I wasn’t expecting that I’ll be reading a YA fantasy book about pirates, but I did. And as much as this can come to be a surprise to some, I am quite satisfied that I made that choice.

Fable tells the story of Fable, a girl left by her father to her own devices when she was just 14 years old after her mother passed away. Fast forward to 4 years later, she was able to thrive independently. She dredges for gems to gain enough coin in order to sail to where her father is.

This mission begins the journey we follow through in the book. As she jumps in on West’s ship, the Marigold, she gets to know a crew of misfits and we are brought to a rollercoaster adventure in the seas.

If you’re expectig something fast-paced, Fable is not the read for you. However, I hope you give it a chance because it led me to a story where the characters grew on me and I felt a strong urge to emphatize with whatever they are going through.

This book was very atmospheric and I just enjoyed being brought to their world. The author did a great job in describing the world, it really did feel like I was brought there. It was a very immersive journey and I had so much fun.

The only problem here, perhaps, is that it ends on a cliffhanger. So many questions are yet to be answered. However, Namesake is coming sometime soon and this awesome duology will get (hopefully), the conclusion it deserves.

Why did I wait so long to start this? It was fantastic! I've always been drawn to books set at sea but never have I found one that kept me as captivated and involved as Fable. Well written, unique and interesting - I'm definitely looking forward to the release of the sequel because I NEED TO KNOW what happens next.

Fable was such a unique book! It’s the start of a duology, which is a structure that I’m still getting used to in YA novels. (Trilogies used to seem like the only option aside from standalones or longer sagas!)

I personally found the start of the novel to be a bit slow. It opens with Fable surviving alone on the island of Jeval, where she must stand for herself against hostile dredgers who want to steal her coin, pyre gems, and quite possibly even her life! While the scenes on Jeval were necessary to show where Fable has been living surviving for years, I found that they were a bit dull at times. Fable doesn’t do much talking during these scenes as she mostly sticks to herself. Adrienne Young is great at writing banter and conversations between characters, but we lacked that in early scenes.

Once we get aboard the ship The Marigold and meet our main cast of characters, things get more interesting! I loved that all of the characters had their guards up initially, but they slowly came down as situations drove characters together. Everyone has their secrets and things/people to protect.

I thought that the overall structure of the novel was great. It didn’t exactly follow the standard “Freitag’s Pyramid” structure but I constantly felt like we were working toward something big, even at the end of the novel, which I’ll get to in a moment. There was constant action and a looming sense of something bad coming around the corner.

Without spoiling the ending, I’ll say this: I wasn’t the biggest fan of how the book ended. It was very abrupt and jarring, and while it sets us up perfectly for the next book, Namesake (which I suspect will pick up right where Fable left off) I just wish that there was a bit more of a calmer ending after such an action packed book.

In the end, I really enjoyed reading Fable, despite the slow start and abrupt ending. The relationships between the characters, worldbuilding and the unique storyline made for a great start to this duology. In the next book, I hope to hear more about the antagonist characters and Fable’s parents!

4 star read! I’d recommend it to fans of sea-faring fantasy novels like All the Stars and Teeth and Seafire, as well as to fans of books with strong female protagonists, like The Cruel Prince and Kingdom of the Wicked.

A swashbuckling tale told beautifully. Young’s writing style is magical and gives us a meaningful and fun story in a somewhat unsavory setting. I did feel like the build-up was a bit too slow at times, but the characters were fleshed out well.

That was so much fun. I had heard all good things about this book and they didn't disappoint.
Gritty and dirty and driven. She is abandoned on a remote island by her father after her mother drowned. She has to fight and claw her way to survive. And yet, she doesn't lose her vulnerability. I love how loyal Fable is, whether that's to her shipmates or her father

West is such a great character. He has that heart of gold you want in your broody male lead. He loves his crew, they are his family. I can't really place it but I felt much more connected to West than I did Fable. He is hard and seemingly cold but it's all part of his past, his defenses. I like how protective he is and how his secrets and past haunt him in ways Fable doesn't understand yet.

The plot is fast with a lot of adventure and action. There are so many fun layers to this story (emotional, the gems, the trade, Saint) and when you get to the end, you're left reeling. The Marigold was also my home for two days as I read this book and I was lucky enough to get an ARC of Namesake, which I immediately jumped into like my life depended on it. It was def. the best surprise read this year.

Everyone will love this adventure book. There's survival and ships, underground trading and heart ache. Fable may be half her father and half her mother, she may belong to her shipmates and steal West's heart. But she is in a class all by herself.

I listened to the audiobook of this. If I could picture how Fable would sound based on the book's cover, she would sound exactly like this narrator. She was a perfect pick to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading Namesake next.

I've tried to steer clear of stories about pirates, because I feel like maybe it's been done before. It's like once Jack Sparrow stood atop his Black Pearl, Disney perfected the story of the pirate so well that anything else that follows is just a poor imitation.

But Fable is something else. She's just a girl looking for her place in this world. Perhaps aboard a ship, just like her parents. That is, a ship life like the life she had before her mother died. She's a bit of an orphan, even though she knows who and where her father is, but she has to keep quiet who he is, because it could put her in grave danger. I don't think I understood the secrecy surrounding this until the end when it is revealed why West and his sister can never say they are related. Throughout the book I just felt horribly sad for Fable that her father didn't want her, but perhaps that's just the life of thieves and boatsmen. They have to keep the people they love a secret.

This book hooked me from the get go. I'm looking forward to following Fable in her adventures.

Thank you, #netgalley for the arc of Fable in exchange for my honest review!!

Fable was just what I needed to sweep me away from the reality of this world for awhile! YA Fantasy that takes the reader into the world of “pirate” traders and adventure on the open seas and the uncertainty of each port that is visited. The word pirate is never mentioned in the novel, but it is the world of gem trading, ships, and ports.

Fable is a young girl on her own trying to save enough copper (money) from dredging (diving for gems in the sea) to make a journey to find Saint, who left her on Jeval when she was 14 to fend for herself. The novel takes us on her journey with her joining a crew to help her reunite with Saint. I loved the crew of the Marigold and the relationship between Fable and West.

Fable is an awesome heroine and writer’s knowledge of sailing and diving is very evident. Her descriptive writing had me at each port, on the coral reefs, and the wind blowing through my hair on the Marigold, and fighting the raging seas during the storms they battled.

I cannot wait to read the sequel Namesake!!!

Every time I read the synopsis I got reinvigorated for reading the book and I loved it. I loved that and I wish that would happen with more books! There wasn’t a moment that dragged in the book and I kept wanting to read and read, so I am so ready for the sequel.

I kept getting invested in Fable’s journey. From her counting her coppers and planning to get more (I’m that weird person who wants nothing to do with Maths but really likes fictional currencies), to waiting for her to realise that the ship and the crew is the one she’s meant to be on. I also became invested in her personality and her story (so much of her story), rooting for her to win and show everyone who thinks she can’t do it.

I thought like she might have been exaggerating about her dad or that she was too young to remember (how he treated her) but then more things started appearing about her dad and then I was like ‘oh wow yeah he is awful.’ I hope (for the next book) that she further distances herself from her dad, really makes her own mark on the world and stops focusing so much on her dad and trying to please him. And if she punches her dad? I’m all for that.

I loved how there was this big emphasis on trust and Fable not being able to trust anyone and I wrote early on in my notes – will she meet someone she can trust – and she begins to find that with the crew. I loved reading about the crew and their personalities and early on in the book and I hoped they wouldn’t disappear, and I was so happy when they didn’t.

I thought it was cool how they sneaked in fantasy elements but it wasn’t totally fantasy – like the gems sing to Fable, allowing her to find them easier and how she can tell what type of gem it is by looking at it. I hope that in the next book they’ll delve more into her being a gem sage and what that all entails

2020 has been rough so i’m a bit behind in posting my review but here it is! I went into this book blind simply knowing I loved sky in the deep so much and wanted to read whatever else Adrienne wrote. Fable was not at all what I expected! But it was extremely atmospheric and vividly written. I enjoyed the characters a lot, all having lots of mystery and grey to them. The plot was slow for a bit but was interesting enough to keep me reading. I loved the slow burn and the last page of the book left me needing to know more. I’m excited to see where this story leads. The characters are really well written and you definitely are still learning who they are in this book but I want to know more about them and why they are who they are. They all are extremely unique and have different stories totally which I really enjoyed. Each character is distinct and none of them blur together. You know exactly who each person is and what they do. It took a bit to get to the really good part but i’m ready for more of this story.

Overall i’m ready for the sequel and hoping to have more action in this book now that the world is built and the table
Is set.

Fable and Namesake feel less like a duology than like two halves of a whole. They read like one book that ended up split into two parts due to length, and organically meld into one story. Namesake picks up immediately after the end of Fable and continues Fable’s story. These books are a fun, distracting romp across the seas, keeping up the tension and a fast pace throughout. They are not deep literary novels, but great YA reads to get one’s mind off the real world in the current climate – I raced through both of them and if I had them at the same time, I would probably have binged the series.

Fable is pretty much your average YA heroine. Beautiful, smart, with an unusual power and in a precarious situation at the start – oh, and a heir. Fable and Namesake are not hugely inventive books or ones that avoid tropes, but to be entirely honest, for one I did not mind. I was out for entertainment, and Adrienne Young delivered. There is some character depth, but I feel like this series isn’t as strong as Young’s previous work. Much of what happens between characters is predictable, but that makes the books comforting to read in their way.

I really enjoyed reading Fable and Namesake and would recommend them to anyone looking to escape the real world for a while.

Everything about this book resonated with me. The world building was absolutely incredible. Each setting was written in away that could be seen also as a character. The two main settings the island and the sea were mirrors of each other in their cruelty and harshness. Which was almost poetic in nature.

Fable was a bad ass heroine who let nothing and no stand in her way. She stands to be a great role model for the younger crowd who may get the chance to read this. I’m looking forward to read the sequel to see if she will rise up to the admiration levels of Katniss and Hermione.

The crew were fun and lovable and were obviously written to be that way instead of just a device to move the plot along, which is always refreshing.

Also the slow burn romance between Fable and West was *chefs kiss*

The perfect world for some old fashion literary escapism.

4.5 stars for this lovely book! I was so pleasantly surprised by Fable.

At the beginning of the book I really wasn't feeling it. It is confusing with all of the sailing terminology and the world-building. To be honest, the boat descriptions and sailing aspect really reminded me of Moby Dick, which made me want to run for the hills. There is no book that I dislike more.

HOWEVER, I pushed through and it really took off for me in the best way. It's evident that Young took the time to research about ships, sailing, gems, and pirates. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters and the plot. And the tension between West and Fable? Amazing. I'm wasn't thrilled with the cliff hangers at the end of this one. I'm excited to read Namesake.

I think many of my high school students would definitely love this book and hope to eventually put a copy in my class library.

I read this book and listened to the audiobook. Both were incredible and I can't wait to read Namesake!

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I've never read anything by Adrienne Young before but I'm sure this was the right choice for her first book. This was truly magical. I loved the writting style, and development of the characters and how everything was out of this world. Adrienne Young is the author I will happily come back to. I cannot wait for Namesake!

I had to DNF once I got a little over halfway through and still didn’t care about anything going on. Also, Not a fan of the writing in general. Also again, how can a girl who gets abandoned on a dangerous island as a barely teenager want to find her father who abandoned her and work for him on his ship or not even tell us much about why she was left, how she felt about it, or what really was happening during that time or how she managed to survive on her own? I don’t see what all the hype is about.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Fable grew up on a trading ship but was abandoned by her father when her mother died. This story is the story of her survival and ultimate reunion with her father, a powerful trader on the island of Ceros. I love stories where the main character is a strong female, and Fable does not disappoint. She is talented and clever and tenacious. The author has done an excellent job with character development and the story is full of action and adventure. It easily kept me on the edge of my seat and ended in such a way that I can't wait to read the sequel!

If you are looking for a high sea pirating adventure, look no further. Fable was an exciting, swashbuckling and a times gritty read. Fable our heroine is likable and root worthy, seriously I was just waiting for her to catch a break this girl might have the worst luck. The crew detestable like most pirated but the more you read the more they grew on you like barnacles to a hull. Fable does have a cliff hanger ending and now I need book two because rude.

3.5⭐️

This book is a perfect example of #BookstagramMadeMeDoIt. I had seen this beautiful cover everywhere and seemingly everyone was chatting about it, so I finally caved and picked it up.
I went into this book with no expectation, yet somehow it was still not what I was expecting. First off, this book is VERY light fantasy, however, I believe that the fantasy elements will be built upon in the sequel. I wanted more fantasy. I wanted to see sea monsters and see how our main character could interact with this world through magic. The lack of magic did pull the rating down a bit for me, just because I wanted more. At its core, this is an adventure survival story and if you look at it through that lens then this is a really great story. I think I would have been more satisfied with this story if it was marketed like that, as opposed to a YA fantasy.
I have seen many people dislike the romance, however, I thought it was solid. I think we were given enough little hints to it, without it falling into the "insta-love" trap. In fact, I think that the romance brought the rating up in the end for me. I am excited to see the relationship between West and Fable evolve into the next book.
The big highlight of this story for me was definitely the characters. Our lead character of Fable is one of the best female YA protagonists I have ever read. This is the feminist story I think more young girls should be reading. While Fable is determined and strong, we also see her vulnerabilities. She feels very genuine and real, making you feel this attachment to her. The entire cast of characters was great. They were well fleshed out and you feel like you really know them.
Overall if you enjoy young adult, I definitely recommend this book. If you love the found family trope, then this is a great one to pick up. I am highly anticipating the sequel and will definitely be reading it when it is released.

I would like to thank the author, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for sending me an eARC.

Fable was an incredible start to this duology!

Adrienne Young has written one of my favorite books ever with her debut, Sky in the Deep, and has now blown me away again with Fable!

A swashbuckling tale about found family, rejection and loss, a bloodthirsty pirating world, and a sweet romance, Fable stars our titular character, daughter of a brutal seafarer. After being abandoned on a backwater island by her prolific father, Fable is on a mission to find and reclaim her place with him.

This book definitely started slow for me but after the first 4-5 chapters I was completely absorbed! This world is deadly and cruel. Murders are commonplace, and your loved ones and relations must be kept secret lest they be used against you. I loved that Adrienne Young delivered on this set-up. What's a piratey seafaring book without some brutality?

Adrienne Young always creates characters I love and love to root for. Fable is plucky and tough and loyal; I LOVE when we get a human female lead and when the book doesn't pander to its female audience. I can always tell when there's all tell about a Strong Female Character and no show, and it always disappoints me. Fable read very naturally, and her drive for what she really craved--a place in a family--made me root SO hard for her!

Speaking of, I also adored the found family dynamic in this book. It's a trope being explored with increasing popularity, and I'm happy it holds it own here! West and Willa in particular form such sweet and tight bonds with Fable, and I liked that they had years of history between them as well, so it doesn't feel fast or forced.

But my very favorite thing about Adrienne's writing is how she crafts relationships and love stories in the quiet looks and things left unsaid. There is weight in every silent spell from West, or the brush of his hand against Fable's, or the questions that aren't answered with words but by what ISN"T said. Adrienne Young is a master at this in both Sky in the Deep and Fable, and she grips me with these slowly built and quietly burning relationships. I absolutely love the way she writes romance.

But honestly I REALLY need the next book, she left us on the cruelest cliffhanger ever!!

thanks to Raincoast Books for an e-ARC! This beautiful cover has been catching my eye for some time so I was happy to get the chance to read it. The MC, a 17-year-old girl who’s been living on a dangerous island for years after the death of her mother, gets the chance to sail the seas with a secretive crew to find and reconnect with her father.

There’s a lot of interesting things that happen in the book (I was going to say adventures but they’re all fairly contained so it didn’t feel above and beyond adventurous) but it doesn’t feel like this one really stands on its own. The MC’s motivation for her whole journey, the secrets of her crew members, her own family history, is all carried over to the next book with what felt like so little resolution here, and even a lacking climax.

I am still intrigued by the second book (especially since there are only 2 in the series) and if you love reading about ships and trading, there’s so much rich description about the life of those at sea. But as someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy series, the reliance on a second book for the plot brought my rating down a bit.