Reviews - Cursebound | The StoryGraph

1.12k reviews for:

Cursebound

Saara El-Arifi

3.94 AVERAGE

matmatmatty's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Same rating I gave the first one - if you really liked the first one, then you'll probably love this one too.

This story gave us a little more insight into the lore, and I think it was done well. though I'm still not a huge fan on the reliance of prophecy, because if you work it out, then it becomes too easy. I want to work for my mystery, not just solve a riddle.

Spoilers:

I guessed Alder was human straight away. He couldn't remember his life but was found with a bunch of obeah and knows the land really well? Thought it was obvious. BUT what was not obvious and was surprising is the obeah are humans?????? Thought that was a good twist.
I thought Salawa's death was genuinely surprising, and I think it has kicked off a lot of drama for our characters.

Content Warnings

aconkright79's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

emerz14's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

vtrumpredd's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

msrichardsreads89's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

I was excited to get to this one because I really enjoyed the first book in the series. The lore of this world is very cool, and I love learning more about the history between the humans, elves, and fae. We got a new POV, which definitely added to the story. I adore the representation we get in this book, including POC, queer and non binary characters and relationships, and disability rep. However, I feel like a lot of this book was telling and not showing, which kept me at a distance as a reader. I also got frustrated with the characters just not talking to one another, which added problems. I am still going to continue because I am interested in finding out how this ends, but this one definitely suffered a bit from middle book syndrome.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

holleakk's review against another edition

1.0

i do not know why i read this as i did not love the first one. the exposition is crazily and unnecessarily overdone, the characters are inconsistent and petulant, the politics and wars between the various tribes and kingdoms seem childish and are not taken seriously by yeeran and lettle. this whole book felt rushed in terms of plot and prose, and probably was considering that the author had two books released this year, with this one due for publication in february 2025. sometimes it's worth it to slow down and write something better! i used to love el-arifi's writing but the quality (of the plot, characters, pacing, worldbuilding, dialogue, prose, etc.) has significantly decreased. it was also SO predictable! i knew who alder was by the second time we met him. i'm not really sure what the important elements of this book were, as there were multiple subplots that didn't really go anywhere or add anything of value. and there were SO many lines in this book that just went on and on without commas or semicolons that were desperately needed -- it felt like fanfiction. i wanted to enjoy this, i really did, but everything just fell completely flat.

gorgeous cover, though.

[thank you to netgalley for the copy of this book! all opinions are my own.]