Reviews

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

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tealeafje's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

cynt_'s review

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Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

13ashleynicole's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense 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

4.25

Amazing diversity and representation and even better storyline. So many things you want to find out that keep you listening and hanging on after every chapter. Love the bonds with the obeah. Will be impatiently waiting for the next book.

lisacanteven's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

2.5

The world was so cool. I wanted more world building, more information, because it felt very original and interesting. Instead we got immature romances and somewhat annoying characters.

I am so saddened by my own feelings about this book. I was bored out of my mind. Every reveal felt so anticlimactic and left me caring even less. By the end I was out of steam and felt deflated by the ending.

shrineofyourlies's review against another edition

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Just the most overplayed romance tropes within the first 80 pages, with no build up to justify their uses. I couldn't take it anymore.

mcire's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

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

3.5

Predictable plot, plus the writing was not very good at times. I think for prophecies to work they need to be vaguer. I had fun with the characters and the plot though!
Extra half star for the big cats with antlers that’s awesome I want one so badly.

Content Warnings

kerrys_bookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense fast-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

5.0

I genuinely believe that to market this book as a romanitacy does the story a massive disservice. Yes, there are elements of romance - two separate relationships if you want to get technical - but they aren’t the main focus of the story. The romance elements run parallel with the world building, the political instability, the fae court intrigue- this book is SO MUCH MORE than a romantasy!!!

And please don’t get me wrong, there is NOTHING wrong with a romantasy - I love it in its place. But if you loved ACOTAR, the chances are this book won’t be for you. I would recommend Faebound for fans of Shannon Chakraborty, Samantha Shannon and possibly R. F. Kuang. Each of the above authors have romance in their fantasy stories, but not a single one of them are marketed as a romantasy.

I haven’t loved a fantasy book this much since I first read The City of Brass trilogy. I flew through this book and cannot recommend it enough!