Reviews with content warning for Murder - Faebound

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

48 reviews

distilledreads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

I love the world Saara El-Arifi has created in Faebound with the dynamic of fae, elves, and (once upon a time) humans. It is a queernormative fantasy, which I am absolutely adoring at the moment. There are F/F, F/M, and M/M relationships mentioned on page as well as nonbinary characters. Again, I just loved the world El-Arifi created and the mythology of creation with the three gods each representing a different race and bestowing a “power.”

Strangely, despite falling in love with the world, I can’t pinpoint if there is a single character that I love as much. I enjoyed the characters, but I didn’t quite fall in love with any of them. Also, while I love the queer rep, none of the romantic partnerships had me in a chokehold, not even the enemies-to-lovers one. I will take a moment to appreciate El-Arifi’s depiction of siblings though. Even though our sibling protagonists are older (early-30s and late-20s), they still bicker like children. It is a dynamic I’ve seen with my own siblings at times, where we can revert back to the same arguments we had at 8 and 12, even though we are now much older.

As well, at times the foreshadowing in Faebound felt quite heavy. For every twist and turn, the groundwork has been put in place already on the page, so there were no surprise twists for me, but that didn’t make me like the book any less. Overall, the premise and world-building sunk its teeth into me with Faebound and I am eagerly anticipating the next installment.

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florecita_lectora's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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nina_rae_131's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Loveable characters? No

2.0

I chose this book for the "Judge a Book by its Cover" r/fantasy 2024 bingo square, and I'm afraid the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" applies to Faebound.
I found the world and magic system interesting. I wish we could have spent more time exploring those.
The characters annoyed me. Every time Lettle and Rayan interacted, I cringed. I felt like the romance between

Fury and Yeeran was unrealistic, like, girl, she murdered your brother!

I kept forgetting the characters were supposed to be in their thirties. Lettle especially felt like a teenager. It was also very predictable.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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I was very disappointed with the lack of character depth. The two main (intended, I assume, since I didn’t finish the book) romances felt shallow and insta-lovey. Not to mention any antagonistic character had a cartoon-like villainy.
I loved the premise of this world, the magic and the animal companion aspect, but ultimately I just wasn’t enjoying it enough to continue.

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risaleel's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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brotestantethic's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This is a great read. For a fantasy novel, the writing and storyline are really accesible while still being complicated. The magic system is expansive and fascinating. The characters are as lovable as they are diversely different. Love interests play out in an interesting way, with satisfying results. Plot twists are abundant, perhaps too fast and abundant at the very end, but despite myself I found myself gasping at them. This scratched my romantasy itch!

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amandab0514's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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ehoustonmyatt's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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scarroll178's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

The writing style was meh. I haaaated the MC’s love interest and will never want them to be together. I think it sucks that the straight MC got a sweet guy who openly adores her while the sapphic MC got a girl who liked to torture her for fun. And every. single. plot twist was utterly predictable. Every single one. This book is bad. And not fun bad, not guilty-pleasure bad, but just bad.

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julalbert56's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

How how how does this book only have 3.7 on goodreads??? I had a blast, the world, the characters, the romance…. It was so good. The only reason for 4.5 and not 5 stars is that the conflict only really started to escalate at the very end. So I’m very excited for the sequel!

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