Yeeran Teila is the youngest colonel promoted in the Waning Army, battling in the Forever War in order to mine the magical crystal Fraedia, all in hopes to feed the starving citizens of the Elven Lands. Yeeran’s younger sister Lettle is practicing magical prophecies – divinations – giving her sister the prophecy causing a fatal mistake for her regiment, Yeeran is exiled from all Elven Lands. When she kills a magical creature, the sisters’ lives will change forever.

I liked the concept of this book so much but the execution just wasn’t there. This was a rough draft. The writing was monotone and robotic, very matter of fact, we are being told everything without much showing. Many scenes and conversations seem to wrap up immediately. There is no depth or development to the characters and the world building is sadly very minimal.

I appreciated the queer and diverse representation, I think this book was marketed as romantasy, but neither romance was believable due to the style of writing and lack of character development, you didn’t care that much about these characters.

The magical elements and the Obeah creatures were unique but not explored like I had hoped. Ultimately this book was missing intrigue, mystery, that important story structure, and overall the epic-ness suggested in the synopsis. Even though more action happens in the third part of the book than in the first two.

Few plot choices bothered me or didn’t make much sense. This is an adult novel, Yeeran is 34 and Lettle 28 – both women are written much younger and immature. Yeeran makes two of the biggest offenses, where many people die, but gets away with a slap on the wrist each time. Seemingly without any remorse the whole thing is swept away, it left me feeling odd throughout the remainder of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for an early copy to review.

Title: Faebound
Author: Saara El-Arifi
Genre: Queer Fantasy Romance
Rating: 2/5 ⭐️⭐️