Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

48 reviews

linnybear's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Animal death, Racism, War, Murder, and Genocide

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol

anarmandameg's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Colonisation, Death, Deportation, Mental illness, Child abuse, Dementia, Murder, Violence, War, Confinement, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

tetrootz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Suicide, Blood, War, Body horror, Animal death, Stalking, Medical trauma, Gore, Death of parent, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Cursing, Confinement, Torture, Slavery, Death, and Alcohol

booksdogsandcoffee's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

An immersive fae fantasy romance drenched in beautiful lore and politics that keeps you engaged at every turn!

I could not put Faebound down, and this has absolutely become one of my top reads of the year already. El-Arifi really out did herself with this one. 

The lore, the disability representation, the romance, THE SISTER RELATIONSHIP! I cannot and will not stop gushing about how fantastic this book is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Death, War, and Violence

cozyscones's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual content, Violence, Animal death, and Confinement

Moderate: Death and Murder

lagaialettrice's review

adventurous fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Murder, and Death of parent

salma_175's review

adventurous emotional 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

Really enjoyed this. Picked this up one day and love it fiercely. There were times the character development felt too rushed but the story is beautiful and the world building is gorgeous 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death of parent and Animal death

Minor: Bullying

bookish_hollyx's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Death of parent, Blood, Gore, Murder, Death, and War

chrisb913's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

The story plot was phenomenal. The world building and character progression were fantastic. The magic system was unique and very well thought out. And they have animal companions. Who doesn't want animal companions!!!!

All in all, the only "complaint" I have with the book is that it wasn't long enough. I feel like the first 75% was going at a smooth pace. We were learning about the world and these character and their love interests in the story. Some will they/won't they going on. And then we get to the last, maybe 25%, and everything goes 0 to 100. Not sure what the reasoning for the brisk paced ending was but I'd have gladly devoured another 50-100 pages.

While I am hoping for a longer book in the sequel (cause I just want to know more about this world), between Faebound and The Ending Fire Trilogy, Saara El-Arifi will be on my insta-buy list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Xenophobia and War

alliekc1010's review

adventurous mysterious 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

4.75

now THAT is how you write enemies to lovers!!!!!

i’m excited to see where this series goes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Moderate: War

Minor: Murder