Adrienne Young has hit this one out of the park - yet again.

That bastard left me again.

It is one the best opening lines I’ve read in a long time. This book exceeded all my expectations. It has an amazing lead female character and truly a plot line that will have you speed reading to find out what happens next. This story takes place on the open sea and visits the chain of islands surrounding it. It has a mix between pirates and old century trading. Fable is the most persist character I’ve read in a while when fighting for what she wants. This storyline has many aspects that fit all readers, action, adventure, love, betrayal and perseverance. Please order this you won’t be disappointed

Your Review
Laura
Laura rated it it was amazing
12 days ago
Loved this! The story line picks up quickly and continues at a fast past throughout. Couldn’t wait to find out what would happen to Fable through it all and now I want the second book ASAP! Read full review


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44012880-fable

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A captivating story about a young girl abandoned on an island by her own father after a narrow escape from the sea storm that took her mother’s life. Forced to survive on her own, Fable becomes a dredger, diving the reef to chisel precious elements for trade. Fable seizes and opportunity to escape her dangerous life on the island and makes it aboard a ship with a skeleton crew.
There is just enough mystery and intrigue to keep you flipping pages. The dynamic settings were so vivid... from the high seas, to the overrun port cities full of unsavoury characters. The plot line will appeal to our young adult readers-
good pace and they will connect with the strong female character.
Cons: Secondary characters were not as expertly developed, abrupt ending and predictable love story. However, it checks so many other boxes, I would recommend it!

I just loved Fable’s story! She is such a wonderful character - I wanted to kick people’s asses on her behalf most of the time but I admire her determination and strength! And West... le sigh.
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I don’t even know how I’m functioning right now with not having book 2 to read. Yes these covers are gorgeous but the story inside is just amazing and I highly recommend you preorder this one now! I did!

*I received an ARC for this. All views and thoughts are my own*

OMG. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher!! This book was AMAZING. I couldn't put it down. Adrienne Young has a way with words that makes you completely visualize everything, and you can taste the saltwater in your mouth. I can't wait until this book gets out there for everyone to devour. This book has it all: action, romance, morally gray characters, and "traders" (basically pirates!)

This was my top read so far this year. And now comes the painful wait for the next book!!!

3.5 Stars

Do you ever put off reading a book because you are just so excited to read it that you don't want to start, because then you know you will finish and won't have the book to read anymore? That's how I felt about this book. Well, anything Adrienne Young writes, to be honest. I didn't want to start, because I didn't want to finish, but now that I have...

I think for this story to be what I wanted it to be, I needed to adjust my expectations. I was expecting a deep and jarring adventure on the high seas, but this was actually more of a slow burning tale of a girl trying to find her father. That isn't to say it was actually slow or boring, it moved quickly and there were adventurous moments, things that happened along the way, but the core of the book was sailing through storms, traveling to different places, vying for her father’s approval and acceptance. There is only so much you can do with that.

Similarly, I felt like Fable, the character, was a bit thin. If this was going to be a character driven story, and I feel like that was what it ended up being, I need more from that character. Because I loved her, she was fierce and smart and everything an Adrienne Young warrior woman is, but it didn't entirely feel like her needs met her desires. I needed to see more of why she cared so much and what drove her.

The sub characters were enjoyable, I found West and Willa very intriguing. I also enjoyed the dynamic between West and Fable, the tension and conflict, though to be honest, the things about each other that were revealed along the way weren't exactly surprising.

The romance arc had a good teasing build that I really enjoyed, but then it seemed to slam right into a full-blown love story out of nowhere. Obviously it was coming, but the timing seemed unnatural and maybe a little forced, kind of like it had to be stuck in there before the book ended, which was disappointing because I quite liked the pairing and felt like when they did finally come together, it could have been something great.

This book does have a lot of things going for it. I loved the atmosphere, Young always does a great job of building a vivid world and really created a visual place that came to life. I’m really taken with anything that exists on the sea and these parts were super detailed and enjoyable. There were just a lot of them.

The story of Fable's scar is one of the coolest things I've seen in a book in a very long time. I don’t want to give it away, but I loved it. There were a lot of cool elements, but not a lot of them were deeply explored. Maybe we will get more of that in the next book.

It makes me sad to say that my overall thought is that if this duology had been one book, it would have been a really awesome, riveting story. But to get from point A to point B across two full novels, there’s a lot of time spent floundering around on ship decks and city streets, a lot of movement that doesn’t really take the reader anywhere specific.

But I loved the writing and I know that there will be a strong ending, so I will impatiently wait until I have my hands on the next book and can see where this journey takes me.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

So I kind of predicted a big plot twist in this book and I'm not even mad because I enjoyed the book so much..

Fables mother died so her father deserts her on an island. She's desperate to find her father and prover her worth and meets a ragtag ship crew.

I'm a sucker for found family stories and Fable hits all the right spots.

I wasn't sure that Fable sounded like my kind of book, but because of the hype it's been getting I decided to give it a go - and am very glad that I did.

Although the story started quite slow, it soon picked up and became a well paced adventure. The level of detail is fantastic - I felt so clearly that I was on a ship in the Sea, or the slums of a port city.

I really grew to love the characters in this story, especially Fable. The final twist left me desperate for more!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This review has been posted to Goodreads and will be submitted to Amazon after release.

Fable is an epic tale rich in adventure. The author builds an encaptivating world were the sea is the backdrop for the cutthroat world of traders. Fable is the daughter of the most powerful of them all. Thrown to the wolves of Jeval, a blood thirsty world were dredgers (divers) go out to sea to salvage for any riches they can find and go back ashore to steal and maim for what they want. After four years, Fable finally has enough to secure passage on the Marigold but its no picnic as the crew is leery and don't trust easily. When her family reunion does not go as planned, Fable sets off to find her own place to belong and maybe a little love in the face of danger. Fable worms her way into your heart with her interminable will and strength. The story moves quickly full of action for an addicting page turner of a story that leaves you jonesing for the next chapter. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

Fable was abandoned on an island by her father when she was only 13, a day after her mother died. Now she is 17, and she’s determined to get off the island to find her father and prove to him that she survived and that she is worthy on being on one of his ship’s crews. First, she has to get off the island and find her father, but no one ever gets off the island. That is, until a trader named West saves her life and allows her to accompany him and his crew off the island to the mainland.

I have read 2 whole pirate books over the past few weeks, I think this is more than I have read in the past 2 years. I am really enjoying this genre, especially in books where there is a female MC.

I could tell from the beginning that Fable’s quest was not going to lead her down the path which she thought she was going, but I couldn’t imagine all the twists and turns that her journey was going to take. I felt so sad for those who were left on the island, as none of them truly asked to be in that hellhole. Even if Fable had no friends on the island, everyone was just trying to stay alive, even if that meant hurting others.

My absolute favorite part of this book was reading about West and the rest of the crew. They have their own backstories, which Fable learns as she spends more and more time on the ship with them. Each area that they travel to has its own culture, and they have to sneak around in different ways in order to not get in trouble with the different traders, crews, and law enforcement on and around the docks. I hope to be able to learn more about the crew in the sequel to this novel, and especially more about the world outside of the traders. That is one thing I didn’t feel was focused on as much, the world outside of the ships and their crews. Hopefully, this will be expanded upon in the second novel.

There was romance in this book, but no love triangles that I can see so far. This is definitely a pleasant surprise for me, as I am so used to YA/NA novels including some sort of love triangle (which I hate). I wish that things will stay this way for the next book.

The only thing that brought down my rating from 5 stars to 4 stars was the fact that the pacing felt a little slow at times. I felt like I wanted to take a break, as I slowly lost excitement for what was coming up next. Then a new event would happen and I would decide to keep reading it a little more. I feel like these gaps in excitement made some parts of the book feel less exciting to read and more of a wait until the next cool thing happens. This did not ruin the book for me, but it did make the book less than perfect for me.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new YA fantasy/pirate read to enjoy.

I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.

This book is an absolute gem!

Adrienne Young has become one of my auto-buy authors, and a favorite at that. Her books always manage to deliver the exact adventure you didn’t even know you were searching for, consistently featuring atmospheric writing, compelling characters, and magical, often deadly worlds that you can’t help wanting to fall into. FABLE is no exception.

Right from the start, FABLE introduces us to a world where the only thing more treacherous than the seas are the those who sail them. We quickly learn just how dangerous and cruel it can be, with Fable left stranded by her father to fend for herself on an island full of cutthroats and thieves. From there, we get to explore more of this world built around the water; from the reefs to trading posts, to port cities and open seas, we gather insight into the kind of lore, legendary figures, and dangers that these characters are faced with.

I immediately fell in love with Fable, and while it took me some time to warm up to the other characters, I can guarantee you’ll become attached! The relationships in this book are a little bit more reserved, but no less deep, than any of the other’s I’ve seen Adrienne Young write. This, however, is completely a product of being shaped by the world they live in; with the constant threats it presents, the biggest danger of all is revealing what, or who, matters most. So while the relationships (romantic/platonic/ familial) between the characters seem to have a slower, more reserved quality to them, each one holds a fiercely protective and loyal edge and I loved seeing them all form and grow.

This was such a quick and gorgeous read, and I found myself really falling in love with the story.
FABLE has the kind of characters and world that will live in your head long after you’ve read the last page, and I’m definitely excited to return to them in NAMESAKE.

Thanks a ton to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing this eARC!

Fable by Adrienne Young will sweep you off your feet.

I really enjoyed this book and the writing was absolutely memorizing. Adrienne Young describes everything so well, you will feel like you are there with Fable, living it all.

I loved the characters & the storyline.

& THE ENDING!

I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book!

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
*All thoughts and opinions are my own.
xoxo
Sarah June

This was an intricately paced sea adventure! I was immediately swept up into the world of dredging, gems, and trading. Fable is a strong female lead that has a mysterious history, actually all the characters are veiled in some sort of secret. As each is revealed, I was looking forward to learning more. Fable was left on an island by her father, to fend for herself. As she grew older, she was fueled by the mission in seeing him once again to get what was hers. What she didn't count on is the crew she meets on the way. West is an interesting hero, he starts off as a character that I did not see having a strong background, Fable and Willa steal the show. However, his stoic nature lends itself to being the support each of them need. This is a wonderful, fun but serious story of life out at sea and I can't wait to be back there in book 2.

OH my goodness…Fable… I loved this book! So, this is my first book by Adrienne Young, and I’m a BIG fan now! This story was told so well! The descriptions just drew me into the story! I could see the glittering water, the coral reefs, the ships…everything! It was beautiful!

Fable is the daughter of a well-known trader, living her life on the sea. When their ship goes down, she is one of three that survive the night. Her mother does not survive, and her father, who is about the biggest jerk ever, drops her off on an island of vagrants and thieves. Fable lives the next 4 years fighting for her life, her food, and trying to make enough money to buy passage off this horrible little section of the world. When she does, she begins an adventure of a lifetime!

The plot was wonderful! I really loved how the story unfolded. There’s some history that we need to learn about Fable to understand why she’s on the island and some of her backstory. I don’t like a ton of flashbacks in stories because I find them disruptive at times. In Fable though, I enjoyed that there was need-to-know information about the past, but the author chose just the right moment to insert the flashback. It didn’t pull me out of the story, it just brought me closer!

The characters were just wonderful. Fable is easy to like and root for. Some of her sailing companions create a wonderful environment and really round out the overall story. I loved West. He seems dark and brooding, and I enjoyed him. I also liked that so many characters had little secrets that slowly reveal themselves. It was exciting to learn more and more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The ending clearly left me with the knowledge that there would be a book 2, so now I just need that to come out…like right now!

To Read or Not To Read:
I would recommend Fable for readers that enjoy YA stories with pirate-type adventures and strong female leads!

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her family and fight for her place while trying to survive built exclusively for vicious men.
Of course the cover is fetching, but the LANGUAGE of FABLE, truly sets this novel apart from other YA titles I’ve read in the last year and a half.
Much like plunging into a roiling sea, Young submerges the reader into Fable’s world of scratching and clawing to merely survive as a dredger on the desolate and cutthroat island of Jeval. Descriptions are beautiful as well as gritty, and no detail is left to the imagination. All of your senses will be engaged by Young’s writing.
While initially the plot might seem sluggish, I enjoyed the longer exposition to flesh out Fable’s dire circumstances. Too often I read novels where the protagonist is in mortal danger and POOF! All better! Nope, not for our lass, Fable. No one is doing this young woman favors and if she wants to survive she will have to hold on by the skin of her teeth.

Fable is a story about a girl who loses everything she knows and loves in the span of one night and gets left behind on an island to fend for herself. It’s every man for themselves and trust is a commodity. Tell no one the truth and you just might make it out alive.

I feel like I read this story at the most perfect time for me! Being a tale set on the sea, it’s such a fantastic summer time read, the whole time I was reading Fable, I felt like I was on a high sea adventure which was perfect since vacations aren’t happening this year! This was also a SUPER fast paced and easy read and just what I was looking for! Not one single part of this book dragged for me which is honestly rare for me!

I was hooked from the very start of this story and was just so intrigued by Fable, our main character, to see how she was going to be able to survive in this world that seemed like it was just out to get her. I think most of the characters were just eh for me but as a group, I did enjoy them and I’m just fascinated by Saint and would love to learn more about him in the next book!

The world was also something I really enjoyed! I love a good sea side adventure from time to time and this did not disappoint with all of the nautical lingo and the book being set on the ocean and ocean side towns, i just honestly felt like I was there on this boat the whole time reading Fable! This story also had a few unique ideas (don’t want to give anything away) but they weren’t fully explained so I hope to learn more about this world also in the next book!

There were also a few twists near the end and two in particular that still has me gasping and NEEDING to know more like yesterday. Also, did I mention there’s a cliffhanger? Overall, I LOVED this story and definitely recommend it!

For readers who enjoy: Seaside adventures, slow burn romance, binge worth the quick reads, betrayal

Fable by Adrienne Young is the first in a duology.
Four years ago Fable watched as a storm stole the ship she grew up on and her mother from her. Shortly after her fathered abandoned Fable on an island promising her that if she found her way off and back to him he’d give her what she was owed. Fable had worked hard since then, doing her best to dredge the waters for stones to make money and pay her way off the island and back to her father and the life she knew before.
West, a trader that comes to the island and whom she deals with exclusively, ends up having to help Fable off the island sooner than she expects. On the journey through the sea Fable starts her journey with one goal and ends up changing it as she finds her father and learns all sorts of stuff about herself and the people she’s traveling with.
***
I love Fable and the crew of the Marigold. Fable is tough, and she’ll keep fighting for what she needs no matter how the odds stack up against her. She has a toughness but also a bit of a naivety that is interesting considering the world she came from and has lived in.
Willa was also so strong and unflinching in the face of everything and I really liked her and hope for more of her and the rest of the Marigold crew. Paj and Auster have this easy, we’ve been together for a long time, relationship that you can read into in the easiness between them readily. It’s awesome, and no big deal is made about it other than the fact that who they work for and what they do means you don’t go flaunting any relationships you have so it can’t be used against you but on the ship it’s there and it’s sweet. West is the kind of character I can see other people falling for but I still don’t feel emotionally connected enough to him to really be into the relationship between him and Fable but maybe book 2 will swing that around for me.
Adrienne Young has a way of writing that just keeps dragging me along through a story. It’s not overly flowery or descriptive but the flow, and style of it makes it so easy to just keep with the story and by the time I took a break I was almost all the way through the story anyway so might as well keep going.
With the cliff hanger ending you can bet I’m going to be waiting for book 2.
***
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I fully expected this book to become the next in a long series of lady pirate books that have been released within the last 2 years. And I would have been happy and satisfied with that outcome.

But this is not that story.

This is the story of how a young woman defies all odds against her, and believe me, they are stacked aplenty, to make her life her own and take what is rightfully hers. She is marooned on an island BY HER FAMILY MEMBER and claws her way through the next four years of her life by tooth and nail. Giving an endless stream of sleepless nights, lack of food and proper nutrition, thieves taking all but the clothes and tools on her back, and a current of fear the opportunity to extinguish her flame. But she bears it all with the single relentless hope of surviving and making her way off the island to the future that is promised her.

I was gripped from chapter 2 on and read well into the night. I was enraptured by Fable and her choices. By her quiet but electric personality. And with each new day and the new struggles they bring forth, watching the hope bloom into something radiant was incredible to watch and to feel. I care about Fable and the rest of the crew she finds herself among. I love that they are gray characters that do what they must by their own personal set of standards and morals. And they do not apologize for what they must do to survive and protect their own.

I cannot wait for NAMESAKE, Book 2 in this duet, and will be counting down the days until I can get it in my hands!

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of FABLE, by Adrienne Young in exchange for my honest review.***

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that when I was an adult that I'd love this type of adventure book. I mean pirates, sailing the dangerous oceans, fantasy, some romance, theft, secrecy, betrayal, murder. But pirates? Yes! This book hooked me from the get-go.

Fable is a young girl whose father abandoned her after a tragedy occurred. She was left to somehow take care of herself, and that she did. She did whatever a young girl would need to do to get by, and it was too fun watching her and how brave and courageous she was. She manages to get herself on a boat to a place she needs to get to, but the bartering and trading isn't easy. There she meets West, a man who's mysterious and yet the reader knows there's something special about him right away.

Then there is the facially scarred Willa whose character I adored. She is definitely more than meets the eye, but she puts up a tough front. I must say that in this book I loved every single character. Yes, there were a couple not-so-good ones, but they played important roles, too. The MC's...all lovable!

I would like to say that this book is absolutely phenomenal! I highly recommend it to others, even if you're not into pirates and high seas adventures. It will be a memorable read for you, I'm sure.

Note: I'd like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and author Adrienne Young for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

This novel absolutely sucked me in and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. This main character is sassy and fierce, and I absolutely loved her. The world building was beautiful and the author did an amazing job of staying on task in a very, very big world. I kind of got some Pirates of the Caribbean vibes while reading this. I couldn’t put this down!