Saara you truly have brought the characters and story to life for every reader and dreamer that is lucky enough to pick up this book and journey down the twist and turns of the river and roots that make up this beautiful yet warring world. The world itself was so well thought out and in-depth to the point where I could vividly see the fur on the animals, and the glint in their eye as the waning moon shone on them. You can tell the love and detail that was put into every element with every sentence you read as you fall deeper into the amazing writing.

A beautiful book, and definitely for those who loved The Poppy Wars, A Cursed Light and Sapphic Fantasy.

It was beautiful, and I feel so lucky to have read such a beautiful sapphic fantasy, and I’m sure like many others who have read this book, cannot wait for the next in the trilogy to be released.

The only thing I can say is to add to this, is that Saara you have given me the perfect vivid imaginative inspiration to I hope create an amazing cover design that I can only hope does your book justice.

I was excited to read this as the quotes from other readers say things like 'will leave you gasping' and 'breathtaking fantasy - opulent and sweeping' but I didn't really get a sense of this at all. If anything I found it a bit staid and it lacked a sense of suspense for me. Purely my personal thoughts and I won't post my review anywhere else.

BOOK REVIEW: Faebound by Saara El-Arifi @harpervoyager_uk @harpercollinsuk @harperfiction

3 Stars

I was so excited for this book which I liked but unfortunately it didn't work for me overall.

Faebound is based in a world where there were once Fae, Elves and Humans. Our two lead characters are elves and sisters. Yeeran, the elder sister is high up in their army. Lettle, the younger sister works with divination and learns prophecies. Yeeran is exiled into uninhabited lands and Lettle and Rayan (one of Yeeran's soldiers) follow to find her. They are captured by Fae and taken to their underground world.

The story and worldbuilding was decent but the story was very obvious and I guessed all of the twists. This made the story rather predictable and boring. The first 75% of the book was pretty slow and dull. The last 25% was MUCH better but unfortunately not enough to save the book for me.
I liked the magic and my favourite aspect were the animal companions that brought humour and personality to the book. I also liked the world of the Fae which sounded magical. The writing was decent and held my attention but I constantly wanted the pace to pick up.

The lead characters lacked personality and although I generally liked them I didn't feel a connection. My favourite characters were Lettle and Rayan as they had the most personality and I enjoyed their growth.
The romances were mixed. I liked Lettle and Rayan's romance as it was sweet and grew naturally. I wanted it to work and cared about it which wasn't the case for Yeeran. Her romance went from hatred to love in 1.5 seconds and wasn't realistic. Also the smut scenes were boring.

Overall, the story and a few characters let the writing and imagination down. I sadly don't think I will be continuing the series.

Please note that I was given this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I DNF'd this book at 50%. I wouldn't usually give a review of a book that I haven't read in its entirety but in this case I think I can give some honest feedback and recommendations regardless.
I was intrigued by this book, mainly because I had read The Final Strife a while ago (by the same author). I was interested to see how she would approach a Fae story, which is very different from her previous book(s).

The first thing that came to mind when reading this, was that it felt very similar to other books I had read in the past. The storyline reminded me of ACOTAR, although it wasn't as compelling. And I could see how the author had taken inspiration from other popular books - for example one character reminded me very much of Cinna from Hunger Games - and had the same role/personality/relationship to the main character. Almost a carbon copy of the character, in fact.

I liked that there was such prevalent Disability, LGBTQ and non-binary representation. This seems to be where this author is able to show strength. I also liked that there was Sapphic, Achillian and heterosexual love interests/romantic sub-plots too. Usually books tend to focus on just one of these so I liked the diversity here.

However, what I read did seem to be very heavily tropey. And the tropes weren't written particularly well either. For example, we see the popular "one bed" trope in something like the third chapter? Almost like the author was trying to include it just to tick a box. I felt that it was too early to include that trope, particularly as there didn't seem to be any tension build up between the two characters prior to that point either.
Some other tropes include: Exile, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, one bed as I have already mentioned, war, and "trained by the enemy" - most of these that we have seen before time and time again (and in my opinion, done much better than this attempt!) There didn't seem to be anything original or interesting here.
Overall though, my main reason for DNFing this book was because I found it very slow and boring. There seemed to be a lot of filler - things that weren't really relevant to the story or didn't move the story along. At 50% in, you would expect something significant to have happened, but each chapter was just very underwhelming.

In terms of recommending this book - obviously it wasn't to my tastes, but if you like any of the tropes I have mentioned, or if you have enjoyed this Author's previous books, then I think you will enjoy this one too.

Faebound tells of the Folk like I’ve never encountered them. This was my first Saara El-Arifi book, and I greatly enjoyed her storytelling skills; the way the story is framed by mythology, the landscape rendered harsh by war, the relationships that make and break the characters, the build up of tension and mystery… it’s all blended together to make for a very compelling read! As the blurb says, the story begins in one of the elven tribes, with the warrior Yeeran being the youngest Colonel in the army of the Waning tribe and ready to win a victory for her chieftain and lover Salawa. Her sister Lettle, meanwhile, despises the war and is a diviner hoping to rise in their ranks, but she drops everything when an error on the battlefield leads to Yeeran’s exile. Following the sisters is also Rayan, who served as Captain under Yeeran and feels responsible for her fate.

Yeeran is sure that if she can only bring back the skin of an obeah large enough, that Salawa will forgive her and bring her back into the fold, and this is her quest when she inadvertently stumbles upon a group of Fae, believed to have been lost for centuries. The obeah are a fascinating element to the story, as they are creatures of magic and so when their skin is used to fashion a drum, the wielder of that drum can create magic and the elves use these as weapons on the battlefield. However, this has lead to the over-hunting of the obeah, and Yeeran and her friends soon discover that the animals are precious to the Fae. As a warning: the early chapters have quite a few mentions and descriptions of the hunting and killing of obeah, so if you don’t like animal deaths this may not be for you.

Enraged by Yeeran’s killing of a great obeah, the fae drag her, Lettle, and Rayan to Mosima, their city beneath the earth to await punishment, because Yeeran has unknowingly killed a prince of the fae who was linked to the obeah and his sister, Furi, is the one to capture the elves. Thus begins the main story, as the three elves explore Mosima and become dangerously close to this race of people thought for centuries to have been lost. And the fae are indeed lost to the world, trapped beneath the earth by a curse uttered by the last of the humans, able only to leave for a little at a time, and only when one of the royal family is present. This confinement has led to differing views and strategies within the fae court, and the elves’ arrival only fans the fire as more people start dying and mysteries come to a head. In the midst of all this, there is a tension of a different kind: the growing attraction between Lettle and Rayan, who she believes she is fated to kill, and between Yeeran and Furi, who both despise and gravitate towards each other.

This book definitely falls in the ‘romantasy’ camp, so if a few more explicit scenes and a focus on romantic tension is not your ideal, then this one might not be for you. I enjoyed this element of the story, especially Lettle and Rayan’s scenes, but I couldn’t quite get on board with Furi and Yeeran; I love the enemies-to-lovers trope as much as the next gal, but I thought that ‘I accidentally killed your brother and now you hate me’-to-lovers was a bit of a stretch. Furi is a magnificent character, and I think my main problem is that I didn’t find Yeeran very likeable and so I don’t think she deserves the fae’s love! All she can think of for most of the book is the elves’ war and getting back to it, never really questioning their endless fighting or listening to her sister’s comments about the Chieftain Salawa. I suspect that she has more character development to undertake…

Overall, though, this was well plotted and well paced, and I enjoyed that all the little hints and mysteries that I noticed along the way come back towards the end in a satisfying way. I’m not sure if I’m interested enough to pick up the next book when it comes out, but I did race through this one and I’m glad I got the chance to read it.

Book Review 📚
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi - 4/5 ⭐

This is my first book by Saara and after reading it, I'm going to find the others! I'm not usually a romtasy kind of girl, only ever reading 1 other series of this type, but I thought why not?! I was visually pulled in by the cover alone. It's beautiful, there's no way anyone can say otherwise.

Now, story. I was slightly disappointed in the lack of descriptions, both world and character wise. It definitely would of made this 5 star for me. The great thing about reading is being pulled from reality but it was harder to imagine the characters and scenes without some description. But I can't fault the rest.

The characters were amazing, the plot was awesome, and the tropes were ever better. There was some great character development, mostly at the end but that's okay! It kept me on my toes. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of this book and it kept me from sleep!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for accepting my request to read and review a copy of this early.

This is a 2.5 stars but on account of my sheer disappointment in this book I'm rounding my rating down to 2 stars.

I read and ADORED The Final Strife, also by this author, earlier this year. It was super compelling with brilliant writing, a well thought out world, and good twists.

I cannot see how this was written by the same author... at all. The writing was so lazy, to the point where we didn't get descriptions for ANYONE or ANYHTING. I had not idea what the landscape or buildings looked like. I had no idea what the characters or animals looked like. And having that persist for 400 pages was actually just painful to read. This seriously needed to be edited.

I also found the plot to meander for far too long. 70% pf this book just does not have any substance to it. It meandered and without having great writing or super compelling characters, it was actually boring. Also, one of the big twists was so predictable and I highly suspect the author didn't realize how obvious it was as they tried to play it off as a cliffhanger shocker between one chapter and the next but like........... we are not that dumb sis.

This just fell so flat for me I didn't find that any component drew me in and yet it had so much potential.

DNF at 40%. This was really well written and the magic system was unique but unfortunately just not for me.

FAEBOUND is an epic fantasy with elves and fae, curses and endless war.

I love epic, classic fantasy. While this isn't a quest book, it does have all the hallmarks of epic fantasy. Think THE TWO TOWERS (the first half anyway, with the exploration of new lands, not the endless wandering of Frodo and Sam!) FAEBOUND is epic fantasy revitalised and brought into the twenty-first century, expanding it with a world, mythology, and characters that are not West European.

The world is so rich in this book. There are the war-wracked lands of the elves, the forests that are like wastes on the outside, and then the underground city of the fae. A lot of thought went into that underground city, how life could adapt and thrive there with magic. It's the sort of place that would be very fun to visit, full of wondrous sights.

I also loved the myths at the part openings, bringing the mythology of the world to life. There was a real feeling of oral tradition in them, like these were tales that had been spoken again and again, the phrases worn smooth with familiarity, rather than simply words typed on the page (in the hands of a skilled narrator, these part openings could be stunning.)

While the two sisters have their own romantic dramas, this is first and foremost a tale of sisterhood. Yeeran and Lettle have their past and tensions, but the do love each other (I would argue one more selflessly than the other!) Half of the trouble they get into after exile is because of this - Lettle following her sister, Yeeran leveraging her new status to protect her sister. I love seeing sisterhood at the forefront of books.

The epilogue hints at some curse breaking in the next book. I really hope that means we get a knowledge quest (I do love quests!) Either way, I am excited to read what comes next.

I absolutely adored Faebound, it read like a perfect fantasy! It’s full of rich and beautiful world-building amongst the backdrop of a raging war. The unique magic system is well explained with absolutely no information dumping. I have to mention pacing, this was is something of a marvel as it just kept building fluidly throughout. I loved ALL the characters and their relationships, especially the way the siblings interacted. The animal companions in this book are unmatched, there’s use of wit and otherworldliness about them! There is also plenty of romance for those who enjoy that aspect - this is possibly more geared towards younger adults, although there is spice. I think the book could have been without the spice all together and I would still rate it five stars for the plot, characters and world. Move over Fourth Wing, I don’t need a dragon, I need an Obeah! Thank you to the NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

𝗙𝗔𝗘𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗
—𝘀𝗮𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗲𝗹-𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶 | 𝟰.𝟮𝟱🌟

“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭.”

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
✨Fantasy romance
✨Drum magic
✨Queer rep
✨Prophecies
✨Strong sister bond
✨Military subplots
✨Elves and Fae
✨Enemies to lovers

𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆:
Yeeran is a celebrated colonel in the elven Forever War whilst her sister, Lettle, is struggling to make a living by divining futures. Both work towards a better tomorrow in different ways yet their bond is strong, so strong that when Yeeran is exiled, Lettle, and Yeeran’s Captain, Rayan, follow her into exile and together they discover a forgotten past.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
“𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘦. 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳,
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳,
𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦.
𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦.”

This author is an autobuy for me and just like her Ending Fire series, Saara el-Arifi’s writing continues to remain as immersive and as captivating as ever amongst some seriously enchanting world building.

This book focuses on the two sisters, Yeeran and Lettle, and they are both fundamentally flawed but easy to root for. I much preferred Lettle to Yeeran, I felt that sometimes the sisterly bond felt a little one sided and that Lettle would go further to save Yeeran than Yeeran would go for Lettle. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the characters progress over this new fantasy series.

I have to admit that most twists were obvious, so it was a bit frustrating that the characters didn’t work stuff out until towards the end when the reader has known it for so long.

But overall this is a romance-heavy fantasy with amazing queer rep that defies heteronormativity and a new world which is rife with war, devastatingly beautiful, and has rising stakes. I really look forward to the sequel.

𝗞𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵 | 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗵 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘆

A lush and intriguing world filled with magic and mysteries, I could not put this down! SE-A effortlessly slips between the narrative of two likeable MCs and has woven together a fantastic start to what I'm sure will be a great trilogy!

One of my absolute anticipated book of 2024 and with reason.
Once again Saara stunned me with the world building and the story.
Whilst there is more romance than in The Final Stride (which I live for), she still manage this perfect balance between plot, romance and character development, which makes this book perfect for every fantasy fan.
Now onto waiting at least a whole year before I get to see Yeeran again.
This is gonna be long.

Saara El-Arifi is a masterful storyteller. Set in a queernormative world, Faebound’s magic system is immersive and easy to understand. I was able to easily picture the world and understand the characters and their motives. I care deeply about each of the main characters and I cannot wait to read more from this world!!

In war torn lands where Elves, Fae and Humans once all lived two waring elf tribes fight to claim the lands for themselves.

Faebound follows two sisters, Yeeran a battle sworn commander in an eleven army and Lettle who can see the future when the gods deem it so.

GUYS THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD! We have all the makings of an awesome compelling fantasy read

💕mutual pining
😍he falls first
🦌animal companions
💋 sapphic love
✨magic and mystery

What more can you want?! This is my first book by this author (I went in with high expectations though as I have only EVER heard good things) and daaaaamn I’m going to hit up their previous books asap.

I need book 2 this very second. The wait will kill me

Thanks so much to the publisher & NetGalley for the ARC this was a joy to read!

4.5⭐️

'Faebound' has a gorgeous cover, an interesting setting and magic system, but just wasn't aware that this is primarily a romantasy. So it's fine to read, but not for me.

Faebound has a really unique magic system and some of the most creative world building that I’ve read in a while. The story is very distinctive and unlike a lot of the fantasy romance novels published recently.

The reason why I am rating this 4 stars rather than 5 is because I felt a little bit mislead by the blurb. The romance is a much bigger focus of the book than I was expecting and hoping for. Also, I felt that the story and characters came across as a bit young feeling. I would argue that without the spice, this could’ve easily been a YA which is not how it is being advertised.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book and have ordered a special edition to display proudly on my shelves! I expect this book to be a big hit with readers in 2024.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC.

This book was incredible. The writing gripped me from the beginning. With a pace that isn't too fast or slow.
We learn enough of the world to understand what is going on but leaves enough to be explored later.
With some twists towards the end that I didn't see coming I'm left wanting more from this world and characters.

Fast paced and beautifully written, with so so many incredibly creative ideas and great worldbuilding. Recommended for the romantasy addicts for sure!

Thank you to netgalley and HarperCollins UK for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:2/5
What i expected to be an epic fantasy turned out to be a mediocre romantasy with little depth. This just didn't work for me, unfortunately. Fans of ACOTAR and other romantasy books will certainly enjoy this.

Right from page 1, Faebound plunges the reader into the fray of battle and moves at a very fast pace. The book jumped from one scene to another so fast that it was difficult to feel the stakes. The characters felt like cardboard cutouts and were very immature. 28 year old Lettle was more immature than some of the YA protagonists I've read. The prophecies in this world are a little too straightforward, and everything felt awfully predictable. It was very easy to work out most of the plot twists, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, the way they were revealed was quite underwhelming. The worldbuilding was creative but not explored enough. It really annoyed me to see the characters constantly being horny, even in life threatening situations. The diverse representation was quite excellent, I'll give it that. Pila was the only character I liked... she's a great animal companion! Unfortunately, besides the romance, the story is too...dull. There's not much substance to the story. It starts fast paced and ends in a rushed way, but the middle is uneventful.

I really, really wanted to like this and believe it has potential, so I'll be checking out the next book. I'm just not a fan of romantasy, especially when the book is so hyperfocused on the romance that everything else fades into the background.If you're an epic fantasy reader and, like me, need higher stakes and detailed worldbuilding, this probably won't work for you. However, I'd recommend this to romantasy fans and expect it to find an audience among them upon release.