this is such a hard book to rate and review, because i truly loved so much of it. the characters, the set up, the setting, the messages and themes, even the writing was so perfect for me. But the plot of this? oh, friends, i was just unable to be captivated by it. i really found myself a bit bored while reading, and while waiting for these things i loved to make a plot that i equally loved, but sadly it just never happened.

this is a story about two elven sisters, one blessed with battle and one blessed with prophecy, and their journey discovering that the fae are real when they are banished from their elven homeland. we get to see the underground world of the fae, their bonded animal companions, a really cool tree of souls, and the different magic they are able to harness. And then a murder mystery plotline also comes about while these sisters are trying to survive and learn a history that has been hidden from them.

again, there was so much good in this. It truly breaks my heart to give this a three star. And i promise i will read more from this author in the future.

trigger + content warnings: battle, war, blood, children soldiers, talk of selling children / human trafficking, slavery, illness, a lot of talk of loss of a parent in past, graphic animal deaths also involving skinning, violence, gore, torture, captivity, brief hospital setting, murder, and death.

Faebound weaves an enchanting tale of self-discovery and disillusionment within a meticulously crafted fantasy world. The narrative, rich with emotion, explores the harsh realities of its universe. While the story's pace occasionally left me eagerly awaiting revelations, this anticipation added a compelling depth. Despite a slower pace compared to typical "romantasy" books, Faebound emerges as a high fantasy masterpiece, showcasing intricate plots and profound character development in a captivating dance between self-discovery and the unforgiving nature of the world.

Definitely giving this book 3.75 stars. I don’t believe a 3 provides it justice but 4 stars isn’t right either. I did enjoy this book. The action and plot twists were amazing. Yeeran and Lettle needed a moment to grown on me but the sister relationship was super sweet. I very much enjoyed the multiple romance story lines and all the action. I will say my rating is mostly on how predictable a lot of this book was. The author’s bread crumbs were not subtle and the prophecies were very straight forward. It was an easy read, but I wish we had worked for some more of the answers. My only other caveat is the flow of the book. The beginning was fast paced and pulled me, but the middle of the novel felt very world building ish and bored me very easily. I felt like some of the information could have been sprinkled around to make things more interesting. Yeeran is def a favorite character and Rayan’s growth was chef’s kiss. Definitely still recommend as a read and I need to know what happens next for sure!

Thank you for the chance of reading this. Honestly at the time I read I wasn’t feeling it. I am such a mood reader so I wasn’t enjoying it. I will surely try to read again and maybe then it will be exactly what I need.

Typically an author’s writing style doesn’t both me, but this one felt a bit amateurish and I personally could not get over that to be able to enjoy the book. It just wasn’t for me!

I felt that this book started off a little slow but it did pick up towards the end and I really enjoyed it! The magical system is different and I'm loving all of the love situations that are in this book. I am really excited to see where book 2 goes!

Faebound is my favorite read of the year so far and I can easily invision this being one of my favorite trilogies in the future. Saara El-Arfi has done a wonderful job creating complex characters with an intriguing magic system. No matter which characters POV I was following I was continuously entertained. I honestly cannot recommend this book enough.

This was sadly incredibly boring. I never cared about anything. I'm not a fan of prophecies and knowing what's going to happen, and basing your actions on trying to thwart the future that you're aware of when you know that's not even a possibility. Lettle was my favorite pov, but the prophecy influencing her decisions and leading to her sabotaging her relationship right at the start kind of ruined that for me. Yeeran I didn't like at all. Her motivations felt dumb to me. Like you are making horrible decisions. Over all, I forced myself to read this book, it was not a good time. And that is such a disappointment.

I did not enjoy this book unfortunately. The plot was boring, the characters fell flat. The romance was stale. There was no fire in the authors writing. The characters read way younger than they were. To me they seemed like teenagers. While the world was cool and the magic was neat, overall this was a massive letdown. 😩

I really enjoyed this book! I appreciated this character development of the main character, Yeeran, and the world building throughout the book. Although this was an excellent read for the fantasy enthusiast, it also had a beautiful family element to it and touched on the bonds of sisterhood. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this beautiful work!

West African lore-based fantasy with Elves and Fae? Yep sign me up.

What I ✨loved✨:

The setting, lore, and magic system were *chef’s kiss.* the prologue of this book is goosebump-inducing and sets us up for something truly epic. The tone that is set during the first quarter of this story is both haunting (in terms of war, hunger, g3nocide) and beautiful with the magic Yeeran wields. I loved the element of surprise when we find out the source of Elvish power after Yeeran’s exile.

The sapphic romance was lovely (Yeeran gets to experience TWO loves in her lifetime? How is that fair?!) and I loved almost all the characters introduced to us in the Fae world.

What kind of confused me:
The actual motivation for this ongoing war remained unclear, we kind of just accept that they’ve been fighting forever because of free will? Maybe that was the point, to highlight the grand pointlessness of war, but I’m unsure.

I understand Lettle’s character was the “younger sibling” but I didn’t understand why she was portrayed as so juvenile? Almost as if we were reading from the perspective of a 14 year old but she was definitely much older. I loved Lettle’s unique magic but hope to see more expanded on the origins of divination in the second book.

Overall I think this was a fun romantasy and I’m inclined to check out more of El-Arifi’s work!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Faebound has got to be one of the best books I’ve read in the past year. It’s the first of a trilogy of books centered around two sisters. The fantasy and lore were top-notch for me, it was so enchanting that I couldn’t put this book down. I can’t wait for the next two books and I can’t wait to see where else this story goes.

I LOVE Saara El-Arifi ! I am a seasoned fantasy lover and this take on elves and fae was INCREDIBLE. So unique-- truly nothing I have ever read like it. Culturally rich and fantastically imaginative (not to mention SAPPHIC), this is my new favorite El-Arifi.

This my first Saara El-Arifi book and though my curiosity has been piqued enough to read Faebound’s sequel, I’m not sure I’ve been spurred to read El-Arifi’s backlog.

Faebound starts with a highly compelling beginning, hooking its readers with an interesting main character and her fiery sister, woven together into an intriguing world of elves and fae. However, as the story progresses, the lackluster characterization and viciously uneven pacing destroy even the skeleton of a great story.

The LGBTQ elements felt markedly forced, I liked the disjointed dynamic between Yeeran and her commander, their power imbalance coupled with Yeeran’s need to stay loyal was written quite well. But any semblance of LGBTQ elements completely fall off the story after the first 20%. Later on in the story, Yeeran’s romantic interest is piqued once more but the relationship feels entirely forced and lacking in any chemistry between the two characters. Honestly, it genuinely feels like the straight romance between Lettle and Rayan was far better developed and much more focused on than any of the sapphic elements. Which truly is such a massive disappointment considering how this book was constantly marketed as LGBTQ romantasy.

And on top of this, the pacing was so touch and go through out the whole book. The beginning throws readers into the midst of the elven war, giving readers space to grasp new terms and characters. But the middle completely dwindles to a standstill. The world building within the far world consists of mindless info dumping where the plot moves like molasses as readers learn every tiny little detail about fae. And while that can be entertaining and engaging when Lettle and Yeeran are first thrust into that world, an entire 30% dedicated to a standstill plot is not compelling in the slightest. And to have the last 15% hinge entirely on miscommunication is TIRED. I’m begging authors to be an ounce more original.

That all being said, even with the plot and LGBTQ elements being disappointing, I still had fun with the story. It was entertaining to read a mediocre lighthearted, low-ish stakes story featuring an entire BIPOC cast, I’ll likely be picking up the second book whenever it comes out , but it’s definitely not going to be a high priority read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was very interested in Faebound by Saara El-Arifi and while the concepts were cool and the overall story has promise, the execution was lacking. Many things, including the characters, felt underdeveloped. The smutty scenes didn't have a lot of buildup, so they felt like the details were only there for the sake of smut, not to be sensual or titillating. Much of prophecy and character relationships and revelations were predictable, which by itself is not a knock against the book, I wanted more from the telling of the story. I did enjoy the magic system, especially the obeah and battle drums. I also liked the diversity representation, especially including characters using they/them pronouns. Overall, this book was just fine; I probably won't continue the series, but I hope it improves in subsequent books.

This review also posted to Goodreads.

This was said to be the “It” book of 2024. I had high hopes that statement was true! Unfortunately, I do not agree with the rumors. I do think the plot is compelling; the magic system is very unique; and I wanted to learn more about the characters and the world around them. I was quite invested in finding the answers to the many questions raised within the pages of this book. However, I found the writing to be clunky and awkward. The words did not flow. The conversations between characters didn’t feel natural. Even the names of the characters didn’t flow. (Google hasn’t been helpful in finding out where they originated, either).

I also had many questions about several other plot points, which weren’t fully explained. Like why do the elves need the Fraedia crystal to grow crops when they have sun? (The crystal provides light; and it’s very valuable to grow food … but wouldnt the sun work?) Many elves live in poverty because there’s a lack of crystal to grow food. Why was the FMC punished (exiled!) for making one bad call on her first day as colonel? Seems kind of harsh! Those are only two of several questions I kept wondering.

I think the disability representation, the race diversity, and LGBTQIA inclusion were great and refreshing to see! I’m unsure if I will read the second book, although I am curious to see where the cliffhanger leads.

"And where there is value, there is power, and where there is power, violence will always brew."

Yeeran has always been a loyal soldier of her people, her sole purpose to fight in the Forever War and secure enough food for her people. Lettle, her sister and practitioner of divination, wants nothing more than for her sister to leave the army and find a new purpose. When Yeeran is exiled, tossed aside by her elven people, she must find a new path. Determined to earn back her honor, she tracks and kills an obeah--a magical beast that is used to make drumskin for weapons of the army. Unfortunately, Yeeran kills more than an obeah and ends up as a prisoner alongside her sister and former captain. The bigger problem? Their capturs shouldn't exist.

I LOVED this one so much. There's a unique magic/combat system, well-defined characters, and prose that is reminiscent of Tolkien. We have politics, we have world building, we have sassy secondary magical creatures. We have a romantic subplot that is relevant to the story, but it is not THE story--fantasy romance more so than romantasy. I actually didn't see some of the twists coming, but they weren't totally out of left field. And the addition of the journal at the end with the notes made by the characters was a wonderful touch.

I cannot WAIT for the next book in this series!

This is for you if you like:
~Worldbuilding
~Political Fantasy stories
~Sapphic Romance /LGBT representation (non-binary and transgender representation, as well as MF and MM relationships)
~Stories about elves, fae, magic, and magical creatures (Pila is everything, ya'll)

I tried several times to get into this book and unfortunately I couldn't. It was very slow paced and I did not feel at all connected to any characters and did not care enough about them to continue.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Having Loved The Final Strife, I was highly anticipating this book. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed.

I loved the concept of Fae bonding with Obeah; these animals share a pyschic link with the Fae who mentally bond with them, becoming part of their soul. I wish that part of the book had been the center of the story and that the Obeah, like Pila, were given a bigger part of the story.

Instead, the plot felt a bit too convoluted to me. I just could not get into this book; I found myself wishing for it to end so that I could get to my next book, which is not a good sign. I wasn't convinced by either romance and didn't care for either of the sisters, though I preferred Yeeran over Lettle.

Unfortunately I won't be continuing with this series.

I didn't love this as much as I thought I would. I struggled to like the characters and even by the end, I didn't really like any of them. Usually, I am a sucker for creatures like the Obeah, but I felt like they weren't explored as much as they could have been. I will probably read the next one just to see what happens but I was overall, a little disappointed. Loved the LGBT rep and how it was normal to be LGBT in their societies!!