This was an excellent novel and I look forward to the sequel. This YA fantasy is about traders (who have the qualities of pirates) in a world that values trading companies and where they are licensed and controlled but given the option to treat their crews as they see fit. Life on the Narrows is very much a pirating society endorsed by local government.

I enjoyed the writing style, and the vivid descriptions and characters helped me imagine the scene. I loved that you can't be entirely sure who the villain is (or if there are many), and found the cliffhanger maddening (in a great way, but I wish I could start the next book).

I would recommend this to students my grade 6-9 class. The language is mostly appropriate (none of the four-letter words that I avoid when recommending things), and the content is interesting and will definitely appeal to many youth. The main character is about 17-18 years old, so that worried me a little, but was very personable and easy to like. Any inappropriate romantic scenes (for teens) were very glossed over and clearly not the focus of the story, which I found refreshing.

5/5 stars.

So, sooo good! I could not put this book down. Fable has been abandoned on the island of Jeval - an island of thieves. She has one goal: save enough coppers to buy passage off the island and find Saint and become a member of his crew. As a dredger, she dives down to the ocean floor searching for valuables, like pyre, to trade. When the time comes, she enlists the help of West, a faithful buyer of her pyre for years, to escape the island seek out Satin and the town of Ceros.

This was such a fun read and I am so pumped to read the next book! Loved the characters, loved the unfolding plot. Well written and a super fun adventure novel.

For clarification, this is a SOLID 4.5 / 5
(I will return to write a more thought out review, but here were some immediate thoughts)
+ Great characterization
+ Again, I loved the characters. Adrienne is a master at this kind of stuff. She built amazing characters on a thrilling adventure.
+ I loved the settings - from the boats, to the port cities, to being underwater
+ The tension was done really well, I was holding my breath through some parts
+ I don't know how I feel about the romantic aspect of this yet. It was almost an after thought thrown in. I was enjoying the direction it was going RIGHT UNTIL the big romantic moment. It wasn't believable? I'll elaborate on this later. I'm very on the fence about this haha
+ I'm just gonna say it - the ending was off. Not bad, just off. I thought it was a little predictable - and I didn't knock this story too much for this because I'm seeing this 'ending' pattern so much lately with plotting. I'll also elaborate on this later.
+ We know this is the first book and will have a second, so there is obviously a cliff hanger. And book two won't be a companion, like Adrienne's other books, I am hoping it will immediately follow events of the first book.
+ Please PLEASE let there be an epilogue in the finished book. This needed one last - something.
+ I have so many other thoughts but I need to stop now so I can process - but seriously this was an excellent book and I'm thrilled to have received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Well done to the author on this story - while I loved Sky in the Deep Adrienne has found her stride writing about this type of setting.

Thank you so much to netgalley for granting my wish to read fable!

Y’all, I started and finished this book in one day. It was fan-freaking-tastic! I usually go after stories with more romance, but the amount of romance in this book was perfect! I’ve read and loved all of Adrienne Young’s books and this one is the best to date! I cannot wait until the sequel so I can dive back into the world of Fable and her seafaring mates!

*I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review*
This book was just not to my taste at all. I expected it to be a little more interesting given the previous books by this author but was sadly disappointed.

Wow, this book truly blew me away. From the first chapter, I was drawn into Fable's story and her world. As a character, she is both compelling and flawed, and her character arc is clear and believable. I appreciate how real she is, in not only the backstory created, but also her inner thoughts and her decisions. All of these worked together to make her a character I wanted to spend time with and root for, even when all hope seemed lost. Additionally, the other characters represented in this story are wonderfully developed, as well as unique and diverse.

The writing is vivid, imaginative, and a perfect balance of descriptive and briskly paced. Throughout the story, the plot was full of twists and turns, with the stakes rising in every chapter. This made me stay up late to keep reading, waiting for what would happen next.

I appreciate the care I can see the author had for this book. On every page, there is a sense of honesty, intentionality, and creativity wrapped up together into a beautiful and heartbreakingly true story.

This is a story for lovers of YA fantasy, but even more, for anyone who has had to fight to be seen and valued.

For some reason, I never could quite click with Adrienne Young's books. It honestly baffled me. Her world-building is lovely and she always crafts complex, interesting characters. They have all the ingredients I have found in some of my favorite books, yet the full picture couldn't come together for me. However, I kept coming back to her books in the hopes that something will fall into place for me.

Luckily, FABLE did. Rich in character and wondrous in atmosphere, I could not put this book down. If you're in the mood for a character-driven tale that finds its roots in the things we do for love, FABLE should absolutely be on your radar.

Action, adventure, danger and a little bit of mystery. I very much enjoyed this tale on the high seas. It was a little slow in the middle, but not so much I lost interest. Looking forward to the next installment!

I’m not a fast reader, but I read Fable in two sittings. As an author, Adrienne Young creates some of the most fascinating and fierce characters and the most beautifully vivid worlds. This book was absolutely stunning from beginning to end, and I cannot wait for the sequel!

Four years ago, Fable’s mother drown in a storm, and the next day her father, a powerful trader in the Narrows, abandoned her on Jeval, an island of thieves. Using the skills her mother taught her, Fable struggles to survive while trying to scrape together enough coin to buy passage off the island in the hopes of finding her father and taking her place at his side. To escape the island, Fable teams up with West, a young trader, and his crew aboard the Marigold. Unfortunately, West and the Marigold are not what they seem, and trading in the Narrows has become more dangerous in the four years she’s been stuck on Jeval.

Fable is everything you could want in a female protagonist. She’s sharp, strong, resilient, and achingly flawed, but more than anything, Fable is a survivor. Her tough exterior protects her soft heart and her quiet longing for family. And family, a sense of belonging, of home, is what is at the very core of Fable. I would absolutely recommend this book for anyone who loves exquisitely-executed, fast-paced, character-driven stories and adventures at sea!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

This was my first "dive" into Adrienne Young novels, and I am over the moon impressed. Fable's internal and external struggles are so well articulated that you feel that push-and-pull in your own heart. The crew of the Marigold brings some comic relief to the harshness of the main plot. Overall this book had me holding my breath with every turn of the page. Im very hopeful for a sequel or even a series for this story. I will absolutely be reading more from this author.

Thank you for providing the ARC to review Fable before its publishing date.
I loved this book so much I'm probably going to be talking about it past its publishing date. The plot was fast-paced in a way that I couldn't wait to read more after each chapter. The characters are great. I loved Fable as a MC because she was independent, and hard-working and I think the feminism in this book is palpable and truly inspiring in a way that I didn't mind the lack of romance in the first two-thirds or so of the book. With this said, Fable is established as a tale of adventure that when romance is introduced it was the book a thousand times better.
I can't wait to buy my own copy when the book comes out, and post a review in my biog and recommend it to the patrons in the library I work at.

This book was really good. I am a big fan of the authors books and this did not disappoint. The storey was good and the characters too. I can't wait for book 2!

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review

Fable is the type of character you can't help but root for and love. I haven't connected with a character like this since Anne of Green Gables. Adrienne Young's character-building makes this book difficult to put down. Fable is a tough, determined, spirited young girl trying to sail away from a city where she was abandoned four years prior. She will do anything to gain passage to a new town, and prove herself along the way. Her spirit isn't the only thing that attracts me to this character. Fable is resilient. She is a survivor. It's the message we all need to hear in this day and age. While there have been a few nautical books released lately, Fable stands apart. This story is not focused on sea witches or pirates; It's the story of a driven girl fighting for her place in the world.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Although I have two Adrienne Young books on my shelf, I have not read them yet. However, she is quite a popular author on bookstagram, so when I saw this book (and honestly look at how gorgeous the cover is) I knew I had to read it. I went into it without reading the synopsis and had no idea what it would be about. I naively believed it to be a fractured fairytale.

I was wrong.

Fable is the name of the main character, who was dumped onto this island named Jeval. Her father, Saint, claims Fable was not meant for this world. And to show her he's serious, he abandons her on this dangerous island where Fable is forced to dredge pyre in order to survive. Selling pyre to West, the man aboard The Marigold, who has bought faithfully from her for the last two years, allows Fable to save up enough money in hopes one day she would get passage back home to confront Saint, her father, and demand what is rightfully hers.

Well the plan is good in theory, but of course she is nearly killed for having too much coin. She's chased off the island and saved by, none other than West. From there, her plan of finding Saint is set into motion.

Young provides an abundance of characters, the most notable being The Marigold's crew. Admittedly I had a difficult time keeping them straight in my mind, besides Willa. The other members fell flat to me. I also liked West, but at the very beginning I pictured him as a middle age chubby sailor. I don't know why, but he's young and hot apparently.

The MC, Fable, was hard get to know. This story is told from 1st POV, so the reader has to connect with the MC. I didn't, because I did not get much of her personality. She cried a lot, which was rather annoying. I felt like every chapter she had tears in her eyes. I'm all for vulnerability, but this was almost a nuisance. She also always seemed to know where Saint was.

Saint was undutifully the most interesting character and we honestly did not get much from him. He was the king of trade and was deeply in love with Fable's mother until she met a tragic end. I think his history and the story of how he fell in love with this water born woman would have been an even better story.

That is not to say that I did not like the story, I did. I thought it was interesting. However, I did have problems with world building. I did not think I knew the world as well as Young wanted me to understand it. I felt like their were plot points that did not necessarily make sense, and the ending was rather lackluster. I know we should have been surprised, but I had to remember who that character was because there was not a lot of build up around that particular character.

Overall, I liked the book and will probably read the next one.

Adrienne Young has done it again with another complex, character-driven story that sucks the reader in from start to finish and evokes all the emotions.

I've noticed an influx of nautical YA fantasy lately, but Fable will surely stand out due to its raw character relationships, vivid setting and descriptions, and the timelessness of a young woman trying to find her place in the world.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC of my most anticipated book of 2020!

This was a quick, enjoyable read. Fable's world is so harsh and unforgiving, and I found myself rooting for her to finally catch a break. This ARC has some patterns of errors that shouldn't have made it this far in the editing process, and the ending felt very abrupt even for the first book in a series, but overall I liked it and look forward to book 2.

Fable has been stuck on the island of Jeval since her father abandoned her there four years ago. She’s scraped by diving for gems until she can buy passage off the island, but the ship she secures passage on is not the simple trading ship it seems. Naturally, adventure awaits! This was a really fun book, with deep sea diving, shady traders that are almost pirates, and a crew formed of a bunch of outcasts. The found family trope is my favorite, and I loved it here. The perilous seas and coral reefs are described beautifully, I could practically smell the salt water. I have not read Adrienne Young’s previous books, but I will definitely fix that now. My only real complaint is that it is a series which, you know what that means, cliffhanger ending. But that seems to happen in almost every YA series so, what can you do? We’ll just have to wait for the sequel!

I loved the atmosphere and characters in this adventure on the high seas. It is not fantasy, despite the category given on Goodreads, but it has a compelling atmosphere and a world that is easy to imagine and live in. I have always loved stories that involve water, so I was pulled in right away. Some readers may say that the pacing in the middle was slow, but by then, you are pulled in and craving more. The action is well written, but the ship’s characters and dangerous elements are what keeps readers so invested. Can’t wait for the sequel!

First of all, the cover of this book is absolutely gorgeous and the ship in her eye is the perfect foreshadowing of what is to come. This story follows Fable, a marooned young girl that uses her wits and grit to survive on her own. Fable endures many hardships as a young girl in a man's world. She works as a dredger to survive and finds herself escaping death by purchasing passage on a ship with an assortment of shady characters. Most of the story takes place either on a ship in the sea, beneath the sea or near a port by the sea. Fable has to work to earn friendships with the crew and there is a slight romantic vibe between her and West. The story line was good and the dangerous encounters believable. If you want a hard-knocks story about the dangers and risks working as a trading seaman, this is the story for you. Beware, this is the first book in a series and you will be left needing to read the next one.

This is an amazing book. I adored Fable. She is brave and yet vulnerable. She is strong and fierce and but weak. She has survived things that most couldn’t imagine and kept her focus of what she was surviving for through it all. This is a brutal story that I feel in love with. When Fable talks about her parents it feels so really the emotion she has for them. The crew of the Marigold are fantastic. I enjoyed each one. They reminded me of the Characters in Six of Crows. I highly recommend this.