Such a creative magic system and engaging world building for the first novel of this series. This novel follows 2 sisters, Yeeran and Lettle, in a fantasy world of Elves and Fae. Battles, politics, cultures colliding, animal bonds, gender freedom and sapphic relationships — this book weaves it all beautifully together. Chapters shift perspectives which flow so well within the overall narrative. Looking forward to book 2. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing group for the ARC of Faebound.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4
Spice: 3/5

Tropes:
Hidden society
Magic animal bonds
Queer representation
Sibling bonds
Rivals/enemies to lovers
prophecy


This story takes place many years following wars between Fae, elves and humans. The humans have been eradicated and the fae have been cursed and cast off to another land. Only the elves remain, warring amongst themselves for a valuable resource. When Yeeran is dismissed from the military and exiled, she and her sister are forced to journey into the wilderness surrounding their community. Lettle, her sister, is a diviner and has more of a free spirit. Despite their vast differences, these two sisters are incredibly protective of each other and their loyalty to one another was a major highlight for me.

The world-building was masterfully done and each place is alive and vibrant- this story is just begging to be made into a Pixar movie (minus the spicy scenes). The societal structures were well-developed and complex. This story was beautifully written, however the pacing felt off. Although this story was full of plot twists, I could see them coming from a mile away, which really diminished the impact for me. Overall, I enjoyed the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House publishing for the eARC and the opportunity to review this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

What a lush and interesting world this author has built! Really enjoyed reading all about it and getting swept up in this fantasy. I would have liked more development of the romance, but it’s not uncommon to have the fantasy elements outweigh that.

I'm a devoted Saara El-Arifi fan, and my experience with “Faebound” marks the third addition to my collection. Was this my favorite from her, no but, I still enjoyed it. The world building, characters and conflict were all awesome. With the prophecies revealed in the story, it was a tad bit predictable. I think this first book has raised my expectations on what’s to come! I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one. From the get, this book was captivating and I found myself invested in the story quickly.
I love that the worldbuilding felt really natural and not like an info dump. And OMG the world??? So lush and beautiful!!! It was truly a treat to learn about the land and the different inhabitants.

The beginning felt so unique and interesting, but towards the middle of the book I feel like we lost some of the momentum until the last 10% where the story started tying together in a satisfying way. I do think that most of the twists were really predictable, but there was one that I didn't see coming.

Overall, a good first book of a trilogy and I'm definitely interested to see where book 2 goes!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing the ARC.

I absolutely loved this book, so much that I believe it will be one of my top reads this year. The story was so beautifully written and evocative that I felt completely immersed in the story. Told in dual POV between Yeeran and Lettle, we see how the two sisters traverse the dangerous landscape that is their world. They are caught in a neverending war, and when Yeeran is exiled, they discover that there is so much more to it than they first realized.

The storytelling in this book is rich and vivid. El-Arifi paints a beautiful picture with her worlds and I felt that I could easily imagine what it was like to live there. Yeeran and Lettle are fun, dynamic characters that felt very real to me and made me want to delve deeper into their story. The book suffers a bit from pacing issues about 2/3 of the way through, but not so much that it detracts from the story. And while I appreciate the sapphic romance, I do feel that it was a bit forced and need more context and build up.

Amazing book. If you like fantasy, you'll love it.

Thank you so much for this ARC. I was very excited to read this.
However I have to be honest because that is the point of reviewing right?
For me I was struggling to get into the book. I loved having a dual POV however I found the book to be slow moving. Not much happening in the first 20% of the book. I really liked the world and the premise I just wanted more action and higher stakes I guess.

This is the best book I've read so far this year, and I'm confident it's going to be one of the top fantasy books for 2024. I loved being transported into this world, where three gods created the elves, humans, and fae. The elves are alone on the earth, locked in a "Forever War" with each other over limited resources, while humans and fae have gone extinct – or so we think.

The author's world building is rich and engrossing, but it's also easy to understand and makes for a quick, enjoyable read. We're introduced to earth magic, sun magic, moon magic, drum magic, and so much more, and there will be so much more to learn over the subsequent books – for us and the characters (who have lost so much of their history over years of war).

There were only a few things that didn't work for me: one is that the romances all felt forced and happened too fast without enough context. The matches were heavily hinted from the beginning, but there was no time to see feelings build or change, so the romances (one in particular) were very abrupt and not believable. On the other hand, many of the "twists" had too much of a foundation and thus ended up very predictable. The characters figured things out painfully slowly compared to how obvious the twists were as a reader.

But I did love this book and can't wait to learn more about this world and spend time with these characters as the series continues! Saara El-Arifi did a fantastic job weaving together complex but likeable characters with a unique but accessible magic system to create an all-new world with so much left to explore.

<i> I've been waiting for you for a long time. </i>

5/5 stars
1/5 spice

Faebound is filled to the brim with beautiful and unique worldbuilding, I think that is where this book really shines. The world these characters are playing in has so many interesting little details. I love the magic system, it's unique while not being overly complicated. I also liked the twist on the classic fae/human romance by adding elves to the mix as well.

I appreciated the normalization of queerness in this book, I would love to see more fantasy take this approach. As a nonbinary mom, it was nice seeing a femme presenting they/them nonbinary mom in this book.

I am keeping this book at 5 stars because the first half really just had my giggling and kicking my feet, it was fantastic. I felt like I was reading the next ACOTAR and that this book would just give me everything I wanted. It did, for a while. However, the pacing did start to fail around the 65-70% mark. It went from a pretty comfortable pace to very suddenly every aspect of the plot is escalating and everything is happening. This might be for some people but I prefer a steady pace in my books.

<b>That being said this still does truly feel like a 5 star fantasy read to me, it's the best thing I've read in at least 6 months and I can't wait for the rest of this series. </b>

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A story of sisterhood and defining yourself instead of letting the world define you. A fun read, highly recommended.

Characters: 7.5/10
Well thought out, descriptive, and likeable characters throughout the entire story. I wish I got even more of them, their motivations, thoughts, feelings, etc. Hopefully later in the series!

Atmosphere/Setting: 6/10
Although descriptive, it was hard to visualize certain settings and I wanted more explicit detail regarding what the characters were experiencing in their environment. There was a lot of telling, not as much showing. I did appreciate how we discovered the world with the characters, and not all at once.

Writing Style: 8.5/10
Beautifully written throughout, with strong dialogue and detailed interactions between characters. However there were two moments in the writing that I found a bit distasteful - using the word "urine" was just an ick for me personally, and renaming "feces" to "faeces" was just odd...

Plot: 10/10
Lots of unexpected twists and turns, I loved how most of the plot was revealed in the moment through the characters rather than beforehand. I thought I knew where the story was going, and I was wrong every time!

Intrigue: 9/10
Although there were some moments I grew a bit frenetic for the next "big moment" to happen, this book kept my captivated throughout and I found myself thinking about it almost daily, theorizing on certain plot points and ruminating on unanswered questions. Very fun to read!

Logic/Relationships: 9/10
Not perfect, but very well done. The world made sense, and I wasn't left with any plot holes that I expect won't be addressed in the next book of the series. Between slowburn, enemies-to-lovers, and found family, I was more than happy with the relationships in this book.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall, I enjoyed this book for the plot and writing. It was a pleasant reading experience and I would gladly recommend this to other fantasy lovers.

CAWPILE 56/70 = .8 = 4 stars!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

thank you so much to Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review

i had such a good time reading Faebound. the world building was so interesting. i did think some of the events were quickly moved on from. even some of the characters moved on from certain things way too fast. yeeran moved on pretty quickly from her ex lover as soon as she encountered furi. at times i couldn’t keep up from how fast i was also expected to move on. overall it’s a 3.5 stars and it was enjoyable to read.

PHENOMENAL BEAUTIFUL AMAZING I'm in love with every single character, I'm in love with this story and the magic systems. This is one of the most well written books I've read in a long time.

This book made me so excited! My heart pounded through every chapter which made me fly through this book. The plot was exciting and fast paced and the characters were interesting but relatable. I highly recommend this book and will be telling all of my family and friends to read it!

This was a terrific start to a new series. 👏

Short Synopis:
Yeeran and Lettle are two elven sisters. Yeeran is a commander in the army fighting a never-ending war. Lettle is trying to seek prophesies. When a prophecy gone wrong ends with Yeeran banished, the sisters find themselves in far territory.

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this one. The world-building was lush and beautiful. The two sisters had very unique voices and storylines. Their journeys were so different and they each had their own romances but they loved each other fiercely.

One animal companion stole the show though with her one-liners and sass. If you’re a fan of the dragons in Fourth Wing, then you need this book.

Read if You Like:
🌙 Loveable and sassy animal companions
🌙 Dual POV
🌙 Sapphic romance
🌙 Unique world
🌙 Protagonist in their 30s
🌙 TWO romance storylines
🌙 Gorgeous covers

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing me an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts off with an interesting prologue chapter. It is a multi-POV story. The author’s writing style is really easy to read. The characters were multi-layered and fascinating. The plot pacing was done pretty well and it allowed me to continue reading without feeling bored. This was a good first installment to the series and I am excited to read further books in this world. Side note, this cover is really pretty!

I really enjoyed this book. I am fairly new to fantasy, and I found the world building easy to follow. There were times when this read like a YA book. I did not feel the character connection that I was hoping too but most of the characters were likeable. It was an enjoyable read, and I look forward to the next installment. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars

4.5 stars! This was really great! The worldbuilding was so interesting and the characters were super compelling. I loved Yeeran, and also loved her relationship with Furi and Pila! I didn’t like Lettle quite as much but was still interested in her chapters. The side characters all kept me on my toes, I didn’t know who to trust!

There were a lot of twists and turns in this! I guessed most of them but it was still very fun to read. Overall I enjoyed this very much and will definitely try to pick up the next book!

I received an ARC of this from NetGalley. DNF halfway through. The tone is so childish it’s like YA pretending to be an adult. The romance is so terrible. Every book doesn’t have to have (forced) romance.

The gender fluidity is like cool in theory and mid in execution. If you’re going to have something that fundamental be different you need to show how it affects the world other than that Lettle wanted to wear a mustache. Otherwise like it didn’t feel any different. One person having they pronouns does not a world make.

It’s very tell not show. You don’t get to speculate through actions it’s like Lettle scrunched her nose because she was sad/jealous/angry/scared. When you provide such blunt boring language for the reader you don’t give them room to imagine or grow into the character through empathetic emotions. Oh she’s jealous of her sisters relationship with this magical animal, wouldn’t be me, Lettle is annoying once again. She has the worst name but it’s fitting because she’s the most childish 28 year old.

I feel like people will love this book, in fact I’ve already seen it on TikTok but it relies heavily on trope, being shallowly socially progressive, and is so formulaic. Girl is special for no reason finds out info that turns her world upside down realizes warmongering is bad.

Yeerran, Lettle (sisters), and Rayan are elves that have been exiled from the elven lands after a mistake on the battlefield. They find themselves entangled in the once thought extinct fae court after learning a very ugly truth. Their past actions have had consequences nobody would have ever expected.

This was my first read by Saara El-Arifi and I enjoyed it. Faebound is a rivals to lovers fantasy with a dash of court politics and bipoc, queer, and disability representation done very beautifully. Both main locations in this story represent very gender fluid characters that are incorporated so easily into the story. The fighting style in this book is what really blew me away. The elven magic system is entirely based drums that are made from obeah skins as they are the only magical creature left in their world. The last half of the book I was writing down my guesses on how the story was going to unfold and most of my guesses with wrong and I ended up surprised at how the story actually played out which I loved. The beginning 30-ish precent of the book was a little slowly paced for my tastes but once they got established in the fae court I was eating it up. I do wish we got more lore/background on the war and all of the tribes before we left the elven lands because I feel like I would have been more invested in the characters need to go back home.

Content warnings: war, violence, familial death, grief
Rating: 3.75 rounded up

I received an ARC of this book from Netgally and Random House in exchange for an honest review.