Review: Faebound, by Saara El-Arifi

Yeeran is a warrior in the elven army and has known nothing but violence her whole life. Her sister, Lettle, is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future. When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven lands, they are both forced into the terrifying wilderness beyond their borders. There they encounter the impossible: the fae court.
The fae haven’t been seen for a millennium. But now Yeeran and Lettle are thrust into their seductive world – torn between their loyalty to each other, their elven homeland, and their hearts.

"Our ignorance made victims of us."

Saara El-Arifi's Faebound is a romantasy that follows two sisters in their in their journey to discover that a species that was supposed to be extinct isn't so extinct after all. The fae are cursed to live underground, and their abode is explored fully, filled as it is with magic and mysteries. Plot twists abound; the revelations are woven into the story well. But the main characters, while being in their thirties, often act like they are much younger.

The relationship between the sisters is at the center, exploring the bounds of sisterhood, grief, resentment, and love. Prophecies are a thing that isn't taken seriously in the elven realms, and Yeeran doesn't always believe in her younger sister. Constrained by duty and love, Yeeran wasn't always there for Lettle, and that puts a burden on their relationship. The sisters' romantic relationships, while being a focus of the narration, feel unearned and a bit tropey, but at least the sapphic relationship of the older sister is executed well in contrast to the fated F/M romance of the younger.

The magical system is interesting, intricate and layered, with many possibilities explored. The fae can bind themselves to animals, becoming two halves of a whole, sharing a beautiful connection. The world isn't explored much, past what we know of the feud between various tribes of Elves, but one gets the sense that will change in the following books of the series. I would have liked the religion, and the three gods, to be explored more, but again that seems like it will be better developed in the coming books.

Faebound is a nice romantasy with little focus on plot.

✨ 3.5 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* Walk Between Worlds, by Samara Breger

for: fae world, forest

Review: The Final Strife, by Saara El-Arifi

 

Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: it can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm.

"A world run by people who think they are better will never be better for everyone". Saara El-Arifi's The Final Strife is a stunning debut with roots in african and arabian mythology that will haunt you and break your heart, exploring issues of xenophobia, class struggle, child abuse and slavery with a deft hand. One of the main characters also has a drug addiction that she must learn to overcome, her need for it born from her past and her terrible living conditions as she's a member of a lower cast.

In this small world, nightly plagued by strong hurricanes, people are divided by the color of their blood, ensuring a reign of oppression that borders on inhumane, with quarterings and a systematic mutilation of an entire caste, rendering the clear-blooded caste mute and handless, relying on a silent language to communicate with each other. The occasional depictions of such brutal acts are vivid, and highlight the injustice and pain and terror the population is feeling. In the backrop of this brewed a revolution that was quelled soon, but it's not too late to change things for the better.

The blood magic system is incredibly well-developed and the snippets of worldbuilding, leading up to major revelations, introduce a world which is much larger that we anticipated, turning what seemed to be a typical "tournament fantasy" into something much more exciting. For the first half of the book the conflict is slow-developing, but things finally kick into high-gear with a couple well-timed revelations and strong moments of characterization. Unfortunately while two of the POV characters have much focus, the third one doesn't get much; I'm hoping she'll be more explored in later installments.

This book is marketed as a wlw friends-to-lovers and while that does happen eventually, and it's beautiful and tender and throughout the book we can see all these little moments as the two POV characters grow close to each other, this is more of a triangle situation where one of the characters is bisexual and first has a relationship with a childhood non-POV male friend, before finally turning to the other female character. Which is fine! Give me some conflict. But it's marketed in such a way that I don't expect the male character to be a love interest at all, and when it happend it threw me for a loop for a good chunk of the book.

The Final Strife is an incredile novel about oppression.

✨ 4 stars