4 ✨

I came into this book with high hopes after falling in love with Saara El-Arifi’s Ending Fire trilogy, and I was not disappointed. If you love classic fantasy, particularly classic fantasy species such as Elves and Fae, but want really interesting twists in their mythology look no further. This book also has really awesome animal companions that share a psychic link with their chosen person so you also get all the fun banter. The big drawback for me was neither of the main romantic relationships really did it for me. I loved that our main characters were 34 and 28, but their romantic relationship development would have made more sense if they were in their teens. The nigh instalove just didn’t give me the opportunity to get fully invested in the relationships, but I definitely hope future books will sell me on this aspect. But the awesome lore and twisty plot were more than enough to keep me coming back for more!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up! Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for approving me for this ARC.

I truly enjoyed Faebound and kept hating whenever I had to pause or stop reading bc of silly things like sleeping or work. Yeeran was a character I couldn't connect with at first, but I really liked her by the end. I would love a whole book just from Lettle's POV.

Though I rounded up, I say 4.5 stars because some of the twists were so obvious you could see them from a mile away, even if it was just the broad strokes. The gold and pearl? Yeah. Komi? Knew there was something there. But none of that took away from my enjoyment.

The cover is absolutely beautiful and the story flew by so quickly, it seemed like I finished it so much faster than I've been reading other books. I devoured this story.

I truly cannot wait for the next book in the series.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
I loved this book! It’s was such an original story unlike anything I’ve read before. There’s prophecies throughout that I found myself trying to connect the dots on which was fun! It has its own lore and three original gods who created the world and the elves, humans, and fae. The magic was beautiful and reading this story you’re able to imagine the threads of magic and visual the creatures and it’s just a great book. Highly recommend. I am going to be (im)patiently waiting for the sequel.

I was super excited to read this book because I love books about Fae and Elves.

I really enjoyed the storyline and how it was about 2 sisters. I wish that there was more interaction with the sisters though, I feel like the story lacked emotional connection between the two
I would say that the plot was a little bit predictable and I am not good at predicting endings at all so I feel like the “twist” could have been better at the end with Queens.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I would definitely read anything else by this author

I really wanted to like this. I think the concept of the story was great and the characters had the makings to be interesting. However, the follow through on character depth and development wasn’t there. The characters seemed much younger than they were and the connections for relationships were sudden. Also, the plot itself was predictable.

I found the world-building and the lore of Faebound to be very enjoyable. Having a world of Fae, Elves, and Humans is different from most current fantasy books and I felt like I was finally reading a fresh new story. The magic systems were unique and brought an interesting element to the story.

Overall I did enjoy the book, but there were a few things that I did not. Firstly, I found the more explicit romance scenes to be something that I didn't need in this particular story. While I do like the characters in both romances, they happened so fast. One minute one MC hates her love interest, she feels the sexual tension, and then BAM she loves her? The other one I felt happened so fast despite one refusing to let herself admit her feelings. The romance aspect of the book underwhelmed me, and I was excited to have both a ff and mf romance.

I found the story to be predictable in many situations, but mostly from the prophesies. I figured out who/what they were about so quickly. That being said, I love the shaman and mystic aspect of this world.

Overall I did enjoy this book and am excited to continue with the series and to see where it goes.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this advance reader copy of #Faebound! The thoughts expressed below are entirely my own with no outside influence.

Yeeran, an Elf and leader in her military, makes a call on the battlefield that has catastrophic results. The Chieftain of her clan declares that as punishment she will suffer a fate worse than death. Yeeran is outcast and exiled from the Elf lands entirely. Yeeran is joined by her younger sister and military companion as they search for a way to bring Yeeran back to the Cheiftain’s good graces. Inadvertently, they stumble into the land of the Fae, who were considered extinct from this world centuries ago. Yeeran and co must navigate the court politics of the fae and centuries of hatred between the Elf and Fae kind.

So, obviously my favorite character is Pila, because omg what a cutie patootie I really cannot stand it! <3
The pacing was consistent throughout. The plot was engaging and very complex. There were several twists and turns that I did not anticipate or see coming. About halfway through the book I was feeling like, “oh okay I know where this is going”. Then around like 75% of the way through I was like “nope I was mistaken, what is happening”, then at the end I was like “HMMMM???!” In short, the plot developments threw me for a LOOP.
The descriptions of the scenery were so lush and beautiful! The author’s descriptors brought the landscape to life in my mind.
The romances that developed seemed a bit too insta-love? Each of the relationships (platonic and romantic) could have been expanded upon with a bit more clarity to create the emotional investment in the readers.
Overall, I’m deeply excited to see the continuation of this story and how the plot develops. Every character has their own motivations, most of which are conflicting with one another. So, this could be MESSY and I LOVE THAT.
FOUR STAR READ!

Thank you to NetGalley & Del Rey for an arc of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review, along with FairyLoot who sent a stunning early edition in their monthly box.

I really enjoyed the entire concept of this book. It has one of the most interesting magic systems I have seen in a long time and a rich history interwoven into the story. I think it is a good kick off point for a series and can wait to see what the next books hold. My one complaint would be that the relationships seem to be all or nothing at the speed of light and I could have used more build up there and banter vs we hate each other and now suddenly we don’t because you’re so hot. The twists and turns kept me interested though and took me by surprise.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to receive an ARC in exchange for a review.
I'm excited that Faebound is the first book in this series and not a standalone because I think this series could grow into something better than the first book while the story gets more in depth and the writing style grows. The dynamics, the tension, the twists and turns is what kept me reading. The book was easy to read and follow and I think would be a good recommendation for introducing someone to fantasy.

This book wasn’t totally for me. I did enjoy the world building and the idea but the characters just didn’t work for me.

I personally felt like this book dragged on forever with a bunch of nothing happening. Part III is where the action finally picks up and everything sorta comes together. As for the romantic relationships in this book, I felt like they were all rushed and didn't feel at all convinced that anyone held any true romantic connections, as it all just felt like it came out of left field. Based off of that, I wouldn't quite call this a Romantasy like other have. As for the world building and magic system, I did enjoy both. However, to no other fault but my own, I couldn't quite picture how the Obeah should have appeared, as I kept imaging them as dragons. Overall this book felt a bit flat to me.

This is the book about fae I've always wanted. I've never been super interested in fae fantasy stories but I think that's because it was never done as well as this one. I devoured this book from start to finish and loved the characters so much.

First, let's talk magic system. I am obsessed with the drum magic and love the use of the reverberations as the way to direct and control it. The crystals that give basically the energy of the sun added such an interesting component to the world and a genuinely believable reason for the elves to stay at war that long. I'm also a sucker for a good animal companion and liked the imagery of a stag panther creature that was then bonded to the soul of the person it chooses.

This book has a wonderful queer cast and other diverse identities within. I think the tension was immaculate in both romances and really gave me something to root for. Our main characters have become so entangled with the court politics of the fae that I'm really interested in further books to see how they will tie back in the elves to the story.

Faebound is filled to the brim with twists and turns. Parts of this story are WILD! Ugh and I loved the romance between the characters. El-Arifi did such a wonderful job world building and creating deep, well thought out characters. If you are a fantasy lover, you will eat this up. Even if you are new to the genre, this is an easy read to consume and get into. I think this is going to be really popular this year, it's just so good. I'm obsessed. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of Faebound. It was truly a pleasure reading this.

I wanted to love this book. Everything I heard about it made me think it was going to be an entertaining time at least. I hated this book so much.

First, the writing is awkward; it doesn't really have a good rhythm, it's really stilted. And I really don't pay attention to writing styles. But this one just grated on me so much that I just couldn't feel immersed in the story. The dialogue felt so clunky and not natural. The worldbuilding just doesn't make sense - I didn't understand why the war was happening, why there was such a wide spread problem with famine once they lived in apparently a tropical setting (there is a rainforest!) where they could plant food since they had climatic conditions to do so and hunt. The big war that's been happening forever (called the Forever War) always happens in one specific region and the other places are not affected by the war. What?! I have no clue about the cultures of each elf tribe - it's never explained. And if you don't want to be spoiled about the story, don't read the prophecies (they happen really early on). It's really easy to understand what they are saying it's going to happen.

The characters - oh dear. Lettle is just one big tantrum. That's all that she is. Yeeran is a colonel and she is so freaking naive and horrible when it comes to strategy. But there is nothing more I can tell about them because honestly they are just bland characters. And we are supposed to believe they love each other because they are sisters but we never see them really interacting, we never see it on page. The insta-lust and insta-love are unbearable. In less than 100 pages, we already have 2 cases of insta-lust between two couples that didn't even know each other. In the same sentence that one of the sisters is saying how much she hates the other person, she says how hot this person is.

And someone needs to explain to me why does a people that sees another as their enemy tells everything the other wants to know: their innerworkings, their strategy, EVERYTHING. And why do this same enemy when imprisoned is able to make outrageous demands and everything that they want is given to them?? They have no leverage, they are a prisoner, they are despised and even so they still get everything they want just because.

But a lot of people seem to really like this book. So, maybe it's me but this one made me mad.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for a review.

Faebound was one of my most personally hyped books in quite sometime. What is there not to love? We see strong female and nonbinary characters, non-heteronormative relationships and what I consider to be a unique magic world.

This book sounded amazing, but it just didn't hit for me.... Like I said earlier, the world is very cool. The book begins by explaining the different races and their spiritual beliefs but then quickly delves into the story by focusing on the elves and how their war conflicted society is like. We know right off the bat the general reason for the war: resources. How refreshing is it to actually KNOW this from the beginning)

Unfortunately though, the first 2/3 of the book felt extremely slow and somewhat repetitive, which honestly made me think "How did this happen to these characters... again?." I got a glimpse of the drama in the beginning and then it honestly is just boring??? for a good chunk of this book. I felt like I was reading and there was really no progression to the story until the last little bit when things really ramped up.


There is a large piece of information towards the end of the book that I was genuinely surpsised by, and had me wanting to know how the story progresses. Personally, I think that will come as a fun shock to many readers and honestly gave it an extra star for my review.


Overall, it is a solid 3/5 star book. I'm intrigued to see what happens in the next book.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book is YA fantasy and I actually enjoyed the first half of it even though it's not my go-to genre. The world building and character introductions were good but during midway of the book it didn't compell me to keep reading. I didn't have a yearning to keep finding out what's next. I always felt something was missing. Therefore I DNFed at the mid mark.

The world-building in this book is so descriptive and beautiful, that I enjoy the complexities of the fantasy elements. If you like stories with magical links to magical creatures THIS book is IT. I love the Obeah, and Pila was my favorite character to read about. I also am a big fan of seeing a large range of diversity in the fantasy genre, I feel we don't get these types of books as hyped up as we should. My major warnings for this book would be the pacing and the character development. This is slated to become a series, and after the ending, I'm excited to see where the story goes, the beginning was quite slow and the ending felt a little rushed. The character development kind of suffers due to the pacing but I think that will be rectified once we get more books. But overall I did enjoy my read, and I loved the overall theme of unlearning prejudices that have been spun to fit a specific narrative, which was powerful! 3.75 rounded up to 4 stars!

(Thank you for the ARC! I enjoyed Faebound! I'll share the below review to Goodreads, The Storygraph, and Amazon, and will link to the review.)

What an amazing take on fae and fae lands! The worldbuilding is astonishing. It’s simple in that it’s not cumbersome to explain or set up, yet the world has so much depth and intrigue. It’s one of the best fantasy worlds I’ve read in awhile. The description of the magic system is, again, not burdensome, and we only get the details of how it works: drum beats (amazing), divination as a practiced skill, and links to nature and creatures. The world described isn’t a nice place: poverty, endless war, and corrupt powers plague the elven lands; the fae lands - though resources are abundant and shared equitably - are hostile, close-minded, and militaristic. The war is a well-developed backdrop for the plot, and this is definitely a plot-driven book, though I would have liked more depth to the characters.

I felt like the only character I could really “see” was Lettle, who is determined to get home, but I couldn’t understand why or what connections she really has to home. Yeeran and Rayan’s motivations were rather vague to me too. I think another chapter or two in the beginning of the book to give something to root the characters’ motivations in would have helped me understand everyone more. I don’t necessarily feel like these characters are flat, I just feel like we weren’t shown as deep into them as we could have been, and the potential was there. I also think the romances fell a short for me because of this. Read this book for the world and plot, with the romances as a little side thing. I hope we’ll get to see the characters a little deeper in a sequel since the world and setting is already described.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC. These are my opinions given freely.

I was expecting a lot and once read, was a bit disappointed. I will say what I’ve liked first…
- Saara has brought us a new world and she was able to give us its information without info dumping on us, thank you for that. It is more unique while including elves and fae.
- The diversity
That’s about it.

There are spoilers below.

What I didn’t care for.
- Everything was so predictable. Lettle couldn’t tell who her prophecies were about, but I could a mile away. Is she just oblivious? Hopeful?
- All of the “wow” and “climatic” scenes felt everything but, it felt rushed and moved on. Where is the drama?!
- It started out feeling like a military fantasy in the beginning, then trickled to just a regular fantasy, and then a romance fantasy after 200 pages?
- Maybe this is intentional but Lettle feels young and immature, when I think she’s supposed to be an adult. I do not feel like she had much character development
- Her relationship with Rayan felt a bit pushed and rushed.
- Why isn’t Lettle telling anyone about her prophecies? Especially if she thinks she’s going to harm her beloved Rayan? None of that made sense.
- Yeeran & both of her relationships didn’t make sense either. I felt almost blindsided and confused about her and Furi’s sudden relationship and closeness. Maybe it was just the fighting tension and Furi knowing everyone and Yeeran is new? I felt we could have had more relationship building between them.
- I’m also confused how Yeeran is going to ask Furi to come OUTSIDE of Mosima, when Yeeran knows she literally cannot!?
- Just 310 pages and it took a week to read. It was difficult to want to pick up and continue. Will I read this again? No. Would I read the sequel? I’d give it a try to see if it gets any better.

**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

If representation is what you want/need in a book, Faebound is perfection. The fact that I am not familiar with this author and have not seen recommendations for this book on social media is shocking! I genuinely enjoyed every page.

Yeeran and Lettle are sisters. They grew from poverty into the lives they are currently living and the fact that Saara has written this so matter-of-factly just adds to the magic of the story. For a lot of people, this is their every day. It isn’t an epic revelation from nothing to something because that’s the world we live in…and that’s the world Yeeran and Lettle live in as well. From prejudices to blatant hate between Fae and Elven races, these sisters persevere.

Yeeran is exiled from their Waning community by her lover and left on the outskirts of Elven lands. Her sister and a very likable tagalong, Rayan, follow her. The twists and turns the story takes from there are surprising and it kept me hooked. I was constantly needing to know what would happen next.


The world-building is perfect. It’s clean and concise. I could picture all the settings in my mind. There is some romance but it isn’t the forefront of this book and that’s okay. At times, it did feel like the story was slightly rushed and I wanted just a little more from the author or characters. That is why I give this book 4 stars. Otherwise, I highly recommend giving it a chance!

This is the first book in a series, so as always if you don’t like reading unfinished sets I’d say hold off. There isn’t a cliffhanger but the end does leave you wanting more.

Show Saara El-Arifi some love on social media if you love this book!