A high-stakes, high-seas adventure full of intriguing characters and dangerous deals. Fable lives in a harsh world, one her father said she was not made for right before dropping her off on an island full of thieves and leaving her.

I loved the underwater exploration. There was such a quiet beauty when Fable dived contrasted with the world above that was dirty, brutal, and unforgiving.

I did not notice a map in my ARC, but I hope the final product does include one. I would have loved to see the world from a bird's eye view.

There is death and murder (like mentioned earlier, brutal world) but the world-building is rich and the characters captivating. Enjoyable book which, maddeningly, leaves off with a big cliff-hanger.

“That bastard was leaving me again.”

I was hooked by Fable from the first line. Never having read any of Adrienne Young’s other novels, I was surprised and delighted by how much I ended up loving this book.

Ever since she was abandoned on an island filled with the cast offs of the sea, Fable has done everything in her power to survive Jeval, following Saint’s rules to stay alive:
1. Keep your knife where you can reach it.
2. Never, ever owe anyone anything.
3. Nothing is free.
4. Always construct a lie from the truth.
5. Never under any circumstances reveal who you are or what matters to you.

knowing that one day she would get off the island to face Saint again and claim what she’s been promised. Then, a harrowing encounter with another Jevali dredger moves up her plans and plants her at the mercy of West the helmsman of the Marigold. Sparks fly and secrets abound aboard his ship and Fable soon learns that the fight for her survival didn’t end when she boarded the Marigold.

Young’s characters are complex, multidimensional, and a fun, rowdy crew overall. I found myself loving West and his crew as much as I adored Katz and the Dregs in Bardugo’s “Six of Crows” duology. An adventurous maritime fantasy full of action, danger, and love, Fable took my love of pirates and fantasy and gave me something I didn’t know I needed.

Note: Thank you Macmillan for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I feel like this was the perfect summer read for me! I never read a book by this author before but she is definitely on my to-be read list now!

A YA story of pirates, danger and hunting for treasure is something I haven't read in a long time. I thought the characters were interesting and unique with layer of secrets that are revealed throughout the book. I loved the character of Fable and how unique she was as well of the other characters on the Marigold.

I the story could have been a little more mysterious as it was slow in parts, but overall it was one of my favorite reads this summer and I can't wait for the next book in the series.

The island of Jeval is a rough, dangerous place, filled with traders and dredgers. Dredgers spend their days diving into the crystal waters surrounding Jeval to find Pyre to trade in the market places. Fable, who was abandoned on the island by her father has learned the hard way how to survive. Fable knows that if she can just save enough money she can escape Jeval and hopefully find her way to a better life. When Fable finds an unexpected cache of Pyre her dream of escaping Jeval suddenly becomes a reality. However, other dredgers are watching. Can Fable escape Jeval before someone steals her Pyre? Is there any other life for her beyond dredging? This page-turning tale will entertain readers of all ages. Don't miss this one!

This book is a slow burn, but a burn like a cozy fire on a snowy winter's day. You ease into the characters, setting, time and the story slowly envelopes you and you don't want to leave. I have to admit, I put it down and picked it up between other books, which was okay. I didn't want to blow through it. I liked the language and submerging myself in the depth of the sea and salt of the air. By the second half of the story I was hooked and excited for book 2.

To be honest, I was a little nervous about Fable. I loved Sky in the Deep but The Girl the Sea Gave Back was not my favorite. This book did not disappoint!

It starts off right away, there isn’t an information dump or anything, which I liked but it also took a little bit of time to get up to speed. The writing is wonderful and as the story unfolds you get to know these characters as Fable gets to know them. This book is VERY character-driven. There is most certainly a plot, but the main focus is watching Fable and her band of misfits grow as people.

The story is great and certainly has that treasure hunt aspect. There are parts of it that are a little slow, but that is generally when the best character development happened. If you are looking for a fast-paced adventure story this may not be your thing. The adventure is certainly there, but the pace isn’t.

Fable is a wonderful character-driven adventure story about a girl finding herself. And am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

“You weren’t made for this world Fable. You want to prove me wrong? Get yourself off this island.”

When I first began Fable, I have to admit, I was not invested. The first four chapters had me wondering what was going on, and I couldn’t understand why Young decided to jump into the story where she did. I felt lost, confused, and I didn’t understand what was going on. The story doesn’t start off at the beginning of Fable’s adventures; instead, it begins with her selling pyre right before her escape from Jeval. As the story progresses, however, we learn more about Fable and how she ended up in Jeval. While I had to force myself to get through these chapters, once Fable gained passage on the Marigold, the story took off and made it hard for me to put the book down. I wanted to know what was going to happen, and I had to know more about West and his crew.

As the characters' secrets come to fruition, readers will be enthralled by the story. Young does an amazing job of providing an emotionally intense, suspenseful story that will make it hard for readers to put down the book. This story revolves around our strong female character, Fable, as she tries to find a sense of belonging in a world that was upended when her mother died. Her strong desire for family makes this a great read, and seeing Fable grow connections with characters when her father does nothing but disappoint her, gives readers an amazing journey of discovering oneself despite the obstacles put in your way.

Plot
<spoiler>In this epic fantasy by Adrienne Young, seventeen-year-old Fable, has spent the last four years of her life surviving on the island of Jeval after being abandoned by her father. Fable is not just any girl though, she is the daughter of the infamous merchant captain, Saint. When he left her on the island he promised her one thing; that when she got off the island he would give her what’s hers. Determined to get a spot on Saint’s crew, Fable spent every day dredging for pyre in Jeval so she could buy her way off the island. Unfortunately, Jeval is a dangerous place to be, and when others start to take notice of Fable’s finds, she is attacked. Knowing that she isn’t safe on Jeval anymore, Fable takes her coppers and turns to the West for passage off the island. While initially resist, eventually Fable gets a place on the Marigold and away from Jeval.

The crew members of the Marigold consist of five individuals; not nearly enough to man a ship the size of the Marigold, yet somehow they manage. Concealing her true identity from the crew, Fable does as much as she can to help the crew so that she can make it to Ceros where Saint is. During her time on the ship, however, Fable learns things about the crew that make her question whether getting on this ship was a good idea. Is West the good guy or is he a swindler stealing from underneath Saint just to pocket some extra coin?</spoiler>

Writing and Setting
In this fantasy, Young uses a compelling writing style to capture her audience's attention as she tells an action-packed, emotionally intense story of Fable. The story takes place in a world centered around the Narrows and the islands surrounding it. Giving glimpses into the different areas surrounding the Narrows, readers get to understand the economical differences between Jeval, Ceros, and Dern. While there are other areas mentioned, these are the main areas depicted in this story. Of course, while these areas are aspects of the setting, it is the water and the Marigold, that remain of key importance throughout the story. The water holds many tales for Fable, and it is a big aspect of her life. All in all, I think Young did an amazing job of setting up Fable’s quest, and I can’t wait to see what the sequel has to offer.

Characters
Fable is the daughter of the infamous merchant known as Saint. When her mother died in a shipwreck, her father dumped her on the island of Jeval thinking that it was safer for him to get her away from him. Unfortunately for Saint, he just stroked the fire inside Fable and made her more determined than ever to prove to him that she could be a member of his crew. In this story, we learn of Fable’s life on Jeval, what happened to get her there, and about her life as she gets closer to the Marigold crew.

West is the helmsman for the Marigold, and he has purchased pyre off of Fable from the very beginning. When he gives Fable passage on his ship, however, things take a turn. His crew is put in even more dangerous situations, his rivalry with Zola is heightened, and his attraction to Fable grows beyond what he wants it to be. When Fable learns that West is trapped by a deal with her father, she wants to do anything she can to help him. For West, this just makes him like her more. When West finally succumbs to his attraction to Fable, and tells her that he is most scared of something happening to her, we are left with a cliffhanger ending as Fable is taken as Zola’s prisoner.

I kept thinking I was not sure if I liked this book and then suddenly I was half way through and then finished it in one setting. And that cliffhanger. I am hooked.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have read from Adrienne Young before. I really loved Sky in the Deep, when I read it back in 2018. So, obviously, when I got my hands on an early copy of Fable I was delighted. I'm not sure what I expected from it, but whatever I got was not it.

The premise of Fable had me hooked. It's pitched as a pirate story about a girl who needs to get off an island full of thieves and criminals, on which she was left by her father. All checks out. Except it's not much of a pirate story. It's set on a ship, yes, but it's not your conventional pirate story.

I liked Fable as a main character at the start. That's usually a good sign, if I like a character at the start, I usually end up loving them by the end of the book. Or at least still liking them. Fable became very bland very fast. Literally everyone else had more personality than her and I definitely cared about the side characters more than her. I didn't dislike her by the end of the book by any means, I just didn't think she was particularly interesting. The side characters were great, though, and I do have a bit of a soft spot for West, I'm not going to lie.

Adrienne Young's writing is beautiful. I had no qualms with the language or narration style. I think she writes beautifully and it was one of the reasons why I continued reading the book even though I could not get into it at all at the beginning.

Which brings me to the biggest downfall of this book, in my opinion. The pacing. The book didn't get interesting to me until the 50% mark. If not the fact I've gotten an arc of this book and it was on my list of most anticipated releases of 2020, I might've DNFed it. The first half dragged. Not much happened, or at least I felt like nothing was happening... and then BAM. Everything started happening all at once. I enjoyed the second half of the book much MUCH more, but considering how slow the first half was, it didn't blow me away. I wish the pacing was a little bit more even.

Overall, while I quite enjoyed the book come the last page, I am on the fence on how I actually feel about it. It lands somewhere around 3.5 stars for me and I might be picking up the sequel once it's out early next year.

Another breathtaking book by Adrienne Young. Fable is the fierce, unapologetic heroine I crave in YA. She is wreck-less at times, but her spirit and voice bounced through the pages. I loved the time spent on the ship, between trading ports, and under the ocean. The story followed a flawless pace and gave me all the ocean-faring adventures I craved. Pick this up and enjoy!

Great start to this series. Loved the characters and the setting. I felt like I was diving with Fable, great writing!
Can’t wait for book 2!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this! It was refreshingly original and I couldn’t put it down. I loved the slow burn romance, the family dynamics with Fable’s father, and the twist at the end. I can’t wait to read the next one!

I was a little hesitant to read this one. Worried it wouldn't live up to the hype. But, I'm so glad I gave it a shot. Fable was great! I loved the characters, the storyline, the tempo. I loved everything about it. I love even more that I have an arc for Namesake to immediately pick up where I left off! ❤

This book was great! The storyline sucked me in from the very first page! It was everything I hoped for and more! One of my top reads of 2020! I can’t wait to read the next book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, & St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

Well, Fable. You did it. You and your motley crew have officially made it into my top 5 books of the year. (aka I LOVED THIS BOOK)

This felt like a mashup of Six of Crows (Bardugo) meets Waterworld (the film) meets Pirates of the Caribbean (film) meets Illuminae (Kristoff/Kaufman) meets Scarlet (Gaughen). So basically Adrienne Young took all my favorite things and put them together with her own delicious spin on them. Yeah. I'm obsessed.

If there are qualms to be had about this story, characters, dialogue, or any other bit of it - I honestly don't know what they are and I don't care. I was completely immersed from the first line of the first page and this story didn't let go until the very end (which is actually kind of a lie because THAT CLIFFHANGER, THOUGH).

The world building took me a little bit of time to fully wrap my head around, but I honestly didn't mind because I found the characterization so strong - not to mention the atmospheric feel of the story. I know it sounds silly and maybe overblown to say I could feel the salt spray on my face but y'all. I did. Okay? I just did.

This is one of those unicorn books that I have already found myself recommending to anyone and everyone - my literary fiction loving friend LOVED this book just as much as me (we ordered t-shirts - it's real). I would probably describe it as a fantasy adventure thrilling romance with a strong found family feel...and I would definitely suggest you add this one to your TBR ASAP!

(Sequel comes out in March, and it's frickin fabulous as well, just in case you were interested.)

I really loved this book so much 😍
Fable, the name enchanted me from the beginning but I had trouble getting into the story at first. There was a lot of details about life in a seaside town, and at first it really went above my head, I'm not kidding. But as the story progressed, I got used to the terms and references, and boy did I love it.

Fable took some time to grow on me. She came out as a strong character and I really adored her willpower and personality. And what more I loved was the crew!!! Goddamn I adored these lost kids who were so messy and deadly and yet so generous. Together, they truly rocked the story 🤪

The author does such a commendable job in slowly revealing the characters to us readers, peeling each layer slowly. She really made us attached to them and made us read, and that was the best part. I cared for the Marigold crew and I found myself rooting for them! And West 😍👌

Overall, this book was full of adventure and secrets and water ! The sea life in a ship was described so beautifully and intricately, with the right amount of detail. By the end of the book, I found myself unable to stop. And the ending just makes me want to go in the future and read the second book asap ;-;

Fable is not a truly new fantasy, tbh, there are recurring themes but it really had the right amount of everything - adventure, fight, tension and friendship! Also the romance was barely there so I enjoyed it even more! Yay to the pinning 🥺👌

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an early copy of this book. All opinions expressed are mine.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC so I can review this book.

First of all, Adrienne Yound is a QUEEN when it comes to writing. I'm a fan of every book she has written so far.

Fable is one of those books that sucks you into the world really deeply.
Her father leaves her to pretty much die but she is so much more stronger than he believes.
I fell in love with her additude and how much stronger she became as she had to survive and given what she is owed.

She has to prove herself to be trustworthy towards a whole new crew who save her and there are so many secrets to be discovered.

Now, I'm a huge romance lover and the little bits of slow burn in this novel just made it all the more better.

This book was brilliant. The writing style is so beautiful and you feel completely immersed in the world. Though this book was very plot driven and world building heavy, I didn’t feel depraved of character development. The depth was of the story and how things kept unfolding was just amazing. I truly couldn’t put the book down and I cannot wait for the next one!

There are heroines for whom leadership is thrust upon them. These are the girls who reluctantly rise to greatness, which usually involves some major soul-searching and testing of their fortitude. Then, there are those heroines like Fable by Adrienne Young. These girls know their strengths and weaknesses, both physical and mental, and have no problems rushing headlong into danger for the right reasons.

Fable is T-O-U-G-H. Not only does she survive for four years on an island of thieves and cutthroats living by herself, but she also free-dives like she was born underwater, stares down potential rapists, and faces danger with a clear, pragmatic head. Yet, Ms. Young lets us know just how fragile she is underneath that cool exterior. After all, being abandoned as a preteen by your father after being told you weren't meant for this life, is going to leave emotional scars, of which Fable has plenty.

One of the best things about Fable, outside of the fact that she can kick some major ass, is her self-awareness. She may have daddy issues, but she doesn't (always) let them interfere with what she needs to accomplish. She knows her strengths and plays to them. Also, she has the ability to read others' body language, which helps tremendously in her situational awareness.

For most of the novel, Fable does everything right no matter what the world throws her way. She sets goals, follows her instincts, observes, and acts appropriately, and eventually achieves her goals. This does not mean the story is boring. In fact, the story is exciting as she finds her plans thwarted at every step through no fault of her own and must constantly adapt. There is only one mistake she makes throughout the course of the novel, which ultimately sets up the cliffhanger ending to leave you wanting more, and boy do I want more.

Fable is not a long read. Personally, I finished it in the course of a few hours. This is partly because it is not a very long novel at 368 pages but also because I did not want to stop reading. I found myself so engrossed in her story that I could not put it down. In addition, with its tropical setting, Fable is the perfect antidote to a gloomy autumnal weekend.

I LOVED this book. This might just be my favorite from Adrienne Young. The island setting and the grittiness of pirates just helped make this book so intriguing and I am so glad I decided to pick this one up. Beautiful writing matches with a setting that is described so vibrantly, I felt as if I was there myself. Fable was a wonderful character to get to know and to see her strength only grow throughout the story. I am know a loyal Adrienne Young reader and will read anything she writes! Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for my copy. I would highly recommend this book to everyone!