Reviews with content warning for War - Faebound

Reviews tagging 'War'

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

83 reviews

jess_always_reading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? N/A

4.75

I absolutely loved this story. El-Arifi's is so skilled at world-building and her characters are diverse, complex, and lovable with well explored relationships.

I immediately added all of her books to my TBR and I can't wait for the rest of this series!

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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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linnybear's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-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

2.0

If someone told me it’s a debut I’d believe them 💀 Completely subjectively speaking, it’s not a well written book, in any possible way. The author definitely fell into a trap of excessive tropification of romantasy and in my opinion it negatively affected the story making it incredibly cliché and predictable. You DO NOT give the reader ‘one bedroom trope’ in chapter 9 while barely establishing any kind of romantic relationship between characters, you DO NOT introduce the new enemy to make the mc swoon over the curves of their body a minute later making the reader go ‘ah so we have enemy to lovers’ (despite said mc apparently still loving her ex partner!). These can be your favorite tropes and I’m not here to judge that but the tropes also exist for a reason and they have their own place and time. This is something that over time made me irritated and yet it doesn’t get better as you progress through the story.

Talking about the storyline, it is so predictable almost from the start and the clues are constantly given away by the author in a form of prophecies. No matter the situation the stakes felt very low making it unengaging and instead we are forced to focus on characters’ internal struggles and romantic affairs, yet… This book has possibly the worst developed (or rather undeveloped) relationships I’ve ever encountered which is somewhat connected to incredibly flat, almost robotic characters. There is no logic in their actions, there is no thought (given their ages and previous positions in the elven society it’s absolutely bizarre), there is no depth, or growth, or complexity. Instead we are left with lots of angst, lust and cringy dialogue. Possibly the biggest red flag in all of this was the normalization of dishonesty, infidelity and abuse making some, if not all, relationships (including those between family members) really toxic as these issues are never properly addressed and resolved.

The only positive aspect of this series so far would be the world building. Don’t get me wrong, it is still severely lacking but I found some of the ideas (like the existence of three races made by three different gods or the fae curse) really interesting and worth expanding. I wish it was enough for me to read the book two once it’s out but I don’t think it’s truly worth my time.

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mothie_girlie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.5

As always thank you to publishers and Netgalley for a free arc in exchange for an honest review!

A diverse, magical world with intriguing politics, complicated interpersonal relationships and serious talks about abuse of power and the complexities of war, sign me up!! Oh my god this absolutely deserves more hype!! Yeeran is one of my favorite characters i've read this year, her grief and guilt she lives with and the way it shows on page is absolutely gorgeous. Also the dynamic and love between her and Furi was absolutely adorable. Even through the complexities of the world they live in, the undeniable soft spot they have for each other is magnificent.

Sidenote this gives MAJO spop energy, iykyk. Also I really want an Obeah now.

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probablyreadingaboutdragons's review

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4.25

There were a lot of things that I loved about this book— the writing style, the characters, the atmosphere, the magic system (though a bit confusing), and the cliffhanger. Every time I put this book down, I was so excited to pick it up again. That’s usually a sign of a five star read for me but this book fell short in some ways. The relationship development in particular felt a bit sub-par to me. I’m definitely hoping to see more of the emotional connection between Yeeran and her partner in the next book (along with less hitting/strangling each other whenever they argued). Also, I’m hoping we see more world building and a deeper exploration of the magic system, since those topics were barely touched in this book. It was a good read and something I’d recommend, if you’re not sensitive to the triggers!

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anarmandameg's review

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dark medium-paced

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

How are they all so horny in life-or-death situations??

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amandaelle's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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deedireads's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedireads.com/.

Faebound is the first book in a new fantasy trilogy set in a world where the elves — locked in a neverending war between factions over limited magical resources — are the only race left after the fae and humans vanished long ago. (Or did they?) At the heart of the story are two sisters: Yeeran, the eldest and a seasoned soldier; and Lettle, a dreamer and a skilled seer.

I had a very good time with this book. The world-building is well done, super creative and never info-dumpy. The sisterhood between Yeeran and Lettle is beautiful but also complicated. And I’m always going to be here for a sapphic rivals-to-lovers storyline!!

Also, the audiobook was very well done and easy to follow once the world was established (as with all fantasy audiobooks). I thought Bahni Turpin brought Lettle’s character to life particularly well.

This may be personal preference, but my only complaint was that the book was TOO fast-paced. There’s a lot of worldbuilding, backstory, and mystery here to fit into only 400 pages. I wanted El-Arifi to slow down, give us more time, let the mystery simmer before it boils, and maybe most of all, give the secondary characters more than one or two dimensions. I know a lot of people felt the pacing made it feel unputdownable, but to me it made the story feel somewhat surface-level.

Still, like I said, I had a good time here and will definitely be picking up the second book when it comes out!

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volsairine's review

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adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

Ugh. I want to love this book so badly. It would be a five star for me if somethings had been different, because I love the world building so, so, so much and I really am invested in the plot. However, the dialogue was rough and it felt veeeeery YA (which is why I was shocked by the sex lol).

Personally I feel like the author was a little too heavy handed with the plot twist breadcrumbs, so I spotted basically everything really quickly and that was a little frustrating. MAJOR SPOILER about a plot twist:

the ink thing frustrated me badly. Golan's association with the ink was mentioned like twice before the poisoning and then twice after "I'm all out of squid ink, conveniently right after it was used to murder the queens". It just being mentioned for dying his beard one time would have been sufficient and a great breadcrumb without holding the readers hand too much.

There were so many chances for the author to lead the reader away with red herrings and instead I felt like I was directly led to the twist way before I wanted to be and way before it was revealed. I found myself thinking "No! I don't want to know this!". There was probably only one plot point that genuinely shocked me (which made me excited!). I hope that in the next books she learns to trust her readers a bit more, I promise that we love and appreciate the mystery!

I am very hopeful for the next two books though because I can't wait to see where this goes, I just need the editor to reign it in a little bit pls 😭 Also there was some plot stuff that lost me. MAJOR SPOILER:

Where was the brother/Rayan's dad whenever he was killed? Was he in the fae world? Why was his obeah just chillin out there in the wild??? Also learning a language is VERY hard, especially one that is hard to learn and it felt a little too convenient that Lettle was able to pick it up so quickly.

.

All that being said, I ADOREEEED the disability + gender fluid rep. And Pila. I love Pila. Pila best character. I want Pila to be my bestie.

Additionally, there is not a single mention of sexual violence in this book which is so refreshing for fantasy. Love that. 100% safe for a survivor to read, imo (if they're cool with sex).

I should probably give this book a 3.75 but I enjoyed the world too much so it's a 4. Probably one of my favorite fantasy worlds yet.

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karly_ackley's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

4.0

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