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A review by fishy27
Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi
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
3.75
Can we all give Saara El-Arifi a round of applause for giving us a good, meaningful recap at the beginning of this book to remind us of what we need to know going into it? She deserves a big, sloppy kiss on the mouth for that.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue with the Faebound series after reading the first book because I wasn’t all that impressed with the opening book. However, I’m glad that I ended up picking up Cursebound because I think this was a huge improvement on the previous book.
In terms of worldbuilding and its development,I don’t think it came as a surprise to literally anyone who has read The Ending Fire trilogy that the “twist” was that the humans, famously extinct/gone, are, in fact, not extinct/gone. The replication between the two series felt a bit formulaic to me in the first book, but I eventually just decided to get over it. Time passed after having read the Ending Fire trilogy, and I was willing to just let myself live in this world. Once I got past that, I did find myself having a nice time with this story.
I really appreciate that El-Arifi didn’t feel compelled to make this book as long as or longer than Faebound. Very often, we see the length of books in a series increasing as the story develops, but this story felt complete and didn’t drag for the sake of being more.
I feel like this book was ultimately pretty forgettable, but this installment does make me feel more confident in all the times I’ve recommended it to people. I will definitely be finishing this series!
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue with the Faebound series after reading the first book because I wasn’t all that impressed with the opening book. However, I’m glad that I ended up picking up Cursebound because I think this was a huge improvement on the previous book.
In terms of worldbuilding and its development,
I really appreciate that El-Arifi didn’t feel compelled to make this book as long as or longer than Faebound. Very often, we see the length of books in a series increasing as the story develops, but this story felt complete and didn’t drag for the sake of being more.
I feel like this book was ultimately pretty forgettable, but this installment does make me feel more confident in all the times I’ve recommended it to people. I will definitely be finishing this series!