more sophistication to the plot, the characters, and the language would have elevated the novel and allowed the richness of the world and the uniqueness of the characters to shine through—making the conflict far more tense and action-packed. Moreover, the novel tries to use the sisterhood between Yeeran and Lettie as a selling point and I was really looking forward to the unique dynamic and dual POV. However, at some point, both POVs started to really blend into each other and make it difficult to follow who was speaking and whose head we were in. As this is an adult novel, I was hoping that the characters would be a lot more mature in their characterizations and conflict. Yeeran, a military commander, makes awful choices for someone who apparently has been fighting in a war for years and it is difficult to root for her and Lettle when they make such contradicting choices.

The romance was another heavily marketed point of the novel and I was disappointed by how fast-paced and instant love-driven it was for both POVs. Ultimately, I was disappointed by the execution as this novel idea seemed fresh, set against a lush background, but ended up being a product that required more thought, complexity, and editing. I do believe El-Arifi has the potential to write amazing novels and will be looking forward to what they create next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book. This is my first Saara El-Arifi book and I will definitely be reading more from her. I loved the world building, the sisters' relationship and the queer rep. I really liked the direction the story took and I look forward to reading the sequel. My major issue with this book was the pacing. It went between either chapters of almost nothing happening or non-stop action and there was no in-between. It took me a while to get motivated to finish this book and it took a while to get into it. That being said, I'm looking forward to seeing Saara develop the rest of this world, the creatures, the characters, and the relationships she created -all of which I LOVED in this book.

Ethnic romantasy is becoming my new favorite genre. Faebound introduced us to the war filled world between the elves and fae and the sisters at the center of it all Yeeran and Yettle.

Life is a hard road for Yeeran, who holds an authoritative position within the elven army, but she can't quite stomach the agenda of her commander and lover. Yettle is the little sister who has a mind of her own but has issues with being left behind. An unearthed secret is slowly eating at her sanity.

A mistake brands Yeeran an outcast amongst her people and ultimately exiled....that doesn't stop her band of friends led by her sister from following her put into the unknown.

Ultimately, a killing blow lands them in more hot water when they are captured by the fae who want nothing more but to kill them.

A suprising bond spares their lives and immerses them into a new world full of magic, fear, hate, politics, murder, and love.

Our band of characters are desperate for escape but end up learning more about themselves within the fae community than they could have even imagined. As you get to the heart of the story, you will get more and more surprising revelations.
You will ultimately be left with a cliffhanger as the veil between worlds opens and closes...I cannot wait for book 2 because this is just the beginning and a war is brewing.

This was such a fun and exciting fantasy book! I was concerned at first that it would be completely war and battle based which is not usually my taste. I was so happy with the romance and found family aspects in this book. I cannot wait for the next book in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the eARC!

I’m usually picky with fantasy and it has to grip me immediately, this absolutely did that! I loved Lettle and Yeeran, particularly Lettle, and thought they were interesting characters. I saw the romantic pairings coming a mile away, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing - I will say that the transitions to lover for both pairs felt very fast to me. As the book progressed I loved the world built (very rich and intriguing) and the lore - I wanted more of that, more detail, more information, etc. Peela and Yeeran’s relationship was lovely, and Peela as a character was delightful in general. I’m excited for the next book and hoping for deeper world building and romance. This was great, but had the potential to be excellent. I loved it, but I wanted more.

Fantasy setting with older cast (aka not following a bunch of teens or early 20-somethings around) with a solid WLW relationship with one of the main heroines? Yes, please!

It took a little bit to get fully immersed into the world and understand all of the terms with the new magic system, but it's well worth it - this was such a refreshing take on the fantasy genre. The world of Mosima, its society and traditions, was fascinating and kept the pages turning. I loved the idea of drum magic and how the elves, fae, and humans were tied to different forms of magic, not to mention how intrinsically the magic and its people are tied to the world around them. That alone was such a pleasure to read about. And who wouldn't want an Obeah of their own?

Some of the plot twists were not surprising at all, especially since divination is very much a part of this world, but it didn't detract from the story for mel. If anything, it made me feel more for the characters and their struggles. And more than once, I found myself parsing through the prophecies trying and hoping to see if there was another way it could play out, if there was some kind of "loop hole" in the wording I just wasn't seeing yet. And there's still a few that haven't come to pass by the end of this book. Waiting for the next one will be painful, but I'm very excited to see how the story will continue!

This book had an odd effect on me- I was instantly captivated by it but as it went on I became less and less invested.

I think this could’ve done so much more and gone so much deeper as a fantasy novel. I was hoping for more in the romance department as it is marketed as a queer romantasy but the romance was lackluster and the fantasy elements werent explored as deeply as they could have been. I didn’t hate it but I just don’t have strong feelings towards it one way or another. I think I will still read the next in the series because I have heard great things about this author

I haven’t fully finished this yet! But I’m about half way through and I’m obsessed!!! This is amazing and I can’t wait to finish and post my finished thoughts on Goodreads!