Once again I find myself frustrated. Young always comes up with great ideas in her books but never seems to deliver them for me. Some of this is personal opinion – I find her style hasty and a little toothless, and I prefer more richly evoked worlds and deeper characters. But some of it is that she just doesn’t take the time to lay ground work and foreshadow important events – eg her romances always come out of nowhere with no build up and rarely make sense. However, I liked this better than Sky in the Deep for example. This is a good story, the execution just didn’t quite sell it for me.

3.75/4 stars--fluctuates on my mood.

I'm straight up saying this:  my rating is 100% because of my own personal feelings toward the book.  As a whole, I felt like this story was very well-constructed.  Adrienne Young has a unique way with words that causes the atmosphere an world around her characters to come to life in a way I very, VERY rarely ever see in YA.  It's why Sky in the Deep is one of my favorite YA books of all time, and why I love her world of the Aska tribe so much.

My main complaint with this story was, unlike SitD, I didn't connect to the characters as much.  I found them a lot more generic and copy-paste than I expected.  Fable, while compelling, became redundant throughout the story, and all of her big twists didn't feel unexpected in the slightest.  I also didn't feel like she or really any of the crew of the <i>Marigold</i> had major character development.  <spoiler>We are told repeatedly throughout the story the "big rule" of the world is to never trust others and never let them know what is important to you, yet Fable and her new friends immediately throw caution to the wind and trust one another way too quickly in my opinion.  It was to neat and tidy for it to be truly believable, and I feel like the crew should have had a lot more reservation than they did about Fable.  As it was, as soon as she offers to basically free them from slavery, they sell their souls to her which, honestly, I probably would too if someone came up and said they could solve all my problems, but it also felt super out of place in this world where every single character is cutthroat and cruel.</spoiler>

I also found the romance ridiculous.  Again, it plays into how I find so much of the character development lacking and unbelievable in how quickly people trusted one another in this despite it being an "every man for himself" world.  I wasn't a fan of the pairing revealed <spoiler>West and Fable</spoiler> nor was I a fan of how quickly they coupled up in general.  

Do I recommend this?   Definitely.  Despite my complaints, I devoured this book.  The only reason it took me as long as it did to finish it (and I say that and it was like 3 days) was because I was so exhausted I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I did not want to put this story down.  It's fast-paced and exudes <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i> ambiance.  If I listened to music while reading, those films would be the desired soundtrack.  This has all the feel of wide, open oceans with magical kelp and coral worlds beneath the waves, salty sea-decks on ships with the rigging slapping the mast and canvas sails snapping in the wind.  You can taste the saltwater breeze and fishy smells.  It's beautifully written, and I'm really excited for the second book.  I just wish the characters had more depth and complexity than what we were given.

This was a vibrant seafaring adventure.

Usually, I'm not the biggest fan of seafaring, but it wasn't a problem for me here. Fable is a stranded diver with past full of secrets, and when she hitches a ride on a ship crewed by what seems to be a found family of teenagers, the tangled web only tightens. I read this mostly in one sitting, and didn't want to stop until I'd finished it.

What I like most about this book is the strength of the family ties that bind everyone. Fable and her father's strange, fraught relationship was very powerful. Also Willa and West's relationship, and how the whole crew became each other's family. The world and the cutthroat rules governing everyone's life in it were compelling and, frankly, knowing that this was the first in a duology, I'm SHOCKED that they made out as well as they did.

Sure, it ended on a cliffhanger, but it's one that I can easily forgive. Can't wait for the second book.

I absolutely loved this book! It has everything I like in a book such as a super active plot and interesting characters. I love this author because of her world-building and this book did not disappoint me. I will be purchasing this book for my library's YA collection.