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writerres27's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
First 5-star read of 2024! Fantastic book. I found the story to be fast paced and engaging, the characters were interesting and well juxtaposed, and the ending certainly has me anticipating a second book. Overall, I found the writing beautiful, the plot fascinating, and the growth of El-Arifi rewarding. This will be a spoiler-free review! Details below.
Plot:
The storyline begins the second the writing does. You're following the story of Yeeran and Lettle, two sister elves exploring an unknown land as Yeeran enters exile. The action is near constant with new events occurring almost every chapter. I found it hard to put the book down, constantly wanting to know what was going to happen next and telling myself "just one more" long after my bedtime. Perhaps the most impressive feat of the plotline is the double plot-twist occurring at the climax of the book. While I had my suspicions about one, I was truly surprised (and went "AHHHHH!!!") at the other one. I was excited by the constant rise and fall of hope presented in the plot as new challenges continued to arise and were overcome, some more than others. It's been a while since I was gripped by a book from the very beginning, thus earning Faebound and El-Arifi my first 5-star rating of the year.
Characters:
Character development in this story was well done for a first book. While all of the main characters experienced a broadening of their knowledge and understanding of the world, some took to it better than others. With characters who are all starkly different, often grating against each other regardless of how much love they share, the reader gets to experience multiple perspectives on the events of the plot as the story goes on. You find yourself sympathetic for, and irritated with, all of the characters for different reasons, which in turn allows you to understand their actions or the reactions of others. While many first books in a series struggle to demonstrate substantial character development before the second book, El-Arifi does a great job of making the characters flexible from the beginning, though their core characteristics are firm and consistent the whole way.
World building, setting, and magic system:
I found the world of Faebound quite fascinating. Not so different from our own, but different enough to keep the reader curious, Faebound explores different roles within a society, as well as different peoples within a greater world, and the conflicts that arise amongst them. The descriptions are beautiful and vivid, allowing the reader to envision the characters' experiences with clarity. The magic system was also incredibly interesting, with details and explanations emerging progressively throughout the book. This allowed readers to learn alongside the main characters, but never left the reader wondering how it all fit together or whether they were missing something. I was extremely satisfied by the explanations and depictions of the world's magic, which remedies the only complaints I had about The Final Strife, another first book in an El-Arifi fantasy series. You can see the growth in El-Arifi as an author, and it is quite pleasing to witness in real time.
Plot:
The storyline begins the second the writing does. You're following the story of Yeeran and Lettle, two sister elves exploring an unknown land as Yeeran enters exile. The action is near constant with new events occurring almost every chapter. I found it hard to put the book down, constantly wanting to know what was going to happen next and telling myself "just one more" long after my bedtime. Perhaps the most impressive feat of the plotline is the double plot-twist occurring at the climax of the book. While I had my suspicions about one, I was truly surprised (and went "AHHHHH!!!") at the other one. I was excited by the constant rise and fall of hope presented in the plot as new challenges continued to arise and were overcome, some more than others. It's been a while since I was gripped by a book from the very beginning, thus earning Faebound and El-Arifi my first 5-star rating of the year.
Characters:
Character development in this story was well done for a first book. While all of the main characters experienced a broadening of their knowledge and understanding of the world, some took to it better than others. With characters who are all starkly different, often grating against each other regardless of how much love they share, the reader gets to experience multiple perspectives on the events of the plot as the story goes on. You find yourself sympathetic for, and irritated with, all of the characters for different reasons, which in turn allows you to understand their actions or the reactions of others. While many first books in a series struggle to demonstrate substantial character development before the second book, El-Arifi does a great job of making the characters flexible from the beginning, though their core characteristics are firm and consistent the whole way.
World building, setting, and magic system:
I found the world of Faebound quite fascinating. Not so different from our own, but different enough to keep the reader curious, Faebound explores different roles within a society, as well as different peoples within a greater world, and the conflicts that arise amongst them. The descriptions are beautiful and vivid, allowing the reader to envision the characters' experiences with clarity. The magic system was also incredibly interesting, with details and explanations emerging progressively throughout the book. This allowed readers to learn alongside the main characters, but never left the reader wondering how it all fit together or whether they were missing something. I was extremely satisfied by the explanations and depictions of the world's magic, which remedies the only complaints I had about The Final Strife, another first book in an El-Arifi fantasy series. You can see the growth in El-Arifi as an author, and it is quite pleasing to witness in real time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Bullying, Animal death, Hate crime, Medical content, Child abuse, Murder, and Abandonment
brewdy_reader's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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? It's complicated
3.5
๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐บ โข ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐บ โข ๐๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐๐
๐๐๐ โข ๐๐ถ๐ฃ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฆ 23 ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐บ 2024
War stories have become increasingly popular within the romantasy sub-genre. Faebound combines this and other familiar fantasy tropes with unique elements in a a fun, easily consumable package. There will be:
โจ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ (๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด)
โจ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด
โจ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค (๐ฅ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค)
โจ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด (๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ด)
โจ ๐ง๐ข๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต
โจ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง & ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ
โจ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ
โจ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ
โจ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด
I appreciated that the book was written in a queer and disability-normative, gender-fluid, and racially-ambiguous way. Instead of riding dragons or horses, here we ride obeahs and camels. And of course, there's going to be a journey across realms and a very fancy map in the endpapers worth ogling.
What did not work as well for me in this story was the writing. It felt simplistic relative to other high fantasy (or even romantasy) adult novels. I would say this leaned YA (dialogue, descriptions, mostly fade to black, predictable storyline, complexity of magic). I would like the characters and relationships to have been developed in greater depth also.
There were some great one liners, moments of reflection, and a few surprise twists! I definitely will sign up to read volume 2.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ @๐๐ฆ๐ต๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ @๐๐ฆ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ.
๐๐๐ โข ๐๐ถ๐ฃ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฆ 23 ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐บ 2024
War stories have become increasingly popular within the romantasy sub-genre. Faebound combines this and other familiar fantasy tropes with unique elements in a a fun, easily consumable package. There will be:
โจ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ (๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด)
โจ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด
โจ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค (๐ฅ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค)
โจ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด (๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ด)
โจ ๐ง๐ข๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต
โจ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง & ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ
โจ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ
โจ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ
โจ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด
I appreciated that the book was written in a queer and disability-normative, gender-fluid, and racially-ambiguous way. Instead of riding dragons or horses, here we ride obeahs and camels. And of course, there's going to be a journey across realms and a very fancy map in the endpapers worth ogling.
What did not work as well for me in this story was the writing. It felt simplistic relative to other high fantasy (or even romantasy) adult novels. I would say this leaned YA (dialogue, descriptions, mostly fade to black, predictable storyline, complexity of magic). I would like the characters and relationships to have been developed in greater depth also.
There were some great one liners, moments of reflection, and a few surprise twists! I definitely will sign up to read volume 2.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ @๐๐ฆ๐ต๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ @๐๐ฆ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, War, Animal death, Hate crime, and Classism
chelsea_nailpolishlover's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
5/5 โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
1.5/5 ๐ถ๏ธ
From start to finish I was enthralled. I couldnโt 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 POVโs. 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 youโll loveeeeee this book!
I did personally struggle with one of the TWโs, 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 donโt 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 whoโs been through that would say and feel. It didnโt feel mocking, it didnโt 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 TWโs 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.
5/5 โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
1.5/5 ๐ถ๏ธ
From start to finish I was enthralled. I couldnโt 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 POVโs. 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 youโll loveeeeee this book!
I did personally struggle with one of the TWโs, 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 donโt 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 whoโs been through that would say and feel. It didnโt feel mocking, it didnโt 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 TWโs 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Chronic illness, Violence, Child death, Alcoholism, War, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Gore, Death, Colonisation, Bullying, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Murder, Genocide, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Classism, and Animal death
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