Ugh, y’all. I want to love this series so much more than I do.

The Faebound world, magic system, central plot, and characters are truly so good. There is an incredible amount of potential in all of them. But the execution is just not there. The plot twists are obvious, the reveals fall emotionally flat, and all tension and action ends way too quickly. Everything stays surface-level. It’s just not that well written, and it breaks my heart.

If these books were chonkers, I might have given up on them (although tbh if they were filled out more, they might fulfill their promise). But they’re short and very fast paced, which makes them good, escapist brain breaks when life is busy. Plus, as I mentioned, the characters and overall worldbuilding and story are very good! So I’ll still probably read the last one. Until then!

Cursebound is definitely a great continuation to book 1 , Faebound. However, i did feel like it lost some of the fluent speed that it was having in faebound.

I absolutely enjoyed readin cursebound,
However I do have to say that cursebound felt a bit loose from the story and the plot felt slow and at the same time too rushed, weirdly enough. Perhaps it felt like there was a lot of meaningless things happening, but nothing truly important. Also I could not enjoy lettles chapter for some reason and i just didnt feel like i liked her. On the other hand I really enjoyed Alders chapters and found them really interesting. And I would die for Pila, such a sweetheart.

The writing was good and enjoyable, perhaps the plot just needed some work? Or perhaps it would have been better as a duology instead of a triology? The Twist in the end however was nice so im intrigued to see what book 3 will be like!

Thank you Del Rey ( Penguin Random House) & Netgalley for an advanced reader copy. All thoughts are my own.

Review posted on instagram, fable, storygraph & goodreads. Will be posted on Amazon once Amazon approves my review.

Omggg this book was definitely so much better than the first book. I loved the new characters! I loved that this book went into the politics more and the magic system. Yeeran and furi relationship is definitely going through a rough time and shall I say maybe some trauma bond is going on between them but I love them so much! I love alder and golan! Check out my TikTok for a quick review!

While I was eagerly anticipating 'Cursebound,' I found myself ultimately disappointed. The world-building was a definite highlight, showcasing a rich and unique setting that held immense potential. However, as a romantasy, the romantic elements fell short. The relationships felt rushed and superficial. Instant attraction was the norm, with characters falling into reciprocated feelings without significant development or hesitation. This resulted in a lack of genuine connection, making the pairings feel arbitrary rather than organic. The shallowness of these relationships was further compounded by a perceived lack of high stakes, diminishing the overall tension.

The main plot, while intriguing, was explored too briefly, leaving many aspects underdeveloped. I did appreciate the final plot twist, which successfully sets the stage for the next installment and demonstrates the author's ability to create compelling cliffhangers.

Ultimately, 'Cursebound' left me wanting more depth. I longed for a deeper exploration of the fascinating world and more nuanced, emotionally resonant relationships. I am grateful for the opportunity to read this ARC, but I hope the final book will deliver on the promise of its world-building and offer more substantial character development.

I was very excited to receive this ARC after reading the first book, but I was a little underwhelmed. I feel like this story has the potential to become an amazing romantasy series with a diverse and interesting magic system, however the characters fall incredibly flat to me. The pacing is also very strange, and I have to go back and reread constantly. I’m not sure if I’ll continue this series, but if you like some magical twists and turns, this could be a good fit for you.

I have been patiently waiting to for the followup of Faebound and had a bit of a book hangover so I'm so glad that book 2 is here!

I loved that the first book had romance elements however while book 2 did not have much as much romance this book we do see is more development in the story and the character growth. I actually loved that I got to see more of Lettle and her growth development. We also get more POVs and new characters (which provided more insight in the story). Overall I enjoyed Cursebound- I would rate this book a 4.25 ⭐️

I'm really looking forward to the next book (esp after the ending).

DNF at 53% - I really tried with this book but I think this just isn't for me. I loved the Ending Fire trilogy, but I just don't feel interested in any of the characters or what is going to happen to them in this series.

I am so glad I picked up the second book and I read it instead of consuming the audiobook. I found Faebound was fine, with a mediocre audio experience. However, Cursebound has not only elevated the story but with the addition to some more POV's I thought the second book really brought me into the world of Mosima, the politics and the disparity of the lightless.

I also thought Lettle and Yeeran grew as characters and how they are able to succeed as their own characters but also as sisters. I can't wait to read the the last book in the series.

Overall I give this sequel a 2.5 stars. If you really enjoyed Faebound, give it a shot, but if you didn’t, this might be a series that you don’t want to continue.

Pros: Creative world building, diverse cast, interesting side characters, and unique magic system.

Cons: This plot points of this book felt extremely rushed, and I wish there had been more depth and higher stakes. I didn’t like many of the decisions the main characters made (some were just flat out bizarre). This book felt a bit like filler, and I think this trilogy could have been written better as a duology.

That being said, it was a quick read and I may read the final book just to see how it ends.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Cursebound!

Unfortunately I wasn’t drawn to this book, I actually struggled to read just 3 chapters as I wasn’t finding it engaging. I actually had to swap to the audio which was much better - some books are made for audio for me this book was one of those, otherwise I fear I’d have just DNF this. Though I enjoy the lore in this book and series it felt like we got a lot less of it than we did in book 1, and the plot was a little lacking for me. We did meet a new character, Alder, and gained 2 new POVs in this book but my main issue is I just didn’t engage with any of them and therefore I wasn’t invested.

Overall I gave this book a 3⭐️ as I still see the potential of the series. The lore we get hints of could be really interesting but it clearly wasn’t the aim of Cursebound to give us any answers at this stage. This would suggest book 3 could be really good but unfortunately this book felt like it dragged on a bit too long and I found myself losing focus and interest often.

Cursebound was a solid follow up to Faebound, with continued world building and some interesting new characters that further expanded the world. I'm excited to see how the trilogy wraps up in the next book. I loved how the book started with a journal entry that essentially recapped the previous book – something I now need from every fantasy series! The book was so character-driven and had twists and turns a plenty, and I absolutely flew through it. The writing was often more formal than I would have liked, but it didn't get in the way of the story too much. The magic system, characters (Pila will forever be my favorite), and world are all so unique, this is definitely a must-read series for me.

I have an unhealthy love of this world -- it just pops off the page in the most brilliant color. It's written in a way that scratches all the right places for me, and because the plot of Cursebound isnt entirely unpredictable, it almost fits with the idea of a cozy fantasy. The stakes increase from the first installment in this series, but you know where you're going to end up with the interpersonal dynamics. The twist at the end regarding the provenance of the Obeahs set us up for an exciting book three in this series.

I also want to take a minute to express appreciatioin f or the joournal entry that starts off the book, recapping the events of the first book tidily. It really helped launch me right back into the action without the frustration of trying to remember court politics I'd last read about a year prior.

We get a new character, Alder, and several chapters from his POV. While it definitely added intrigue (and a great new relationship), at times the additional POV almost felt busy. However it all came together in the end for a cliffhanger that will have readers begging for the last book.

As with so many second books in trilogies, I felt like at times Cursebound struggled with pacing. But all in all it was such a fun read and I can’t wait for book three!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I think this was a solid follow up to Faebound. I will never not be impressed by Saara El-Arifi's world building. It feels so unique to any other fantasy book I've read. I did deduct a star as I found myself not as invested in the main characters. It could just be that I am more of a mood reader and I may not have been fully ready to jump back into this world. The plot did drive this for me though and I definitely recommend reading it if you enjoyed the first book.

“𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙢, 𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙞𝙩.”

after an abbreviated synopsis of what happened in book one (faebound) cursebound picks up right where it left off. yeeran is captured by her former lover after leaving mosima to warn the elves of what is to come. meanwhile, lettle and rayan are left behind to search for more answers on how to break the curse that trapped the fae. unbeknownst to lettle and rayan, a rebellion is starting and they have their sights set on murdering lettle in order to bring around actual change.

something that i really enjoy about the writing of the faebound series is that it is extremely character driven while still flowing so well. the characters are so diverse and they feel so beautifully natural within the pages of this story. the writing is a bit formal at times but with the characters and lore being based around elves/fae/humans it isn’t out of place. i also thing el-arifi does a great job at tackling topics like class division and segregation.

some of the things that made this a four star read and not a five star read is that at a certain point, some of the problems within characters felt repetitive. i’m also a huge hater of a miscommunication trope, and characters deceiving and keeping things from one another to “protect” one another so that influenced my rating a little bit as well.

after that jaw dropping information drop at the end i cannot wait for book three. i can’t wait to see where she takes the story next.

on another note — i saw someone describe this as “gay lord of the rings” and honestly they’re not wrong???

𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸. 🫶🏻

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this eARC in exchange for a review.

After finishing Faebound I was excited when I got accepted to read & review the second installment of the trilogy, Cursebound. I really appreciated the general rundown of the first book at the start of the second whilst it still flowed in the story.

I really enjoyed this read and it was great to see the development of the characters - in particular Lettle. The introduction of new character Alder provided heartwarming friendships & relationships as well as furthering on the story and aiding a bit of a juicy plot twist 👀.

I love the inclusivity and the way it "just works" in this book. The representation doesn't feel like an afterthought or like it's just thrown in to tick a box. It flows really well.

The world is truly intriguing and unlike anything I've read before - the way it is described alongside the characters and the magic system, the book felt very comforting and in my opinion gives off quite a cosy fantasy vibe with low-medium stakes but with enough to keep you interested and engaged.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the author wraps up the story in the final book!

This series delivers a fresh take on elves and fae with amazingly detailed and beautiful world building!

This is the second book in the Faebound trilogy ( My Faebound Review ) and follows two elven sisters, Lettle and Yeeran, as they try to navigate the fae world and protect those they love. This story is set in an afro/arab inspired and queer normative world and there are both F/F and M/F main love stories as well as lots of additional LGBTQIA+ rep.

Cursebound is less romance focused than Faebound but did up the angst and conflict between the main characters as well as give all the main characters growth. The plot twists are one element that have been consistently done well in this series and I can't wait (and am scared) to see what happens book3! I also really appreciate how Saara El-Arifi is able to craft a fast moving and enjoyable epic fantasy in less than 350 pages.

One of my favourite elements of this entire series remains the obeah (giant cat-like animal companions that the fae are telepathically linked with and can ride) and I love how unique not only each POV in this book is but each obeah is. New POVs are added in this book and I can honestly say that I loved every POV in this book (if anything bad happens to any of them in book 3 I will RIOT).

I didn't enjoy this quite as much as Faebound but this remains one of my favourite fantasy series and Cursebound was still a great read.

Thank you to HarperCollins for sending me a physical proof copy of this book!

I was a little nervous to pick up Cursebound, the second book in the Faebound trilogy, because I did not remember much about the first book beyond the basic premise that the main characters had been banished from their elf kingdom and wound up living among the Fae. I have to give the author huge kudo's for writing one of the best summaries in the form of a diary entry from Lettle (one of the 2 banished sisters) that hit all the right cues in my brain to help me remember, not just what happened in the first book, but also what I enjoyed about it. After just a brief few pages, I was ready to dive back in! In my humble opinion, more author's should do this, and I believe this positively affected my ability to enjoy this second volume.

As the second of three books go, the focus here is character development and world building, but in a captivating way that didn't feel at all like filler. New characters are introduced, including Golan and Alder, whose gay romance is the highlight of the book and absolutely adorable. Yeeran and Lettle on the other hand, both had to negotiate difficulties with Furi and Rayan, as life gets more complicated and politics and the coming war get in the way. I liked the maturity of this story, perhaps moreso than the first installment. We do get enough closure by the end to some of the bigger questions that drive the narrative, but the ending also hands us quite a few more in moving us to the upcoming third act.

Overall, Cursebound invested me further in the Faebound story, which was a pleasant surprise indeed! I will definitely looking for the concluding volume next year.

It was a satisfying read, lots og things happened on this book: we discover more about the humans, the obeah, the dynamics between the different couples and between fae-eleves-humans, and lots of things about the imbalace of power on the fae are bring forth. Really curious about how it all will wrap up!