Ah, so early in the year and already disappointed in a hyped fantasy book.

While the first 20% laid an intriguing world and plot, it very soon seems to stagnate. Once the world opens up a bit, we find ourselves quite literally locked into the mysterious city of Mosina. While in this city, much of the politics and power groups outside this city, and even the Forever War first described in the beginning, are all left behind and never evaluated. This severely hampered my ability to feel immersed in the world or compelled by the story.

With the two sisters, I often found their dynamic strained, almost cold and detached, and overall just not very connected. With Yeeran steeped deeply in war and military, and Lettle focused on peace and divination, they’re meant to be opposites I believe but they just didn’t play off of each other well. Their 6 year age difference also felt very vast, with Lettle especially feeling quite young and immature in her behavior and actions instead of the 28 years she’s supposed to have. It would have been interesting to have Lettle push and prod Yeeran to interrogate her beliefs and commitment to war, yet instead, Lettle rarely brings it up. Yeeran also fails to really change or show any growth even as Mosina exposes her ignorance, forgotten history, and the new circumstances for the forever war. It just felt like both Lettle and Yeeran were stilted and frozen, which when nothing of action or note happens in 60% of the book, feels especially disappointing.

The ending plot beats felt forced and too obvious, instead of carefully laid out, and one aspect of a magical challenge Yeeran is to face, just literally never materializes so again, the stakes and importance of it all are lacking.

Ultimately there was just so little plot and character development for the majority of the book that by the time you get to the end…the stakes don’t feel high, the tension doesn’t come across, the characters feel exactly the same as the beginning, just with love interests and a mildly larger understanding of magic. The ending fails to leave us on a cliffhanger or with a big reveal that propels you to “need” the next book immediately.

Sadly, this isn’t a series I will be continuing.

This was a next-level fantasy, for sure! The world-building was spectacular with the faes, humans, and elven components. I loved the story and was sucked in and very invested early on. I'm so excited for see where it goes!

I really enjoyed this read; it is a really great first book to a series. This story is set in a complete fantasy world. World building was done so effortlessly that the storyline never seemed to suffer (really impressive). There's so much creativity built into how fae, elves and humans came to be and how they are presented in the book's present time. You can feel the fable history pulled from African roots. I've never read a fantasy quite like this one.

The representation in this book is impressive. Societies have a nonbinary social structure for both of the societies we spend time in giving way to queer representation with incredible ease. There is also physical disability representation without much fanfare. I love and appreciate unforced representation; societies that just get "it".

We don't get deep character understanding or development in this book which hinders the reader's ability to form an emotional connection with some of the characters/relationships. I think it's coming the further we get into the series. The characters don't really know themselves well at this point because so much of their history is hidden from them or they've been deep in war culture for years.

If I could have gotten more emotionally attached to the characters, this would have been a solid 5 star book for me. It's such a good first book for a series. I'll be sticking around for what happens next!

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I dare say this is going to be the next super popular romantasy book. I loved so many aspects about this book. The worldbuilding is amazing and not overwhelming like many other fantasy books. The drumfire is unique and exciting, the obeah are mysterious and magical, the rich descriptions of the world and other elements were fantastic. This is a fresh new take on fae fantasy romance that will leave a lasting impression. I cannot wait to read future installments and other works by this author.

It is amazing from the first page to the last. If you are a fan of fantasy or fantasy romance, this is a must read for 2024!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and Saara El-Arifi for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn’t put this book down. The plot and world building sucked me in and didn’t let go until I finished the last page. I loved the characters, but the twisty turny court intrigue and politics really made this book stand out. I also loved the concept of fae bonding with obeah. B

Wow, I really liked this story.

This is the most competent and original start to a series I have read in a long time. The writing is superb, the plot is satisfyingly complex without being convoluted. The setting and societies represented really set themselves apart from typical fantasy novels in the best way. I have never seen the Fae done like this, and with elves included. While I think some of the reveals were on the obvious side, it didn't detract from my enjoyment. I think a lot of people are really going to enjoy this one. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys animal companions, sapphic enemies to lovers romance, prophecies, and sisterly dynamics.

This is the first book I'm reading from El-Arifi, and I'm feeling a little conflicted. On one hand, I'm a sucker for lore and I'm dying to unravel all of the secrets of the past. El-Arifi has crafted a beautiful underworld with a community and culture that is built upon the mutual understanding that they're all in this together. This doesn't come without internal strife, as there are still magical haves and have nots, but there is no violence or poverty among the fae. I was also impressed with the way the main characters were introduced, I immediately got a firm grasp on the personalities and how they played off of each other. El-Arifi also includes a pretty diverse cast, considering that most romantasy is based around white, cos, straight couplings. It's nice to see some sapphic spice and a cast that embraces gender beyond the binary.
On the other Im finding the use of prophecy in the story to be a little frustrating. It often felt like the clues and foreshadowing were dropped too early and too close together, and then I was upset at the characters for not figuring it out right away, and not in a chomping at the bit, edge of my seat kind of way, but in a way that made me question the talents of the characters. There were also a few plot devices and tropes that felt overused and misplaced. By the third time a character is faced with "inevitable" death, I have a hard time feeling any concern. The enemies-to-lovers relationship is also too toxic for me. I can't imagine loving someone who dealt me physical harm for their own entertainment, and I enjoy this character too much to feel okay with her doing it either.
This book is a solid 3.5 for me. Based on the insane ending, I'll definitely be picking up the second one, but I'm not in love with it. I'd recommend this book to romantasy readers, those who like Fourth Wing and ACOTAR especially, and anyone who's looking for a little more representation in their romantasy reads.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced digital copy.

The world-building in this was truly next level. The ending felt a little rushed to me, but I'm really excited to see where the story goes in the next book.

AMAZING! This book feels so fresh with how much fae romantasy is out there. The great gender and sexuality diversity as well as disability rep feel like a natural, unforced part of the story as you delve into a totally new world.

We follow sisters, Yearan and Lettle, as they navigate how to get back home after Yeeran is exiled from their home in the Elven lands. Yeeran is a fighter and colonel in the army while Lettle is a seer, reading prophesies from the Fates. Along with their friend Rayan, they find themselves captured by fae, who the elves believed to be gone forever. While in the seductive world of the fae, both of them have to learn about themselves, their abilities, their homeland, and their hearts.

wonderful magic and world building
some crazy plot twists (that ENDING??)
talking animal companions
African-inspired fantasy
FF relationship
MF relationship
forced proximity
enemies to lovers
friends to lovers
lots of queer side characters

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

Let me start off by saying that I LOVE the two books in The Ending Fire series. So when not one, but two, special editions of this beauty showed up on my doorstep by the very same author, I was overjoyed...But after reading it, I am honestly extremely disappointed. This was not at all what I expected.

I took quite a few notes while I was reading, so instead of a synopsis, I am just going to go into my thoughts.

1.) There are four elf tribes. But I know nothing about them. Like actually nothing aside from their names. Not where they are located. Not anything about languages, or rulers or if anything in their life is different than that of the Waning tribe. To have four elf districts would lead me to believe that the world itself is fairy expansive (this is before we even get to the humans or the fae), yet there is NO world building. Sure, some locations are described but that's it. There is no sense of scale and basically NOTHING to distinguish these areas from one another.

2.) I feel like the concept of having these three separate races (humans, fae, and elves) is cool, but much like the map, nothing is well defined. Aside from having sharp teeth, the elves could be fae. If it wasn't for their pointy ears, the elves could be mistaken as humans. It seems like the author just wanted these big buzz words that attract fantasy readers to a romance, but this just falls flat. Which I think is another issue. I went into this expecting a fantasy, and maybe that's my fault for having the wrong expectations, but this is MAYBE a fantasy romance. But it certainly doesn't have the depth or development that I think most fantasy readers would expect to see. Especially coming from Saara El-Arifi's other novels.

3.) Time seems to pass way too quickly. As a result, I don't believe in any of the friendships or relationships these characters have formed. Neither do I get a sense of their growth and progression when it comes to learning and training because, for the most part, all of this happens off page. And instead, we're just supposed to take the author's word for it that weeks have passed and that they've learned new languages and now to perform magic.

4.) The romance in this book? I don't believe it for an instant. There is no a drop of chemistry between ANY of the characters. Instead, we just get physical attraction after physical attraction that they confuse as love. And it's like these characters KNOW it isn't love because all they talk about is their beauty, their dimples, THEIR LEGS, and they say it's love. For a fantasy romance, this is one hundred percent lacking in the romance department. Sure, there's a few sex scenes, but even those don't have any particular chemistry.

5.) The prophecies are mentioned entirely too often and because of that, they became too predictable. Because they were repeatedly shoved down my throat, I didn't have a chance to forget them in a book that is under four hundred pages, so none of the twists came as a surprise or held any shock value whatsoever.

I think I am going to continue the series, but if the next one doesn't work for me, then I may stop. I do think there is a chance to come back from this and I am hopeful enough that I would like to see where this goes. I do believe that as an author, El-Arifi has shown the potential to put out some really great work, so this could definitely get better.

I was really looking forward to this. I might have gotten my expectations too high. Did I like this, yes, yes I did. Did I think it could have been better also yes that being said I will definitely be continuing this series the ending had a lot of promise. I felt the story was a little slow to start but once things got going they were flying by. I liked the mythology of the world and the setting. Lettle and Rayan were my favorites, despite Lettle being a tad annoying with her prophecies. I also really liked Komi he would be interested in exploring more. As will Rayan and their bonded. Now for Yeeren our main heroine, I don't understand her obsession with her love interest nor her dedication to the war she doesn't seem to have a single real thought about the world and seems to take everything at face value and never looks any deeper or listens to anyone suggesting things may not be as they seem. I am very curious to see how the world expands and how the elves and fae learn to interact. Overall I am hopeful and excited about the next book

Delightful fantasy/romantasy about two Elven sisters and their friend who become exiled from their homeland and find themselves prisoners of the Fae, a race they have only seen in faerytales until now.

I enjoyed the writing and pacing in this book. It’s a shorter read for a fantasy epic, which I really appreciated after many 800+ page books. Although the storyline was sometimes a bit predictable for the genre, and one is able to pick up on what the big reveals will be before they happen, I still found the story exciting enough to get a lot of entertainment out of it. I look forward to reading more from Saara and more of the adventures of Yeeran and Lettle.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to preview this book.
I absolutely loved this story!
Faebound details the lives of a family of Elves who become imprisoned by the Fae, where all of their lives are drastically changed forever. This story has magic, war, love, and a found family. My favorite character was Lettle. Her banter gave me sassy vibes and she is extremely smart and loyal to a fault.
The last few chapters of this book were so exciting with a new twist constantly appearing.
I can’t wait to read more from this author! Make sure you add Faebound to your TBR and pre-order it today!
I will be posting a review to my instagram-@theexhaustedbookworm

I really enjoyed this book. There are a lot of Sarah J Maas feels to it but this is its own unique blend of fae, elves and humans. Lore is great, characters had growth and the land itself is amazing. The only thing I would say is that her misdirection needs some work...but rounding from 4.5 to a 5.
Can't wait til the next one.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I have no doubt this will be one of the top 5 fantasy books of the year. Faebound combines all the best aspects of a romantasy: fascinating mythology, exceptional diversity and dynamic characters with complicated relationships. Did I mention there are bonded mythical creatures?!

The story follows three Elves, Yeeran, the Colonel of the Waning Army, her sister Lettle who is a diviner and Rayan a friend and Captain in the Waning Army.

The story begins weaving the lore of the gods and their three creations the Elves, the Fae and the Humans and the magics the gods bestowed onto each creation. The Elven lands are in perpetual turmoil resulting in a war that divides the nation, robbing it's people of prosperity and resources necessary to live.

Without spoiling the book, Yeeran is thrust into a position that forces her to leave her tribe. Her obstinate little sister and her captain (who was tasked with looking after the sister) set off to follow Yeeran discovering all that they know and have learned is not true.

The book goes through some interesting twists and turns (some obvious, some less so) and ends on a cliffhanger that has me so excited for the next book.

So if you enjoy Sapphic and Achillean relationships, POC, magic and talking animals, this book is for you!

I received this book as an eARC. The opinions are entirely my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

3.5 ish? I mostly had fun reading this, it is well paced in the beginning and I am an absolute sucker for an animal companion. It pretty seamlessly incorporates gender diverse characters and a disabled protagonist, and I enjoyed the strong sister relationship. I just think it overall lacks some depth. I'm hard pressed to tell you what differentiates an elf from a fae (especially when you take in the Lightless), and I felt absolutely nothing towards any of the romances. The magic systems were pretty basic (this is probably a pro for some!) and it didn't feel fantastical enough. I guess I actually do like it when SFF writers come up for wild names for basic shit. I do want to read more black/African inspired fantasy though and might check out the Ending Fire Trilogy, which people seem to like.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for this arc. I am a huge fan of Saara, and I knew this was going to be a great read. I don’t even know how to put into words how much I enjoyed this book. My favorite character was Pila. Her deadpan one liners made my cheeks hurt from laughing. I did love the added touch of us being able to see the journal and its contents at the end.

Yeeran going back home to get Salawa to write a peace treaty of sorts is not going to go over well, especially since Yeeran is in love with Furi (I pray they end up together). Rayan turned out to be the biggest surprise aside of Nerad’s and Komi’s treachery. Everything about Rayan was shocking from Yeeran killing his father who was Furi’s brother and Sahar’s son, to now being crowned king and is half fae like Yeeran. Something I love in Saara’s writing is how she can do a one two punch with secrets and revelations. It’s the damndest thing.

I am absolutely looking forward to the next installment of this trilogy.

Faebound was such a fun ride! I was sucked into the story almost immediately and love this easy to understand fantasy world!!

Thank you NetGalley and Publishers!
I have nothing but praise for this book! I knew once it was announced that I was going to love it and I was not disappointed.

This story has Magic, war, romance, betrayal, mystery and just about everything you could ever wish for in a fantasy novel. I think the author did a good job world building and describing details about the characters. I found myself able to see what an Oheh looked like in my head thanks to the descriptions given. I also really loved the magic drum wielding Yeeran, as a drummer I thought this was super cool! I am very excited for more of this series and will be telling all of my friends about this book!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this amazing opportunity for this ARC.If I didn’t think Saara would be an auto buy author before this would’ve made it happened. The story and the characters have been fleshed out yet I know she will write something that we didn’t know what was possible. Yeeran and Lettie are fierce and kind in one package and I love these sisters will all my heart even if they’re flaws. Each character has their flaws and they don’t try to hide it. I can’t wait to see what this story holds as the trilogy continues.