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dododenise's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I really enjoyed the magic system and not something I’ve seen before.
The world building was also really interesting and I liked how you were fed the pieces bit by bit, so you could enjoy the story right from the start without the 100 pages of confusion you often get in high fantasy.
The book painted beautiful pictures of a beautiful world.
The characters weren’t the most likeable but I found them very interesting. I’m especially hoping for more character development for Yeeran in future books. Her military mindset is so deep in her and I’d love to see her let go of it more and more and see the problem of the war.
The romance elements of the story could have been better but wasn’t too bad. Especially the back and forth between Yeeran and Furi was a bit too much for my liking. But I can see myself liking them more as time goes on and they both go through more development.
Definitely going to continue the series!
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, and Medical content
Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol
bookishoptimist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
ellen_is_reading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Infidelity, Dementia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Alcohol
anarmandameg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
gussurireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
There's nothing particularly wrong with Faebound. Saara El-Arifi's prose is simple, but effective. Reminds me a lot of C.L. Clark's The Unbroken. The world she created is quite imaginative and the twists and turns revealed in the third act made me want to read more, so I will be picking up the sequel.
However, everything else feels quite unremarkable. The two main characters whose POV were are privy to read younger than they are, making the book read like a YA fiction when it's marketed as adult. I expected more tension between Yeeran and her love interest, their relationship barely having any time to develop properly, rendering the enemies-to-lovers trope quite irrelevant, in my opinion. Besides, Yeeran spends almost the entirety of her time in exile mourning this woman who's portrayed to us an ambiguous chieftain, who's both ruthless and caring at the same time. But we barely get to know her, so the constant allusions to Yeeran and her love for her became irritating. From the glimpse we have of Salawa and her actions towards Yeeran and their people, she sounds nothing more than a corrupt politician lavishing in riches while her people starve.
And on a more personal note and this is truly a quirk of mine and not at all a real issue with the book, but Yeeran's obeah (this panther/deer fae creature that she's bound to) being named Pila diminished the enjoyment of the book for me. I just couldn't take it seriously after THAT. (Context: Pila means "dick" in my native language, Portuguese.)
Unfortunately I didn't get what I wanted out of Faebound but I can see it being a favorite for some, especially if you're into romantasy and lighter fantasy reads.
Moderate: Sexual content, Xenophobia, and War
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Genocide, Violence, and Murder
chelsea_nailpolishlover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1.5/5 🌶️
From start to finish I was enthralled. I couldn’t put this book down.
From the care shown to not only gender and sexuality, but to race, and disability. This book had it all. The struggles of political and moral discourse. The discrimination against those who are different. The devastation brought on by war. The struggles of what is right and what is just. The author did an amazing job. It was absolutely fantastic.
This book was very war focused, with a few different love stories between multiple POV’s. I really enjoyed having the multiple view points. The way they intertwined with each other between the timeline of events was beautifully done.
My favorite character was Lettle. She was treated like a child, she was put down, but she was so incredibly strong. She showed everyone what she was made of. I love her character so much.
If you loved fourth wing and the banter with the characters and their dragon familiars then you’ll loveeeeee this book!
I did personally struggle with one of the TW’s, the malnutrition and starvation aspect that was brought up multiple times during the book. As someone who was starved and malnourished to the point of almost dying it brought up a lot of emotions for me, that I thought I had worked through. There was a particular moment in the book about half way through that hit me hard. I don’t know if the author has ever had to also go through a situation where they were starved and malnourished but they wrote like they knew exactly what someone who’s been through that would say and feel. It didn’t feel mocking, it didn’t feel like it was an after thought. The emotions that were expressed while discussing those things were present. And accurate.
As hard as it was for me emotionally I hope it puts into perspective for some people who have never been through something like that, that they can imagine the difficulties and trauma it causes someone. How often that trauma pops up. And how words about food, and eating can affect the people around you without you even realizing it.
A mix of Tropes, and TW’s just to name a few -
found family, enemies to lovers, familiars, murder, death, war, starvation/malnourishment, friends to lovers, WW, MM, MW, disability representation, discrimination, gore, animal death, descriptive language of desecration of animal remains, hunting, confinement.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism