⚠️ SPOILER ALERT: This review is for Book 3 of The Faebound Trilogy and may contain spoilers for the first two books. ⚠️

📕 Title: Earthbound
✏️ Author: Saara El-Arifi
📖 Genre: Fantasy
⭐ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
✅ Book 3 of The Faebound Trilogy

BOOK BLURB

Yeeran and Lettle’s world has been shaken by a revelation from the Fates that changes everything: The obeah are not what they seem.

REVIEW

Thank you Del Rey for the digital copy of Earthbound by Saara El-Arifi!

Earthbound is the final installment in the Faebound trilogy, an adult high fantasy series. As with the previous books, this is a multi-POV novel written primarily in third person perspective, and features a queer normative society that is inclusive of nonbinary and trans people.

I appreciated the brief, in-character recap of the main plot points from the previous books, which made it easy to jump back into the story as it picks up soon after the events of Cursebound. After the massive revelation in the second book, I was very eager to jump back into this series!

The stakes are higher than ever as Yeeran and Furi attempt to negotiate a treaty with the elves, the two realms teetering on the brink of war. I liked that the points of view excluded anyone in the elven army, so as a reader I was kept guessing about their plans and motivation. Lettle and Alder’s quest is an arduous journey of discovery as they attempt to uncover the human’s past, and the revelations trigger some heartbreaking moments.

The politics are interspersed with some romance and open door scenes. My favorite relationship was definitely Lettle and Rayan (it’s wild to think about how much I disliked Lettle in the first book because I love her now), but Yeeran and Furi had some of the sweetest moments in the story.

While I had some doubt about this series in the beginning, it grew on me over time especially when the story began to focus more on the fantasy elements. The premise of this story and the world the author created felt so unique, and by this third book I was completely into it. Earthbound was my favorite of the series and wrapped up everything well.