This is such a difficult review for me to write. I wanted to love this one so much. It’s one of my most anticipated books for the year and I went into it fully believing that it could be a five-star for me, but sadly it wasn’t. The saying that it fell flat, was exactly how I felt about this one. I needed more from it, more depth from the characters, world-building, plot, setting, etc. I also found most of the “mysterious” prophecies to be very predictable. I felt like I knew everything that was going to happen long before any of the characters did, and that was very frustrating. It didn’t help keep me engaged in the story. There are a lot of these “reveals” and yet I still felt like nothing was really happening, like it was more on the cozy side. It had so much potential to be epic, yet nothing ever felt fully fleshed out. While I appreciate an adult fantasy that isn’t 600+ pages of too much fluff, I dare say that this one needed 200 more pages to really captivate readers. It wasn’t bad, but it was rather disappointing. I don’t know what exactly to pinpoint as the reason for this, but it was an emotionally bland read for me. I’m undecided as to whether I will continue the series in the future. I liked the characters, the story world, the magic system, and I can see how the plot could thicken in future installments, and maybe the stakes will feel higher as well. But I definitely need more from it to feel fully invested and convince me that it is a series worth continuing/finishing.

I have recently gotten into fantasy books & Faebound was a good hangover book after ACOTAR! It was pretty fast paced which I enjoyed a lot. The storyline was super cool too. I would definitely read Faebound if you enjoy fantasy or if you want to test the waters with fantasy, Faebound would be a good intro.

Faebound is a very interesting fantasy book to read. I did not find myself connecting with the characters, though that just maybe me personally. I think my expectations were too high, I just couldn't completely get into it. Despite this, I think I'd be interested in reading the next books just to see where the story goes.
2.5 stars

This book had a bit of a slow start but, once it picked up I could not put it down. It has a unique take on Elves, Humans and Fae in a wonderful slow burn LGBTQIA+ Romantasy. Faebound was a rollercoaster. There were some events I was able to predict, but, more often than not I was left guessing and the reality ended up better than my predictions. I can't wait for book 2!

Overall this book was fine. But it wasn’t memorable to me. It was interesting enough that I will likely read the sequel when it is published but not something I am on the edge of my seat waiting for.

The general premise of the book had so much promise. I loved the concept and the world but the actual story had flaws to me. The magic system, the elves, the fae, and the conflict were all very interesting and I enjoyed the world building and magic system.

Things I loved:
-the magical creatures
-the way the magical creatures were part of the magic system
-the sibling relationship

My biggest complaint is that all of the romance in the book seems forced or rushed. In some aspects it even seems almost unnecessary. I love a good romance subplot, but this felt forced and not genuine.

Another thing I didn’t love about this book was that the “plot twists” were all very predictable. It felt like the author didn’t trust us as readers to think and figure things out on our own. I figured out the general lay of the main plot points fairly early in the book. Most of the “plot twists” are presented as prophecies that I believe were intended to be mysteries about the plot twists but IMO they spelled the plot twists out completely leaving little mystery to them.

The structure of the dual POV read very disjointed at times. I had difficulty keeping up with the timeline between the two POVs though I did enjoy getting to see things from both sisters POV.

Generally this book was not bad, but it didn’t feel special either. I’d probably give it a solid 3.5 stars.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024, unfortunately it missed the mark for me, and while I wish I liked it a lot more than I did the over all plot fell a bit flat. Between the predictability of the prophecies and the over all pacing I found myself taking a lot of breaks through out and really struggled to be captivated by the story.

This was my most anticipated read for 2024, and I was thrilled when I received ARC approval.

I’m going to start with the positive. I enjoyed the world presented in this book, and I found the magic system intriguing.

However, I greatly struggled with getting into the book, to the point where I decided to wait 2 weeks until the audiobook was released. Unfortunately, the audiobook made the situation worse, as the narrator’s voice was much older than the characters’ ages. While at the same time, the voice the narrator gave Lettle sounded like a whiny, petulant 12-year-old.

I went back to reading the ebook without the audiobook, but I continued to struggle. I did not feel an emotional connection to any of the characters, and the relationships in the book felt forced and clunky.

There were multiple instances in which I considered DNFing the book, but I do not DNF ARCs, so I pushed through.

Although this book did not work for me, I am planning on reading The Final Strife and the books in that series by this author, because I’ve heard great things about those books. I’m not sure why the author chose to venture into a different type of fantasy. Maybe it was to write fantasy that was appealing to a greater audience, as opposed to more serious and complex high fantasy, which tends to have fewer readers.

This is my first Saara El-Arifi novel and it single-handedly made me add her entire backlist to my immediate TBR. This novel was exquisite.

I have no notes. The romance was there and believable and entrancing. The world was so interesting and well-developed. The politics! I don’t want to say much more because I don’t want to ruin anything- I think this is a perfect novel to go in blind for. Amazing.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read one of my most anticipated books of the year early!

This is an intricate, fast-paced romantic queer-as-the-norm fantasy that I devoured in a few days. The world-building was almost seamless-- with only a few clunky passages that while important, took me out of the story--and the characters were realistically complex. While the plot wasn't completely unpredictable, it was still an enjoyable ride, and the final plot twist really did surprise me!

While the basic underlying story is one we've read before (a girl stumbles upon a hidden, thought-extinct magical world and realises she has power of her own) the magic system was so refreshingly unique (the drums, the divination, the creatures!). For me, it was the characters that made this book for me. Each character was complicated and while they didn't always make the right decisions, you still found yourself rooting for them. Yeeran is battle-hardened and jaded, but learning about love for the first time. Lettle is driven and dedicated, but has been burned too many times before. Rayan is an enigma you are almost convinced is destined to remain on the sidelines of the story as he is sidelined by our narrators. And Furi is a warrior who prioritises her community above all else, even at the expense of love.

I loved how the romances played out (despite at times feeling like they may have moved too fast) and especially the normalisation of queerness and gender fluidity within this world. It is always refreshing, and still too rare in fantasy, to see this normalisation.

Overall, a great fantasy and I can't wait for the sequel!

Wow. Just wow! This book really lived up to all the hype I've been seeing. Amazing world building and unique magic structure. Nice little twists and turns. I can't wait to see where the second book goes!

I went in with very high hopes and sadly this wasn’t for me.

I found the pacing a little two slow and I found myself getting bored at times. The world building was very interesting and had a lot of potential, but the dialogue felt clunky and I didn’t get an emotional connection to any of the characters.

Faebound was a breath of fantasy fresh air, even though the writing left me wanting. The world building, magic system, and lore were unique, interesting, and really well established. However, I found the prose to be clunky. When the scenes were filled with action and tension, I flew through the book. But the down times were full of awkward, robotic dialogue and characters that felt dry and flat.

I was also confused by the decision to make this an adult fantasy. Maybe the intent was for it to be a slow burn? But there wasn't much tension beyond innocent pining, giving me the impression this was YA. Then all of a sudden about 3/4 of the way through, there were a bunch of spicy scenes that just came out of left field! I was like wait a sec, what? We're doing this?? 🤣 I didn't think the story needed it, as it almost felt like an afterthought.

All that being said, I ultimately enjoyed the book and will continue with this series. I know there's going to be some huge battles and war scenes coming up that I'm really excited for!

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had trouble getting into this book. I’m not sure if it was the pacing or just the mood that I am currently in. There is a lot of lore for each of the three races that are in this book. I kind of feel like this book rushed the lore for each group. I don’t know if that’s intentional because maybe we are supposed to be as ignorant of their history as they are at this point. I’m not usually a huge fan of rambling descriptions of magic, and it’s usages, but in this book, I feel like it was thrown at you so fast, with no background knowledge that you had to fill in the blanks as you continued on in the story, and later learn how the magic systems work. I was not a big fan of one of the romances at the beginning, which in retrospect makes sense but I feel like it was supposed to make me think that that was the main romance and I just couldn’t buy it because I didn’t feel it between the characters. There was no chemistry. I’m sure there’s going to be a sequel to this because there are a lot of prophecies that are mentioned in this book that aren’t fulfilled by the end. Plus there are a lot of loose ends at the end of this book. I absolutely love the obeah plotline. I do feel like, especially towards the end we have too many “chosen one”’s and it just kind of feels like too many fantasy tropes thrown into one book. I guess all of that is to say, I feel like this should’ve been drawn out a little bit more over the course of two books or the beginning should’ve been much shorter and been a prologue, and we start with the Fae. I feel like we were shortchanged on the elf lore because we were rushing to get to the fae realm. I might read the sequel when it comes out just because I am curious about some of the prophecies. On a completely unrelated note, this book is spicy, which was unexpected but not unpleasant. I also appreciate the LGBTQ plus representation.

Faebound falls into the "fun but forgettable" stack for me. I most certainly dont regret reading it but I don't have a burning desire to pick up the second.

I found the characters and world building intriguing enough. The Lore that is provided in this first installment was imaginative and evocative. For me the problems stemmed from the plot. It felt driven by convenience opposed to logic. The pacing felt grueling at times and just as it starting moving at a decent clip it would slow back down making the book as a whole feel slightly choppy and disjointed.

I don't think I will continue with this series based solely off based on the plot and pacing.

I'm a big fan of the genre and was excited to read this.
I was interested to find out where the story ended up, but didn't feel the characters and conflict were fully fleshed out. I'll continue this series to see what happens to these characters.

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this

I really struggled with this hard and almost DNFed multiple times. Do not get me wrong: I LOVE romantasy. And fantasy in general. So this fit right into genres that I normally am completely drawn to. I just couldn't fall into this book like I really needed: the world building just wasn't there.
The plot felt a bit stagnant and...boring? I don't really get how fantasy can be boring, but I think the predictability of it all became very slow. I also don't love prophecies unless the stakes feel REAL, and for me, this never felt real.
I also really struggled with the romance and the romantic/love reveal: I had to keep checking that I read it right. Romance and war mixed together is a tough genre to nail, and I think this really showed WHY its so hard to get right. The romance felt tonally off from some of the other parts of the story.

This is just not the romantasy for my tastes.

Saara's book, featuring Sapphic Elves & Fae, colonialism & war, and a captivating magic system, has been on my mind for a month. The dual POV, with both equally enjoyable, creates a slowburn that will leave you screaming. The beautifully described fae realm, its creatures, nature, and architecture, reminiscent of The Hobbit, truly immerses readers in a lush world that is hard to put down. This sapphic fantasy novel, with diverse representation and both WLW and WLM relationships, is a personal favorite. Grateful to the publisher for the review copy.

Addictive and gripping from start to finish, FAEBOUND is the fantasy read you don’t want to miss. I loved every last bit of it,

3.5 stars- I liked the concept of this story! I thought the world and the magic system was very unique and the world building was written well. It’s giving me Avatar vibes but make it Fae which I loved. This is the first book in a trilogy and I am looking forward already to reading the next book when it comes out!

My favorite parts of this book was the Fairytale/Folklore/History snippets at the beginning of each new “part” of the book, the prophecies, and of course Pila. I want a Pila POV chapter please! The glossary was cute too-missing Rayans Obeah though.

Character development was where this book was most lacking. I liked Lettles POV more than Yeeran. She at least had emotion throughout and her intentions were always spoken. Yeeran was completely dull which made no sense to me because she should be thriving in this world with everything that changed and happened to her yet she is just there and emotionless. None of the relationships in the book were developed they just happened and the timing was completely random in terms of the way they all interacted with each other as time went on.

Welcome to the intoxicating world of "Faebound," where Saara El-Arifi, following her Sunday Times bestseller "THE FINAL STRIFE," weaves another mesmerizing tale of adventure, magic, and the unbreakable bonds of family. This isn't just another fantasy novel; it's an expedition into the heart of elven and fae realms, wrapped in layers of intrigue, desire, and warfare. So, buckle up, dear readers, because we’re about to embark on a journey that’s as enchanting as it is perilous.

As this was my first entry into Saara writing style I am now interested in reading The Final Strife series. I keep reading good things. This series is great for those getting back into fantasy or just need an interesting read without being too complicated.

Divided by Blood, Imprisoned by Fate, Bound by Desire

At the core of "Faebound" are two sisters, Yeeran and Lettle, entangled in a world brimming with conflict and prophesies. Yeeran, the warrior, and Lettle, the diviner, find themselves flung from the familiarity of elven lands into the enigmatic embrace of the fae. The fae court, a civilization thought to be lost to the annals of time, offers both wonder and danger in equal measure. Everything changes when our two main characters land here.

A Tale of Two Worlds

Imagine being torn from everything you know, only to be thrust into a society as intoxicating as it is lethal. This is the reality for Yeeran, who, after a fateful mistake, finds herself in the heart of the fae realm. The novel excels in painting a vivid picture of contrasting cultures—the disciplined, war-torn elven society versus the beguiling, enigmatic ways of the fae. El-Arifi’s storytelling prowess shines as she explores these dichotomies, inviting readers to ponder where true allegiance lies.

Why "Faebound" Should Be Your Next Read

"Faebound" is more than just a fantasy novel; it’s a journey. El-Arifi crafts a world where every page holds a new surprise, every chapter a challenge to our protagonists’ wits and wills. Whether you’re drawn to the allure of magic, the complexity of political intrigue, or the depth of human (and fae) relationships, there’s something in this tale for you.

Overall, this series has potential. I am curious about where our characters lead and understand this world more. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for the ARC.