Author: Adrienne Young
Series: Fable
Series #: 2
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: yes

Trader. Fighter. Survivor.

With the Marigold ship free of her father, Fable and its crew were set to start over. That freedom is short-lived when she becomes a pawn in a notorious thug’s scheme. In order to get to her intended destination she must help him to secure a partnership with Holland, a powerful gem trader who is more than she seems.

As Fable descends deeper into a world of betrayal and deception she learns that her mother was keeping secrets, and those secrets are now putting the people Fable cares about in danger. If Fable is going to save them then she must risk everything, including the boy she loves and the home she has finally found.

Review

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book!

Overview

When I read Fable last year I really enjoyed it. The book was very good, and the parts of it I liked, I really liked. Even the parts that I wasn’t as wild about, I enjoyed. I was really excited therefore when I got the chance to read Namesake before it was published. Getting back into this world was amazing, because it was left on a bit of a cliffhanger, and I wondered what was going to happen in the next book and how many of the loose ends would be wrapped up. I feel overall that this book was an extremely satisfying conclusion to the first book.

Plot


In this book Fable is a “captive” of Zola. And from there things 100% absolutely do not get better for Fable. They only get worse. And while in another book this might feel contrived, in this one I liked it. Fable getting from point a to point b to point c is done very successfully in this book. The plot of this book focuses on Fable and her ambitions and family. One thing that continued through from the first book to this, is the underlying message of family, and what family means. I will say there was one part of the plot that felt contrived. I didn’t love that part, but overall, I felt it didn’t detract too much from the book.

Tone

Much of the book had the tone of family is not just blood, but is the people that you meet along the way. There were other parts too, that stood out. It didn’t feel like Young was beating you over the head with it either. Family was a huge plot point in this book, and I’m afraid to go in depth about it because so much of it is better read and not spoiled. Suffice to say, I think the plot of this book was exemplary.

Characters


Partially, I think, because the plot revolves around the characters. Fable’s character arc is much of what pushes the plot forward. Fable generally, is the main character in this book. There are other characters that appear from the previous book, but they don’t nearly play the part they had. Auster and Paj make an appearance, but they have very limited page time. Even Willa isn’t in it as much. The only other character that really I think almost matches Fable is West.

We have quite a few new characters in this one, Clove and Holland who take up page time. I loved Clove. I loved Fable and Clove’s interactions throughout the book. And Holland was an interesting antagonist.


Saint of course was back in this, but much like the first he didn’t play a huge roll. He was in it, but wasn’t like West or Fable. Speaking of West and Fable I want to talk a bit about the relationship. While it felt a little insta-love like in the first book (I don’t mind that) in this one they are a bit more settled. I appreciate that Young at some points had them talk some issues out. West and Fable’s relationship is an interesting point in the book, and Young was successful in depicting it.

Action and Adventure

This book, much like the first, maybe even more so, was absolutely action packed. We jump from one event to the next with very little downtime. You’re always wondering what is coming next because Young does such an excellent job with the pacing in this book. Some parts of it could be boring, but they are most definitely not. I was engrossed from beginning to end, and I really enjoyed every moment that I was reading the book. To that point, Young is a great writer, and I was sucked in by her writing style and the cadence of it. I felt that it was stupendous. I was drawn into this world she crafted and I didn’t want to leave it.

Last Thoughts


This is (if you’re worried) a great wrap up. I felt it was a satisfying ending and I was overall happy with it. I’d take a novella now – something more than the epilogue. I would love to see some of the other character’s stories as well.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and it was fantastic. What a great ending to the duology! 

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Author: Adrienne Young
Series: Fable
Series #: 1
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: yes

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.

Review

This was a giveaway win from Goodreads! Thank you to the publisher!

I really liked Sky in the Deep. I thought The Girl the Sea Gave Back was good! So I was tentatively nervous going into this book, because I was worried how it would be compared to the others. So starting Fable I wondered how I would feel…if I would love the book or if this was going to be one of the ones I had to give up. However, I was drawn in from the moment that I started this book. There was something about it that caught me and made me want to read more minute by minute.

Young’s writing has only grown and improved since Sky in the Deep and she has more than proven her talent with this book. Her writing was inviting and warm. You felt for Fable and you could just envision what was happening. The way Young crafted the story worked really well for me, and left me wanting more. The way it ended…suffice to say I can’t wait until I can read the next book in the series.

Fable was a great character, and I really loved her strength and determination to become more and to succeed. She was fierce and fiery and I loved every minute of her journey. I especially loved the complicated friendships that she developed, but also the relationship with her family. I felt that that was one of the underlying themes of the book: family and friends. I like how Young took to that theme and it stuck throughout the whole book.

I even enjoyed the plot of this book, although much of it could easily be considered a spoiler, so I don’t want to talk about it extensively. One aspect of the plot that I liked is that there were several hurdles that Fable had to overcome, and none of them were obstacles that made me roll my eyes and groan. In fact, I rather thought that the journey was amazing and a great experience in and of itself. This is definitely more of an action packed book than the previous one I think.

There also seemed to be a faster pace to this book which I enjoyed A LOT. I think there is a lot to be said for Young changing the pacing of this book to a faster speed. It worked.

Finally, I think the world building was good. We never get a lot of it from Young (partially because limited book lengths and as the start to a series!), but just enough to help us see the world or understand it. I would have liked a little more world building, but honestly, it was good as it was.

Young’s romances are not my favorite parts of the books, but they are enjoyable. I felt it was done so much better in this book. Like 90% better than previously and I am looking forward to seeing how that romance develops.


In the end I am really excited for the next book in the series because I am very interested to see where Fable goes from here.

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