This follow-up to 2020's Fable will leave you breathless and fulfilled. Questions are answered, the crew is back, and the world may be... not so great, but that's okay. :)

I love Adrienne Young’s storytelling. The stories she writes end up being some of my favorites. I believe this is my fourth book of hers and I’ve enjoyed each one. Her stories range from Vikings, to pirates and each has adventure and just enough romance.

With Namesake, the book picks up right where Fable left off. Fable is forced into a partnership and they’re going up against the most notorious gem trader. The story is full of lots of events with deceit and selfish interests to contend with. Fable comes a long way from the abandoned daughter in book one. She finds those she loves and a home she wants and the fight she puts up is admirable.

Fable has become a favorite character of mine and I think Young ended the duology well. It was full of plot twists and engaging throughout. Each character has a past and flaws and is perfectly melded into the story. The experiences they have are meaningful and boost the story with the emotion Young evokes. I looked forward to reading this each day and am excited to see what Young writes next!

– *1.75 stars*

Call me weird, but it physically hurts me to give a book with such a pretty cover a low rating. While the first book, Fable, wasn't anything mindblowing, it was still pretty enjoyable that I even requested an ARC for Namesake. I saw sooooo much potential, so it was sad that I didn't like it.

Namesake picks up right after where Fable left off. Not going into details what that means, cause that's would be a spoiler for the previous book. Fable learns a lot more about her family and has to find her own place in this world.

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WHAT I LIKED
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➸ Fable, Clove and Saint. They were the only three characters that I cared about. I love that Fable is a badass, but not your typical kickass knife-wielding heroine. She's just a seventeen year old girl trying to survive whose greatest gift is being a gem sage.

> Helmsman. Dredger. Trader. Orphan. Father.
*Daughter.*

➸ Fable & Saint's daughter-father relationship. Everyone is like loving Fable and West's romance, while i'm just here for Fable and Saint. I love a good daughter-father duo and Fable and Saint definitely have a very complicated relationship, because who would leave your only daughter alone on an island for years to fend for herself. I looove the evolution of their relationship and how we see how much Saint actually cares about Fable. They don't have many scenes together, but the ones at the end ugh my heart those scenes are my favorite scenes from the whole book.

> We were salt and sand and sea and storm.

➸ it's very atmospheric. I love the whole setting of pirates and living on a ship. When reading this series I could feel the wind blowing through my hair, the salt from the sea on my tongue. Feeling that sticky feeling of sea water on your skin. It was like I was on the ship with the characters and Adrienne Young managed to convey that feeling.

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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
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➸ in my review for [Fable](https://www.notion.so/Fable-f4042a985439437e9bb003ab3e47ba4e) I said that the characters felt flat. Instead of using those characters to give them backstory, the author went and introduced a bunch of new but not so new characters that were mentioned briefly in the first book but were irrelevant otherwise. Those characters become relevant in this book, but I already got used to the old crew and now I have to read about other characters that I couldn't care less. All I wanted was for Fable to reunited with the Marigold crew. When my wish finally came true and Fable reunited with West and the others, all they do is fight and be mad at each other.

> "You can't keep trying to take control of everything. You can't save everyone, West."

➸ I didn't care that much about the romance in Fable and I even cared less about it in Namesake. West was a big reason why, he annoyed me a lot with his behaviour. He went behind his crew and decides to do things without regards to anyone's feeling. They were all done to help Fable, but the thing is, Fable didn't even ask for his help. She didn't want it and West still went through with it sometimes even behind her back and it felt like he made the problem worse with his help instead of making it better.

➸ the plot was extremely boooring. I can't tell you how boring it was. Namesake is a lot about the power play between all the big players in the sea trade. It was who can get the bigger hand and expand their their territory and it was the easiest thing for me to put the book down, cause zzzzzz what a snozefest.

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IN CONCLUSION
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pheww what a disappointment, but I'm proud to have finished it. I feel like it's 50% the book and 50% me why Namesake didn't work out. Since I've only seen great reviews so far, people who loved the first book will probably love this one too.

Loved this series! And I will continue to pick up any book from this author. Fast paced and easy to get into and loved everything about it!

While I did enjoy this fast-paced adventure on the high-seas, it felt disjointed and rushed. I loved the cast of characters as they were all unique and lively, but I hate the romance between Fable and West, as it felt flat and forced. The adventure of this novel was exciting but also confusing, with most of the information being left out. This was effective in building suspense but in also feeling like everything was thrown together instead of a well-developed plan like it was called. This was a fun read, but it was lacking the substance I expected to make it a favorite read.

Namesake by Adrienne Young picks up right where Fable left off. If you haven’t read the first book in the series, there may be minor spoilers to it ahead. Fable is now in the hands of Zola. What he has planned for her though is anyone’s guess. With the Marigold free of Saint’s control, Fable can only hope and wonder if anyone will come looking for her. As beautiful as it is deadly, Namesake will take you on an adventure that will leave you both satisfied and craving more.

Fable is one of my new favorite characters! She is fearless, loyal to a fault, and knows what she wants. Her entire backstory has been hidden from her and slowly it comes to light in this book. She finds her origins, where her mother was from, and in the process, Fable finds who she is. I adore her character arc and the journey Young takes us on.

West is a lot darker in this book. His past was hinted at in Fable, but his actions and feelings for Fable allowed me to overlook it. Now, with her taken, his past is coming back to haunt him and not in a good way. Y’all I really struggled to continue to love West. He’s in a dark place when we see him again, and my heart broke for him.

The entire plot of this one is Fable finding out who she is and where she comes from. I love the backstory, the history that is given to this character. Saint returns, and his character arc is just as interesting to me as Fable’s. I already had a soft spot for him, but y’all I totally fell in love with him here. Young expands the world of Fable taking us across the Unnamed Sea to Bastian. The imagery, again, is outstanding. I just wanted to crawl into the pages and live on the ship with Fable.

Overall, I really enjoyed Namesake. Adrienne Young wraps the series up nicely, leaving me satisfied at the conclusion. All the characters from Fable to Saint to even Koy are fully fleshed out and felt real to me. If you enjoy fantasy on the open seas, I highly recommend you grab this one.

I liked Fable, but I liked this one even more. The author does an amazing job of building on the characters and the world that she introduced with Fable.

We learn so much more about some characters we know and some we have briefly heard of. There are secrets to be discovered and some surprising and satisfying tender moments that brought me to tears. I really liked the way the story was wrapped up.

I may need to read some more of Adrienne Young!

Namesake (Fable #2) by Adrienne Young is a great follow-up and finale to the Fable duology. I know I've said it before and I'll say it again, but Young has quickly become a favorite author of mine. Her world-building is fantastic as usual and here we get to see so much more of the scope of Fable's world. I also really enjoyed getting to see Fable herself again. I certainly appreciate that she's smart and brave, and that she takes no crap from anyone. I wasn't the particularly interested in West as much as I probably ought to have been to make their romance really work. I have to admit though that my favorite element is the sense of adventure and all that swashbuckling. Overall, if you haven't started this duology (or finished it up), what are you waiting for because I can't recommend it enough if you're at all interested in YA fantasy adventure. I can't wait to try Adrienne Young's upcoming Fallen City duology in 2022.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Namesake is the perfect conclusion of the duology Fable by Adrienne Young. I loved Namesake more than Fable. I loved the complex relationship between Fable and her father, Saint.

We were salt and sand and sea and storm.
We were made in the Narrows.

Namesake stars with Fable being on the board of Luna and she are surrounded by enemies and she can't trust anyone. She also discovered that someone betrayed her and her father or seems like that. Being Kidnapped is a test of survival for Fable and now she had to find a way to escape from this boat and to go back to West and to the crew of Marigold. She found a way to survive and to protect the people she loves. I n this book, Fable found out secrets about her mother Isolde, and her mother's family.

"Fable, I love you," he breathed, still staring at my feet." I don't want to do any of this without you.

The relationship between West and Fable evolve and they fought for their relationship and to stay together. They worked as a team and they were willing to sacrifice for each other. I loved their relationship and how much West was willing to sacrifice to protect Fable and to be with her.

Namesake by Adrienne Young is a book full of secrets adventure, twists, friendship, family, and love. I loved that Fable and Saint had an honest discussion. I loved the relationship between Fable, West, and the crew of Marigold. I loved Namesake and I recommend to everyone this duology.
Blog post: 3/14/2021
Goodreads: 3/7/2021
Bookbub post: 3/14/2021

As always, Adrienne Young is an incredibly talented author. Her writing style is nothing less than divine, and I could practically inhale all of her books in one sitting. Namesake is the sequel to Fable, a book that I read last year and instantly fell in love with. Fable is a dredger, an individual who dives in the sea to search for gems. This book was an incredibly sequel to Fable because it delved deeper into so many of the secrets that were left loose in the first one. Past choices were explained, and we really got to know more about each of the characters and how everything is connected. In this book, we meet Holland, a legendary gem trader who practically controls the town of Bastian. My one issue with this book was that I feel like we never really got to connect with Holland. She is a major character within this book who drives most of the plot, but I feel like we only got to know her at a surface level. There was just so much more about her story that I wanted to unpack. Overall, this was still an incredible book, and I would highly recommend both books in this duology for anyone looking for a little bit of adventure at sea.

Rating: 4.5/5

If you enjoyed Fable, you should also really enjoy reading, Namesake. Namesake immediately brought me back into the world that Fable left off in and I was immediately sucked in. There were many twists and turns that kept me wanting to keep reading, just like in Fable. This book took me out of my reading slump and I am really grateful I was given an ARC of this book. All the new characters had strong personalities and you learn more in depth about the previous characters. I loved that Fable grew as a character even more in this book. I would recommend this series to anyone that loves a fantasy series that will pull you in and even more to people that love stories about pirates.

Wow.

This was 100% the perfect conclusion to Fable. With all of the world building out of the way, Namesake jumped right into the action. I read it straight through in just a few hours.

All of the loose ends from Fable are tied into a neat little bow.

A genuinely enjoyable read.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC

If you loved the piratey goodness of Fable then you're sure to love Namesake just as much, if not more so. This was a really great conclusion to the duology and it was so much more of an intense high-seas adventure with the cast of characters coming together beautifully and many delightful twists and turns in the unfolding of Fable's story. This was a much more plot-driven story compared to the first book, so sadly I found the world-building and character development a bit lacking, although the fast-paced action in the latter half didn't leave much time to dwell on it.

The story picks up right where we left off at the cliffhanger of the first book and Fable finds herself in the unenviable position of being surrounded by enemies. Although she's not entirely sure what their motives are, with her steely determination and sharp wit, she courageously plays their game and does what she needs to do to get back to the Marigold. Fable is such a strong character and it's hard not to admire how badass she is, especially since if I ever found myself in her position I'd probably die in five minutes tops 😂 I appreciated that we get to see more of her talent as a dredger and as a gem sage. I can't recall reading about a character that has a talent like Fable's before, so it was cool to learn more about it. The relationship between Fable and West ends up being one of their main driving forces in the story and while I liked how their relationship developed in book one, I felt it was *really* amped up here and came across as overly intense and a little too angsty (but perhaps that's just me).

Aside from West and the Marigold crew, we get a few more surprising characters additions with Koy, Clove, and Holland. We also get to see a bit more of Saint and I wasn't really sure what to think about his character before but I really came to like him here! He's still far from perfect but we learn more about what drives his character and it worked to soften me up to him. Another character I was surprised to find myself liking was Koy! He's determined to see success come to Jeval and while he may be a bit morally ambiguous, he's unquestionably loyal to his home and the people from it, including Fable. 😉 Holland was an intriguing character that I'm sad we didn't get to learn more about. As the plot was moving swiftly by that point, the character and relationship development with Holland suffered for it and so she came across as pretty one dimensional.

Just like in the first book, Young's writing was lyrical and atmospheric. She breathes such life into the ocean and the story all but pulses with the sounds and smells of the wide-open sea. It was so easy to picture the frothing white-capped waves, the raging stormy seas, the endless blue spreading out before the Marigold, and the pressing quiet of the sea beneath the surface. It's treacherous, it's breathtaking and it's absolutely magical!

Overall, a very satisfying and neatly wrapped up conclusion to this duology. If you love stories full of action, a strong female lead, a cast of morally grey characters that you also can't help but root for (mostly), and a setting in which the sea comes to life off the pages, I would highly recommend checking out these books! Also, major cover appreciation to this set of covers because they're STUNNING!

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the arc of this title.

Namesake is the second book in the Fable duology. If you haven't read Fable - this is your spoiler alert.

Namesake continues where Fable left off with Fable having been kidnapped and is now a hostage on Zola's boat. I won't go heavy into details on the plot other than to say the book is a satisfying sea adventure with twists and turns that keep you wondering who the heck Fable can really trust.

I feel like this second book delivered all the elements I loved from the first book - namely fabulous characters, masterful world building, and really interesting plot.

I would love to see more books centered in this universe.

If you enjoyed Fable and were utterly mortified when the book ended the way it did and the sequel's publication date was still unknown, Namesake will greatly appease you. It doesn't hit the same way that Fable does, but it is filled with enough twists and turns that you won't know who to trust. In fact, you might end up like me and even be a bit afraid to trust anyone other than Fable. In the first book, Fable was the storm brewing and other characters had to react to her presence. In Namesake, the political intrigue is more prominent and Fable takes on a more reactionary role. While the big player(s) already have their hands, Fable has to figure out how to play their game, trying to thwart them as much as possible. The duology comes to a satisfying conclusion, with things wrapped up pretty easily. Although I liked Fable a lot more, Namesake was still an enjoyable read. I would gladly pick up the next book should Young decide to return to Fable's world, because there is certainly more that can be told.

My favorite aspect of this book was the world building. While I didn't always understand the ship terms, I loved the ships where the characters felt at home, and I liked the concept of the Trade Councils and the differences of the cultures of the Narrows and the Unnamed Sea. The careers were also really unique and interesting to read about, particularly the dredgers, which the MC, Fable, describes a lot.
However, while I really liked the first book, the plot of this book was confusing. There were so many scenes that seemed unnecessary or easily solvable that I was confused why it was so drawn out. I also couldn't often understand Fable's actions, or most any of the character's actions. The side characters were incredibly static and felt like they were only there for the sake of being there. The romance was there, but felt lacking, especially compared to how well the slow burn was executed in the first book, and I also did not like how controlling West was.
Overall, I liked this book, although I almost would have preferred if the first book had maybe 100 or 200 more pages that had the basis of what happened in this sequel, instead of a duology.

The conclusion Namesake in the two book series Fable starts where it left off in book one.

***Spoilers ahead***

Kidnapped Fable is on Zola’s ship and there she sees Clove, her father Saints navigator, that she thought was dead. They pass by Jeval, the island she’s been on for 4 years and hire dredgers, one of them Koy, for something that Zola isn’t telling anyone.

The world building continues in this book and it’s beautiful and I feel like I’m on the ships, smelling the sea water and feeling the wind in my hair...

When we finally get to see the old crew from the Marigold, it feels like nothing has changed and all they are is mad at either West or Fable.
The characters don’t really evolve here, which I think is so sad, as I’d want to listen to them all talk and plot and just...be together.
There is a bit of drama and edge of your seat moments, but nothing that doesn’t get deflated by either a new chapter or a “cut! New scene!” paragraph.
The romance is a bit lacking between Fable and West, Paj and Auster and even though we get a glimpse of a new one forming between Willa and Koy, nothing really happens.

The book is long enough, but it’s like every chapter something new happens and is either concluded or it’s an open ending. So much smirking going on...

Book one was amazing, this one lacks the character evolving, but continues with great world building and it does have a happy ending.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for this advanced readers copy. All opinions are my own.

I know this is supposed to be book two in the series, but when I asked to read it, I had no idea. I wasn’t disappointed though and it was easy to catch up on the whole story and I really didn’t feel like I missed much. This is an amazing story of human strength and family desire. I was blown away with the world she created on the sea. It’s a little magical, expansive, and full of surprises.

The story revolves around a young girl trying to find where she fits in the world and discovering who her family is, while the whole time trying to hang onto her true love. Her true love takes plenty of risk to help her along the way and always has her back even when she isn’t sure. West is always sure of his love for Fable.

There are several surprises along the way that friends and foes discover about Fable that she has tried to keep secret in order to keep herself safe. When they come out though, it gives her the chance to really take her place in this world and gain the respect of her father and her friends. Another risk she must take that feels like a blind jump off a cliff for her. Turns out she’s pretty smart and sensible even if not a real lady.

I don’t want to give away too much of the story because there are so many twists and turns and it’s not easy to tell which ones will ruin it and which won’t. I’m a big fan of Adrienne Young’s though, after just one book. Her characters have so much depth, but she uses concise direct sentences to describe it, rather than long paragraphs about angst or other emotions. It just feels right. The pace of the story is great as well as having enough detail to not even realize you are in book two and haven’t read book one. That is a rare gem in a writer…(you’ll get the Gem part later). I’m giving this a 5 of 5 because even as a stand alone it held my attention made me angry, sad, happy, and proud…feelings I haven’t felt in a long time in conjunction with a book. It might just make my Top 10 list this year.

Book two in a thrilling fantasy series! While you can dive right it to book two, why would you want to? You really have to read book one, Fable, prior to this one. These books have that grand pirate adventure feel. You won't be able to put down. I dont want to spoil anything but I highly recommend this series!

NAMESAKE is a stunning conclusion to an enthralling YA fantasy duology. The book begins right after the first left off, and I would definitely recommend reading them close in time or reading the synopsis to remind yourself of all the players before launching into this second read. Fable is once again a pawn in the schemes of those around her, trying to find her footing in an uncertain world. She wants to find her way back to the ship that has become her home and the people she loves, but the path there is anything but easy.

Along the way, Fable will learn more about who she is, the people who made her, and where she wants to go moving forward. Although she fears that her emotions make her soft, these are some of the parts of her that make her strong against the storms of others' desires for her. The character growth and development that happen in this book are equally as strong as the first. Combined with the lyrical prose and absorbing plot, this sequel is a strong book in its own right.

There were some interesting themes about monopolies, political power, and the control of trade that were thought-provoking. I also appreciated the themes of forgiveness, family, and romantic love that continue from the first book. The romance takes a backseat here, but I still loved its inclusion. Beyond Fable, other characters are also finding their own truths, and I enjoyed their journeys as well - there are so many fantastic and compelling characters in this duology, and I loved every tidbit about them. This was a world that I would love to follow more, and I am sad to leave it behind.

With compelling characters, atmospheric writing, and intricate plotting, NAMESAKE is a riveting and stunning conclusion to the FABLE duology. Highly recommend for fans of YA fantasy - this is a duology not to be missed.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.