A review by onthesamepage
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

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

3.0

If I wasn't so frustrated/ambivalent about the characters, I'd continue this series just for the world building. I love the idea of a world where the elves think they are the only race left out of three, and meanwhile the fae have been surviving, hidden away from the rest. It felt really fleshed out and vivid, and I'm curious about how the forever war came to be as well. The plot is fairly straightforward. There's quite a bit of romance, and some political intrigue, but it was pretty obvious who was behind it all. 

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get invested in the characters. We get POVs from Yeeran and Lettle, two sisters. They both felt superficial—Yeeran is the soldier who is determined to go back home with information, and Lettle is the diviner who gets mad at everyone and everything at the littlest provocation. They kept circling around the same issues in their minds, which made me feel like we weren't getting anywhere. I was more frustrated with Lettle than with Yeeran—Lettle's hot temper kept leading her into situations she should've been smart enough to avoid, especially since everyone around her kept warning her to be careful. 

The writing itself is pretty good, even though I did notice some vague jumps from character POV to omniscient, but it wasn't very jarring.
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