A review by bookaquarius
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

Did not finish book. Stopped at 40%.

I think I’m going to DNF (not finish) Faebound. I made it 40% of the way in and I don’t think it’s going to get better from here for me. This book made me too aware of one of the main issues in the fantasy romance subgenre—authors lack the ability to balance both elements and end up shoving it all together in nonsensical ways. You don’t have to have a fantasy element and romance element in every single scene to prove they’re both there. We read the synopsis, we know. The romance works better when you give the fantasy plot some room to develop on its own and don’t throw in completely out of place “they made eyes at each other” moments just for the sake of it. It will still be a fantasy romance if they’re not witnessing a murder and then ogling someone’s physique in the literal same paragraph. Let’s think about chapters hun!! I also was not enjoying how the characters were reacting to allegedly major events. A lot of it was out of proportion and made it seem a bit silly. Okay and this last thought is kind of petty but “the forever war” … okay. 

I do think this book has some interesting elements that people will enjoy, such as multiple romantic pairings to follow, animal companions, and (just a guess) secret heritage plot lines.