Review – Fable (Fable Duology, Book 1) by Adrienne Young (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 361 pages
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: September 1, 2020
ASIN : B084M1NQCR
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Fable duology
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 5/5 stars
“ 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.”
Series Info/Source: I borrowed this ebook from my Library. This is the first book in the Fable duology. Previous to reading this I read Young’s “Sky in the Deep” duology which I enjoyed.
Story (5/5): This was an amazing fantasy adventure story about the daughter, named Fable, of a powerful trader. Her father leaves her on a cutthroat island to survive after a horrible shipwreck. When Fable’s finally scraped together enough money to leave the island she ends up on a treasure hunt while dodging various baddies. It’s a very well done story that is fast-paced, has some really interesting yet subtle magic, and is somehow very heartfelt as well. I absolutely loved this story and was completely engrossed in it.
Characters (5/5): Fable is one tough girl. It’s hard not to love her because she is so tough, yet still finds room to care about the people around her and be loyal to them. The crew she joins on the ship Marigold is amazing as well. They all have a lot of depth to them and have very detailed back stories. They are fun characters to adventure with and characters I grew to love spending time with.
Setting (5/5): This book jumps between different islands, ships, and trading towns. They are all well described and easy to picture. I loved the locations because I felt like I was actually on the adventure with Fable, the scenes and settings just really come alive!
Writing Style (5/5): I enjoyed Young’s “Sky in the Deep” duology but this book was so much better. Young has certainly found her writing stride here. The pacing is perfect, the descriptions of surroundings are phenomenal and make the settings easy to picture, the characterization was incredibly well done, and I loved the story. I am on a huge adventure fantasy kick right now and this book definitely hit the mark. I could not put this down and stayed up way too late reading it. Everything about this was flawless.
My Summary (5/5): Overall this was an amazing fantasy adventure read that I adored. I can’t wait to read the follow-up book “Namesake” which should be out as of the time of this review posting. I would strongly recommend this to fans of fantasy adventure, especially pirating types of adventure stories. This book was so hard to put down and just such a pleasure to read.
