Hey all! I’m currently in Disney. All my posts for this week are automated, so just letting you know. If there are any massive glaring errors, point them out to me and I will get to them later.
Customary warning: This is a reminder that these are my personal opinions. My thoughts and feelings are not your thoughts and feelings. I may not always be the target audience for a book; sometimes I am. If I do not like a book, that doesn’t mean you’ll dislike it. If I love a book or simply like a book, you may hate it. Take everything I say with this knowledge. If it sounds interesting to you despite what I’ve said, then go ahead and read it. You’ll only know you like something if you read it yourself.
That being said… Spoilers ahead.
Fable by Adrienne Young
Synopsis From The Book
Filled with all of the action, emotion, and lyrical writing that brought readers to Sky in the Deep, New York Times bestselling author Adrienne Young returns with Fable, the first book in this new captivating duology.
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.
Fantasy | YA – E |Parental Neglect, Parental Death, Abuse, Murder | Love, Family, Believing in One’s self
Initial Thoughts Before Reading:
Alright, so I do have to put a disclaimer on this. I feel that I always do when I read something that is THAT BOOK, right before reading another. I read The Secret History yesterday, and that book just HIT ME in the face. So. I’m here wanting to read this cute little three hundred page young adult and I know that I’m just not going to be all about it.
Which sucks, because I was all about it for weeks. This is, in part, the reason I am picking to read this book now. I wanted to, was starved to, and never found the time. Now I have it and I have ruined my palette a bit. However, if my gut instinct is correct this will be a good cleanser and a good book. Here is to hoping, wishing, and good wishes.
Initial Thoughts After Reading:
I def thought this was about mermaids at first. I’m so happy it was about traders and ruthless pirate like figures. This was such a fun adventure and I loved every every moment of it. This book was a solid adventure, short, sweet, and beautiful all the way through. I can not wait for the second book.
Plot Overview:
Fable is a dredger living off the island of Jevel. She gets pyre from the ocean floor and delivers it to traders for copper. She has been living on the island for four years since her father abandoned her on the island when their ship sank and her mother died. She has found her own special stash and has been getting good money off of it for two years. She has to hide her camp and stash away from everyone because otherwise the other inhabitants would steal it all from her.
Koy, is one of those people. Fable trades pyre with West a young helmsman who controls The Marigold, and Koy tries to kill Fable for the money. She knocks him out and takes them both ashore. She goes back to her camp to find it ransacked and after taking her money, she steals a ship as the others hunt her and gets to West. She demands passage and he unwillfully agrees. At sea she finds that the other four crew mates – Willa, Auster, Paj, and Hamish — are not as happy with her arrival and try to test her. She is trying to get back to her father, Saint who controls the seas. They go to another port and Fable discovers that the ship is a shadow ship for her father, causing mayhem for him. She and West make a deal and they end up in Ceros, where she goes to meet her father.
Her father tells her about Lark, their old ship, and tells her that she can go get the loot and make her own fortune. She leaves and goes to get drunk and Zola, her father’s enemy, threatens the Marigold. Willa finds her and the next day they find The Marigold slashed and West almost dead. Saint explodes and threatens West and Fable gives The Marigold the option to get out of his grasps forever by retrieving her fortune.
The get to the wreckage and Fable and West kiss. They get the fortune and trade it, and West and Fable say their love for each other. Fable says goodbye to her father and is captured by Clove, the only man to escape The Lark, who treated her like a daughter more than her own father, and someone she thought was dead.
What I Liked:
Fable; What a smart and quick girl. She’s going to survive and become so much more than anyone ever expected. I know it. I can feel it. She’s wonderful and deserves so much in the world after everything.
West; He is an enigma that I want to learn so much more about. Honestly just knowing he’s killed many people makes him all the more entertaining. What kind of person is he really? I must know.
Fable and West; Their relationship is super cute and I support it. I really hope that they are able to weather whatever storm is headed their way.
The Marigold Crew; Willa is amazing. I love her. Auster is adorable and Paj is great. Hamish I wish I got a better idea of. I have a feeling that we will get far more of them in the future, so I’m not too worried.
Saint; This man frustrates me so much. I understand his logic, I do, but goodness he just had to hurt his child like that. He really had to go out there and drop his child somewhere? I suppose that’s a testament to how much he cares about her. Still its ruthless and cold. I can’t help loving him tho.
Setting; Boats and sea? Count me in. I feel that I need a sea adventure and pirates kick. I really like the setting in general and all the different places. I would love to know how all the other ports function a bit more but I’m happy with what we got.
What I Would Have Liked or Changed:
None
Rating: 4/5
Notable Quotes:
“With a love that could set fire to the sea.” – pg 195
“Because that kiss broke open some dark night sky within me filled with stars and moons and flaming comets. That darkness was replaced by the blazing fire of the sun racing under my skin.” – pg 301
“Like light cast over the morning water, it became new. Every moment that lay ahead, like an uncharted sea.” – pg 324
Marlena Marie 
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