I don’t know, y’all. This just wasn’t for me. There is so much action in the first 20% of the book that I wasn’t given the chance to care about the characters before they started building relationships with each other. The tension the author is trying to build between Lettle and Rayan feels so unearned because I didnt care about either of them on their own. The pacing is so off, the world feels overwritten. I won’t be coming back to this one.

The realistic reader in me did not want to commit to any more unfinished series but the selfish part threw in the towel because I had heard so many wonderful things about this book and I am thrilled to report, they did not disappoint.
Although I was entertained and invested in the characters, the pacing sometimes did feel like it needed a bit of work, but overall I felt everything was truly an immersive experience.

4.25/5 Stars

Wow. I loved this book. There was war and politics, love and betrayal, hidden meanings and prophecies, and gods and rulers that think they are gods. The writing style is excellent and overall a really easy book to enjoy. The story is engaging, the content has a great pace, and the magic system is creative and unique.

Summary:
Faebound follows a pair of elvish sisters who live in a war camp where The Forever Wars is continuing to rage on. One sister, Yeeran is a Colonel of the Waning Army (a sector of the Elves) and her little sister Lettle is a Diviner (able to read future events). The Elves believe that all Fae and Humans have died, Obeah (a magical animal that allows Elves to use divination by killing and reading their entrails and the hide can be used to make magical weapons called a drum) are to be hunted and killed, and that fraedia (a crystal/rock that has powers similar to sunlight, allowing crops to grow, sight during the night, and warmth) will solve all problems.
Yeeran disobeys orders and becomes exiled from her community and sent to live on the outskirts of the Elven land. Lettle and Yeeran's officer Rayan come looking for her. All three of them find an Obeah along their journey and begin hunting it. They shoot it and find themselves surrounded by magic never seen before. This begins their journey into the lands of Mosima, a land known only in faerytales. The only problem is there is only one way to leave, with permission from the ruling family and the Obeah they killed is linked to that very dynasty.

Some of my favorite lines from this book come from the beautifully written romance elements. There are many subplots of relationships going on that are poetic. Below is my favorite.

"We really need to get this stitched up."
"'Why?' he whispered against her eat. 'Let me bleed to death. For I have reached nirvana.' His eyes danced with mischief."

The reason this book didn't reach 5 stars for me was I had no problem putting the book down and starting something else. I wasn't needing to know what happened, I was just enjoying the book as I read it. There was nothing wrong with this book at all. It was well written, clearly a lot of thought went into the world-building as there are multiple species, languages, magics, and lands. I cannot wait to read the second one as there is some major cliffhanging going on at the end of this novel.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book for an honest review and fingers are crossed the next one keeps the momentum going!!

This was an African-inspired fantasy book in which two elven sisters become imprisoned in the world of the fae. This is the first book in a new fantasy trilogy that has a little bit of everything; war, politics, romance, fae, elves, sisterhood, tested loyalties, and mystery.

Things I Loved:
- Both FMCs were such badasses, and I loved that
- Even though both Yeeran ad Lettle ad their own love interests, I enjoyed their sisterhood journey the most
- The diverse representation in this book was amazing
- Some of the twists really surprised me-- which doesn't usually happen!

Things I Didn't Love:
- I had trouble connecting to the main characters. I liked them and thought they were badass, but overall they felt a little young to me
- The pacing was a little slow and resulted in parts of the book really dragging on

Overall, I am looing forward to the next book and am intrigued about where the story will go from here!

Saara El-Arifi is an author that is always on my radar. When she releases a new book, I know I am going to want to read it. Faebound, from its cover to its synopsis, hooked me in immediately. I loved this book. I am a sucker for a queer fantasy and this ticked all my boxes. I can't wait to read the other books in the series. This was an incredible start!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was one of my most anticipated fantasy releases so I was ecstatic to receive an ARC of the title. The book's cover immediately drew me in, and the descriptors used in the book continued to do so. This was an Afro/Arab inspired fantasy which was totally new to me. It felt so unique and refreshing compared to other recent fantasy novels I have read in recent years. The world is lush and beautiful and I love the dynamic between the main character and their obeah. Queer normativity is also a huge draw for me in the book. Many characters use they/them pronouns, and gender norms are definitely not strict to "one" gender in this world. I loved this book and I cannot wait for the sequels!

This is a super solid fantasy with interesting characters and storyline. I do wish there was a little bit more world building, but that's just a personal preference. The younger sister was my favorite. She had a lot of personality and felt real in a fun way.

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi is the first book in the new Faebound trilogy.

Overall this was a good read. It didn’t hit the mark for me to rate higher but I did enjoy it! Readers will get rich world-building and an interesting plot.

I want to sit on my thoughts a bit before adding more to my review so I’ll do that and come back and update this shortly.

I got 42% into this book, and I just didn’t enjoy it at all. Regretably, I’m not going to finish:( I just felt like so much about this book was confusing, and just uninteresting to me. Others might like it, but it just wasn’t for me. I usually love fantasy, this gave me Avatar vibes at first, then just got boring.

I was also not a fan of the main character or plot direction.

Thanks & best of luck!

After seeing a lot of hype for this book and also loving The Final Strife, I knew I had to get my hands on this book! The premise was so interesting. A world in which humans and fae have disappeared and elves are in a constant state of war, known as the Forever War. Sisters Yeeran and Lettle are both surviving in this climate with Yeeran being a high ranking official in the Waning army and Lettle training in divination. When a mistake leads to Yeeran's exile from her home, Lettle follows her and they find themselves in the hidden world of the fae. The premise for this on was super interesting. There was a lot going on immediately, but I wanted to know more about this world and the characters.

Unfortunately, this book didn't quite meet my expectations. It was described as a romantic fantasy and I found myself wanting more development from each aspect. Yeeran's relationship felt like it developed really slowly and then all of a sudden. With Lettle's relationship, I did see it coming from a mile away, but still wished for more development. As for the sibling relationship between Yeeran and Lettle, I generally liked their bond and appreciated that Lettle went after Yeeran and stood by her while Yeeran was sent into exile. I feel like for the most part, I understood the motivations of the characters, but sometimes, I was frustrated with their decision making. I did feel like they were a lot younger than they actually were.

The writing felt very different from El-Arifi's other series. I found myself wondering if the book was actually meant to be YA instead of adult fantasy. After a lot of build up in the beginning of the book, the end of the book felt really rushed considering there are two more books in the series. Overall, unfortunately this book did not live up to the hype for me. I am, however, curious enough to read the second book and see where this story goes.

I loved this book so much! It’s a 4.5 for me so obviously I had to round it up to five.
I am a sucker for these type of stories with strong women and magical creatures (ones you can talk to!) in fae/ elf worlds.
This was a very simple story to read a bit long but perfect for me because I enjoy reading multiple books at a time.
Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

It reminds me a lot of the world building in Samanthan Shannon's Priory of the Orange Tree. Densely, culturally, richly written. El-Arifi, you should be very proud of this novel. I can't wait to get my own copy and put it on my bookshelf.

the pacing is slow and there isn't a very immediate sense of tension because the conflict constantly fluctuates. this is the sort of book where you just sit there and collect a lot of information before the revelations in the third act, and i wish the narrative would lean into that slow pace rather than attempt to make things more pressing than they are. by the third act, you do have a bit of a multi revelation showdown vine boom sound effect after vine boom sound effect. personally, i would have liked to be given more information as the narrative continued so we could feel tensions rise throughout the novel. (for girlies who have read it, basically, we needed a rayan pov). instead, they seem artificially constructed, both the tension preceding the revelations and the revelations themselves (to the audience). dramatic irony could have slayed mayhaps.

i also am not a huge fan of the romance. it feels a little sudden for both of the main characters, personally speaking. i'm very picky with my romance though. i also wish we see a larger scope of the world (not really in breadth, but in depth)

while the actual events of the plot seem stagnant, the steady drip of information about the world and magic system is compelling and kept me turning the page. i cannot stress enough how much i wish we got more of it. some of the conflicts resolved at the end of the book are a bit of a letdown and some had me gagged, but truly this is giving "first in a series" so it is more about the setup of future events than the events in this book themselves. which is fine by me.

i do enjoy following the characters. yeeran and lettle are my girls. you can't help but wish for them to succeed, and their courage and ambition are the driving force of the novel by far. i can't say too much without spoiling the book, but them and their immediate relationships are great. they do seem young for their age, but i'm guessing that since elves live to be like 150, then they're actually younger developmentally than a human would be? if that makes sense. i hope it does.

The first 30% of this book was hard for me to get through. It was a decent enough book but it was a little hard to connect to the characters and it was hard to visualize how things were described.

Once that 30% mark hit and the main plot started emerging I devoured the rest of the book.

Over all I have this book 4 stars because it was a good read but the world building and character building took a little too long for my liking.

Bummed because I so badly wanted to love this felt very bored at times and had a hard time connecting to the main characters. Felt heavier on the political fantasy side than romantasy which was not what it was marketed as. I will say I love an animal companion trope and loved Pila so for that reason alone I am increasing my rating by a star lol. I would be more inclined to read the next in the series if we see Rayan’s POV over Lettle’s.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!

I wanted to love this so much. It was different from a lot of fantasy I’ve read over the past year, and there was great representation in the characters. But I just didn’t connect with any of them. They were near or in their 30s but behaved and read as much younger. The lore was lacking for me, with no clear villain still at 50% through. I found it really hard to get into, Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC copy!

This book was so good. Back to the world of thr fae and I love it. These characters are fantastic. I love the strong female characters. This was fast paced to me and a lot of deaths too.

I really enjoyed this!! It was an immersive story that drew me from the first few pages. The writing was fast paced and I flew through this story in less than 2 days. I can’t wait until the next one! Thank you to Random House for providing an arc of this book. My review is posted on good reads and will remain up indefinitely

When this book started I was loving it! Completely interested and really wanting to see where it went. But after about 10 chapters I found myself just loosing interest. I liked the characters especially pila, however it just wasn’t enough for me. I did dnf at about 50%. However I did purchase the hardback and am going to try again at a later date.

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi is is my favorite book of the year thus far. The intriguing magic system, character development, plot points and lush world building and descriptions blew my mind. Saara El-Arifi is now an auto buy author for me after reading this book and loving it and also loving her back list books. Color me impressed with this brilliant author. Thank you for this own voices fae book. I just purchased a special edition hardcover I loved it so much.