Fable by Adrienne Young

SYNOPSIS

Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men.

As the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home seventeen-year-old Fable has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food.

​To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her.

The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father.

But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him and Fable soon finds that West isn't who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they're going to stay alive.

Synopsis from Goodreads

---

PERSONAL REVIEW

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I fell in love with Adrienne Young's writing when I read her first novel, Sky in the Deep. Her slow world-building and narrator-moved storytelling captured my attention and I loved the way her characters developed. When Fable was first announced, I was thrilled to find out that Young had a third novel coming out, and that this one would be part of a duology! Luckily, St. Martin's Press was willing to send me an ARC of the novel so I could read and talk about it before it's September release. I loved this book (I completely flew through reading it) and I’m so excited to talk about it.

Great Characters
Young has done a beautiful job introducing us to these characters and letting us get to know them, even though we only have Fable’s POV. It can be hard to connect with secondary characters, but I love the way she developed Fable’s relationship with the crew of the Marigold and how we got to see the other characters relationships with each other. Fable, like the reader, is learning about the crew and the nuanced aspects of the different relationships each of them have with the others, and we are really given the chance to get to know everyone.

Solid Cliffhanger
I’m obviously not going to give away spoilers, but this book ends with a wonderful cliffhanger that I feel completely set us up for the second novel, which is supposed to come out in March 2021. It’s a great moment because Fable has just found her place with Marigold crew and is finally feels like she has a purpose, she’s confronted her father and has accepted this part of her past, and things are really looking up. So of course things have to change. I’m really really interested to see what’s going to happen and name sake, now that Fable is on a completely different journey, one that she did not choose and definitely does not want. I’m also really excited to see what happens to the other characters in the book when she’s gone missing - how are they going to feel, is there gonna be confusion over where she is or do they think she betrayed them, will we get additional POVs, etc. So overall, while I’m not going to give any spoilers, this book ends on a great cliffhanger and I’m really excited for the sequel.

LOVE the Romance
Like her previous books, Young doesn’t make romance the focus of her stories, however it always subtly grows between characters. I love the slow build between Fable and West and the little ways their relationship changes. These are characters that are conditioned by their world to not have any emotional attachments because it can be used against them, so their interest in each other needs to be fought and prevented. Watching these two interact is wonderful, especially when they finally acknowledge what’s between them! I’m SO excited to see where their relationship goes in the sequel!!

Overall, this is a wonderful book with a story that moves well and characters that are easy to become invested in. I’d highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA Fantasy, is a fan of Adrienne Young’s previous books, or enjoys layered stories when the truth slowly unravels. This book is a slow build, but a great one.

I'm so excited for Fable to be released on September 1, 2020! I'll post a reminder on Instagram closer to the release date, but this is definitely a book I can't wait to have a physical copy of on my bookshelf!

​FINAL RATING: 5/5

---