This was fine. The world building and the magical system was great but ultimately it was a lot of arguing and not a lot of communicating.

This book is not for plot-driven readers—say it again in the back! Not for plot readers!!

Now I’ve seen conflicting opinions about this book, and it all focuses on the plot. Did much happen in this book plot-wise? Honestly, not really. If it weren’t for my love of the characters (Lettle and Rayan = my awkward cuties & Yeeran = intrusive thought chaos) and world building, I probably wouldn’t be rating it this high. The characters are passive when it comes to the action of the book. They converse with other characters and explore, but the driving force of the plot is weak because it boils down to one thing: escape. If you’re a plot reader, I’m hesitant to recommend Faebound.

Here's a brief summary of the plot in the first 25%:

Yeeran (of the Waning tribe) is banished after ignoring orders and leading her army into a deadly battle with the Crescent tribe. Her sister Lettle follows her into the wild, followed closely by Yeeran's former captain Rayan who also feels responsible for the error in battle. All three are elves. Yeeran is hunting for an obeah (magical feline-like creature with horns) whose skin is used to cover drums to create magic called drumfire. When the three reunite, they eventually track down and kill an obeah. Immediately, the three are attacked and captured by fae (believed to be extinct along with humans) and taken underground to the fae kingdom. They do this because to kill an obeah (with black fur) is to also kill a corresponding fae due to the magical bonding of the two in their culture. Yeeran had the unfortunate circumstance to not only kill an obeah-fae pairing... But specifically the elder Crown Prince of the fae.

Now obviously, Yeeran is not executed for her crimes like the fae initially plan to do. She gets out of it by accidentally bonding with an obeah, something that should ~allegedly~ only happen between fae and obeah. The crew is forced to stay in the fae kingdom, so the main plot becomes escape. They spend the next 80% of the book learning the customs of the fae and interacting with various members of the court and society to aid their escape. Besides a death here or there, that's pretty much the gist of the plot.

I understand why people are upset with the plot, but I’ve come to realize that Saara likes to setup her series a ton in the first book. There’s a lot of slow buildup in the middle 80% of the book, but once, the end hits, she throws everything at us. When I read The Battle Drum, I got to see the fruits of her first book’s labor via setup. I’m expecting the same to happen with Faebound sequel.

Now you may be wondering why my review is so high if the plot is lacking. Well, the characters and world building were phenomenal! I'm a sucker for complicated, sassy, even annoying (at times) leads, and we certainly got a variety of personalities. Even though Rayan does not have a POV, I loved his dialogue where he voiced his concerns or thoughts to Lettle. Rayan and Yeeran are definitely solider types in their thinking, very cutesy jock-like honestly, but then, we have the divination/ intellectual Lettle to counteract their thick skulls. I'm hoping Rayan is added as a POV in the sequel because we now know his biggest secret, and Saara had to hide us from it due to the plot twist.

I loved the elf and fae interactions. Surprisingly enough I have not read that many elf stories, so it was refreshing to read about the leads because I don’t have that much experience with their species. Fae on the other hand are wildly over-consumed in my reading. I liked that I got to see them in this new depiction, but it wasn’t as a leading character. Thereby, I have this separation from them because my allegiance is to the elves. Both the elves and fae have a great culture when it comes to gender and sexuality, so I loved that while the species are very different from each other, their form of gender expression and love were one of the same.

The last thing I want to bring up is the romantic fantasy elements of the book. This is not romantasy because the romance is technically a subplot, but the romance is very apparent. There are a couple explicit scenes, but it is 2-3 scenes max. Arguably, only one scene is truly explicit in my opinion.

Lettle and Rayan are the first two pairings readers root for. I loved them from their first awkward moment together as they stumbled around to find Yeeran. I'm a big sucker for the quiet man, opinionated woman trope, and they follow that to a T! I see my own relationship in theirs a lot, so it was very easy to sway me to love them haha. Their miscommunication will definitely drive a few of you wild—definitely did for me at times—but their shared moments ultimately overpowered any annoyance I felt about that trope.

Then Yeeran... she's a bit more complicated. Readers see her first with her Waning Chieftan Salawa. They're lovers, but pretty quickly, I got this weird feeling about Salawa. She does not fight hard enough to save Yeeran from her banishment, and I heavily noticed the toxicity in their unequal power dynamics, ruler and general. Lettle immediately makes many comments to Yeeran that she's imprisoned within that relationship. Yeeran consistently thinks of Salawa throughout the course of the book because it is the foundation for why she kills the obeah after her banishment. Salawa becomes this goal of Yeeran's in her desire to escape. Thus, the power imbalance only worsens, and then, the second love interest arrives.

Oh, Furi. You had no chance of hating Yeeran because she never intended to kill your older brother. She'd never touch an obeah if she knew they were attached to a fae. Yeeran's actions were one of ignorance, and she is upfront about that. I think that's the moment where Furi's walls began to loosen. They're definitely an enemies to reluctant acquaintances to lovers trope haha. I'm REALLY excited to see where their relationship goes, especially now that Yeeran has left the kingdom to inform the world of the obeah and their link to fae. She wants to stop the war between Waning and Crescent, but we find out Furi and the fae rulers have been working alongside Crescent in a mutually beneficial relationship to try to break their curse. Honestly, I loved that complexity to their relationship because it shows both have done harm to the other in ignorant ways, but now they have decided to work together and choose one another. Salawa is the biggest question mark for me by the end because how will she react to Yeeran's return, especially since Yeeran is no longer romantically loyal to her? The manipulation via romance is gone now, so I;m curious to see what tensions go down between Salawa, Yeeran, and even Furi.

Overall, thank you to Del Rey for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First and foremost I’m so appreciative to NetGalley & Random House Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off strong, I’d say about the first 50% I was convinced this was going to be a 5 star for me and the sapphic fantasy of my DREAMS.
We start out in a centuries long battle between warring Elven clans & our main female character is leading her first battalion. Some choices she makes lead to tragedy, and her long time lover is the person in charge of her fate.
What really drove me to be so excited about this book, all the high stakes plot set up, seemed very easily resolved.
Eventually, the characters started to feel sort of like copies of each other. Like their personalities were so similar sometimes I’d forget who I was reading about in that moment because there was very little distinction.
This in and of itself wouldn’t have been terrible, however when there is few discernible qualities between characters their relationships sort of fall flat. And with this being a romantic fantasy, developing deep or intricate relationships is part of the draw and what makes the genre so interesting. It all felt so focused on physicality, which for this book felt a little boring.

All that said, I will likely continue the series. I do think there is a lot of potential for the story to be so incredibly exciting. I just hope our characters have a little more individuality and possibly some high stakes with follow through.
YES IF: you want your stories to give you answers clearly, you like a lot of hot headedness in your characters
NO IF: you’re wanting a lot of suspense pushing a story forward, want a deep love based relationship

The world building and intricateness of the story was great - but the dialogue was just rough for me. I really wanted to like this book and maybe *maybe* if I get it on audio someday I might be able to get into it a little more. It was good and I loved the dynamics between the sisters and the twist was fantastic. I will definitely continue the series, but I will wait to get it on audio.

DNF for now at 30%
The lore and fantasy had me invested and normally this is something that I would eat up but the characters aren't clinking with me at the moment but since I did enjoy her previous work I do plan on continuing this book when I buy it.

<I>First, a thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</I>

This is such a strange book to rate, for me. It was a solid 4 stars until the last 75% or so, and then it just… petered off.

I just felt like there were so many threads and pieces that got conveniently tied up at the end, at the expense of a smooth or believable plot. Like, several of the big twists 1) I saw coming and 2) we just got an ope! Guess what it’s all sorted now! At the end.

The world was so interesting, and I was really enthralled with the idea of casting/wielding magic with drumfire, and then we barely got to ever see that in action!

I also wasn’t particularly committed to any of the characters - they were fine, I guess, but there was no one I was really rooting for… except for maybe the magical cats. What can I say, I’m a crazy cat lady to my core.

This is such a beautiful book! There a lots of cool parts in this story: sisters with special gifts, magical tree of souls, hidden histories that the sisters are delving into.

Consider the multiple trigger warnings here before reading: child soldiers, violence, animal deaths, slavery, illness, discussions of human trafficking.

Tribal elves, fae, prophecy, a human??? I loved the way the author blended so many familiar elements into something that felt new! I loved the first person/multiple POV's to follow the story as it unfolded. There was action, romance, magic, war, and subterfuge all wrapped up in one book. I took one star off because the end felt just a little rushed, but overall I'm excited to see what happens next!

The world and magic system were easy to understand but a lot of the events felt too convenient. It didn’t really keep my interest and didn’t fine the romance believable.

This was such a unique world! I really enjoyed the characters and plot. The world building was beautifully done and the writing was excellent. I loved the magic and the premise.

3.25✨

BIPOC author. Adult debut. Dual POV. Sapphic. Disability rep. High fantasy.

Faebound is a story about two elven sisters, Yeeran and Lettle, who’ve been expelled from their homeland and find themselves surrounded by the fae they thought were just stories.

I loved the magic system, lore, and lush world. I thought it was immersive, fun, and creative. The fae’s society was intriguing with fresh politics and social takes. I especially loved Lettle’s character, especially in the first half of the book. Her relationship with her love interest was adorable (she was grumpy and he was sunshine). What didn’t quite work for me were many of the character relationships. I felt like there was a lot of insta-love. Also, while I liked Lettle and her love interest at first, it quickly devolved into it seeming like she needed him, making her disability come across as a weakness rather than just another part of who she is (ex: she calls for him several times when she’s in danger). I found the plot to be predictable and overcrowded, and I just wanted so much more out of this.

Altogether, this was a creative adult debut, and while it wasn’t a favorite of mine, I would be interested in continuing on in the series. I’d recommend this to anyone who likes fae, high fantasy, and fun magic systems.

Much thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book for my honest review.

loved the relationship between characters and the bonds they had. the setting and world was very interesting and dynamic. it had so much potential but the plot and story dragged for me at times and i had to take breaks in between before i could continue. i was really looking forward to it so maybe i’ll try rereading again in the future when i’m more in the mood for this type of book.

I thought I would be able to finish this in no time, but unfortunately I had to DNF it for now. I really enjoyed the characters, and am planning to come back to this in the next month or so to see if I can finish it once I’m in a different headspace!

I own and have read other works by this author, so I was excited to get this one. First I will say that the world building, the characters, setting etc were all top notch. Where it fell short, in my opinion, was the plot and moving at a steady pace. Some parts just moved really slow for me. However, I did keep in mind that this was not a stand alone book. It was the first in a series. So I think that this first book is setting up a lot of things that will follow in the coming books. I still enjoyed it and would recommend it.

A beautifully crafted story. The journey of Lettle, Rayan, and Yeeran as characters was a joy to read.
The idea of obeah all being tied to a fae is confusing, as there were a lot of them roaming around outside of Mossima at one point. It was also a little bit of a slow starter, but by the end it all came together in a very satisfying manner with a perfect lead-out to the next book. Can’t wait to continue the series!
Thank you to the publishers for granting me this galley!

Let me preface this review by saying I did not end up being the target audience for Faebound. The synopsis on the back sounded right up my alley, and to a point, it was. Fae, elves, magic, come on!! Love all of those! I struggled to really get going in the beginning of the book. The plot was good and I enjoyed reading about a different kind of magic (drumming), and i definitely did not see the twist that happened with Rayan (OMGEEEE)!!! I did not enjoy some of the character weakness in Yeeran ( Lettle, she was AMAZING) and i did not enjoy the gender fluidity (not my thing). Overall a well written book and excellent world building.

I’m so blessed to have been able to read this arc I’m absolutely in love with this book an I’ll be recommending it to any reader, I come across

I loved the ideas in this book but there were a few things that made me love it a little less. Firstly I love a good morally grey character but at times I just found them a little annoying and the relationships to be rather rushed (yeeran and furi especially). Outside of that I loved the general plot like although I did feel that both it and the foreshadowing was very heavy handed for the first 80% of the book. The last 20% was by far my favorite. I thought it was a strong ending and although many things shook out the way I thought there was additional reveals hidden within. Overall a good story but a definite first book in the series. I hope that some of the characters will continue to develop as the series goes on and I look forward to finding out.

I absolutely loved this book. I kept putting it off because I knew I was either going to love it or hate it and I really did not want to hate it. I love the history of the world that the author has created. I liked that there were humans, elves, and fae and that they were all connected.
The relationships in the book were done very well. All 3 types of relationships, the romantic, platonic and sibling, the good and ugly were shown. This book shows what keeping secrets can do to a person. It shows that the choices that we make do not only affect us but also the ones we love and who love us.
The magic system was really cool and involved divination, battle-magic using sound, and magical connections with animals. I think that each one was explained enough for me to understand but there is room for the author to grow and expand it in future books in the series. There were animal companions tied to the magical creatures and one's blood.
This book did have some problems for me. I thought the romance happened a little too fast and the sex scenes were not bad but they were not mind blowing either. I also thought that some decisions made were a little out of character. All of these said, none of them really distracted me or brought me out of the story. I still devoured this book and wanted more when I was done.
The plot is about 2 elvan sisters being banished and finding out that the old stories of fae and humans might not be just bedtime stories. While they try to find a way to get home, secrets from the past reveal themselves and some people are not who they make themselves out to be.
I read this book in a day and as soon as I was done I wanted to read it again. I can not wait for the next book. This is a 5 STAR book for me!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this early review copy of this book.

I absolutely loved this book. The fantasy world wasn't overly complicated so it was easy to get into and just relax and read. I loved the characters and their relationships. While some parts were fairly predictable, to me it wasn't a bad thing. I enjoyed it all. I cannot wait to read more and find out what happens next in the series. My one complaint for the whole book is the sex scenes. I personally don't care for romance and smut, it's not what I personally enjoy reading. But if you're going to include it don't use flowery, vague language when referencing body parts and what they're doing to each other. Those parts were fairly cringey to me. But the rest of the book, A+.