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distilledreads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
4.0
I love the world Saara El-Arifi has created in Faebound with the dynamic of fae, elves, and (once upon a time) humans. It is a queernormative fantasy, which I am absolutely adoring at the moment. There are F/F, F/M, and M/M relationships mentioned on page as well as nonbinary characters. Again, I just loved the world El-Arifi created and the mythology of creation with the three gods each representing a different race and bestowing a “power.”
Strangely, despite falling in love with the world, I can’t pinpoint if there is a single character that I love as much. I enjoyed the characters, but I didn’t quite fall in love with any of them. Also, while I love the queer rep, none of the romantic partnerships had me in a chokehold, not even the enemies-to-lovers one. I will take a moment to appreciate El-Arifi’s depiction of siblings though. Even though our sibling protagonists are older (early-30s and late-20s), they still bicker like children. It is a dynamic I’ve seen with my own siblings at times, where we can revert back to the same arguments we had at 8 and 12, even though we are now much older.
As well, at times the foreshadowing in Faebound felt quite heavy. For every twist and turn, the groundwork has been put in place already on the page, so there were no surprise twists for me, but that didn’t make me like the book any less. Overall, the premise and world-building sunk its teeth into me with Faebound and I am eagerly anticipating the next installment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Sexual content, Animal death, Death, Murder, Slavery, War, and Injury/Injury detail
warlocksarecool21's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.75
Overall, I thought this was a solid start to the series. I thought the world and the magic was really interesting and unique and I liked how immersive the worldbuilding was. The concept of the obeah’s being linked to the fae magic was so cool and I really liked how that was incorporated in the story. (Pila also had my entire heart she’s so sweet and I love her bond with Yeeran).
The characters were fun, although not as developed as I would like. I liked Yeeran the most, I thought she was pretty well-written. I liked Rayan as well and I hope to see more development from him in the next book. I liked Lettle at first but as the book went on she just got more irritating to me. I thought her divination was interesting but her perspective was not my favorite. I also thought the romantic relationships were a little superficial, there wasn’t a lot of emotional build-up to them but I didn’t mind either of the main relationships in the book. I will say I did enjoy how queernormative the world was.
As for the plot, I thought it was pretty solid but it got rather predictable at the end (especially with Lettle’s prophecies getting repeated every other chapter I figured out most of the reveals before they happened) but I am interested to see where the story goes in the next book. I am hoping we’ll get more action since this book was a lot of world-building to set up the series. The magic and the world were the strongest parts of this to me and I think it’s worth reading if you like good world-building. Even though some of the plot and character development was a little shallow I will be picking up the next book.
The characters were fun, although not as developed as I would like. I liked Yeeran the most, I thought she was pretty well-written. I liked Rayan as well and I hope to see more development from him in the next book. I liked Lettle at first but as the book went on she just got more irritating to me. I thought her divination was interesting but her perspective was not my favorite. I also thought the romantic relationships were a little superficial, there wasn’t a lot of emotional build-up to them but I didn’t mind either of the main relationships in the book. I will say I did enjoy how queernormative the world was.
As for the plot, I thought it was pretty solid but it got rather predictable at the end (especially with Lettle’s prophecies getting repeated every other chapter I figured out most of the reveals before they happened) but I am interested to see where the story goes in the next book. I am hoping we’ll get more action since this book was a lot of world-building to set up the series. The magic and the world were the strongest parts of this to me and I think it’s worth reading if you like good world-building. Even though some of the plot and character development was a little shallow I will be picking up the next book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and War
risaleel's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Death, and Classism
Moderate: Toxic relationship, War, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Murder
pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
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
I absolutely loved this book. The world building was breathtaking. The characters, weren't perfect, but definitely loveable and have plenty of room to grow.
The insta-love, just wasn't doing much for me, on either end. And at times, the writing felt a bit underwhelming, particularly when Yeeran was speaking with Pila.
But ultimately, I truly am excited for the sequel announcement and the following announcement from fairyloot.
The insta-love, just wasn't doing much for me, on either end. And at times, the writing felt a bit underwhelming, particularly when Yeeran was speaking with Pila.
But ultimately, I truly am excited for the sequel announcement and the following announcement from fairyloot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Animal death, Death of parent, War, Death, and Sexual content
amandab0514's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual content, and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Animal death
ctara2123's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and Genocide
Minor: Toxic relationship
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Animal death, Racism, War, Murder, and Genocide
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol
mothie_girlie's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia
gothutaoz's review against another edition
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? N/A
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
anarmandameg's review against another edition
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??
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