Reviews with content warning for Blood - Faebound

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Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

17 reviews

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.

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warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

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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.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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I was very disappointed with the lack of character depth. The two main (intended, I assume, since I didn’t finish the book) romances felt shallow and insta-lovey. Not to mention any antagonistic character had a cartoon-like villainy.
I loved the premise of this world, the magic and the animal companion aspect, but ultimately I just wasn’t enjoying it enough to continue.

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ctara2123's review against another edition

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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

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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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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I received this as part of my FairyLoot subscription.
"Faebound" follows two sisters as they are forced to interact with the fae court. Yeeran is a fierce warrior in the elven army, but she makes a mistake and is forcibly exiled from her homeland. Lettle is trying to become a diviner and use her prophecies to create a better future. Yeeran and Lettle have always had each other's backs, but their interactions with the fae are causing them to question where their loyalties should lie.
I had a fine time reading this book, but it felt unmemorable to me. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but I have not found myself thinking about it since I have finished, nor do I really desire to continue with the trilogy. I think this book is written well and definitely has an audience, but that audience is not me.

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