The emotional baggage between these two characters could fill the ocean, yet Young fleshes out their feelings toward each other in a nuanced, delicate and heart-wrenching way.įable is a must read for this year. I will keep it brief for the sake of spoilers, but their interaction at the end made my eyes well with tears. Lastly, the father-daughter dynamic in Fable is probably my favorite part of the entire story. It is beautiful, and I am so excited to see how it unfolds in Namesake, the finale to this duology. Their love is not easy, both people have a lot of baggage, but they find their safe place in each other. We finally have a romance that isn’t instalove! Fable and West may not have been “friends” for years, but at least they have worked and have known each other existed for that long.

The magic enhances, but isn’t the spotlight. Also, I appreciate that the magic in this novel is subtle, it doesn’t feel forced or so fantastical that it takes away from the realism and rawness of this story. Young was able to find the perfect balance of realism and spectacle. This world feels real and gritty, but at the same time, still carries a whimsy similar to Pirates of the Caribbean. We see how the world works through the Fable’s eyes, not by the author telling us. The worldbuilding is topnotch with features of the Narrows being revealed organically and not through massive info dumps. Fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise or the Daughter of the Pirate King duology will be in heaven. The seafaring aesthetic is to die for with the sparkling blue waters, tropical fish and coral, tinkling gemstones, and the smell of salt in the air. This has been my favorite book of 2020 thus far, and the best book Adrienne Young has released. Fable will have to weather a lot more than stormy seas in order to make it out alive. Saint’s trading enterprises have only gotten more dangerous, and West is keeping secrets.

However, the sea and the traders on it have changed during the time Fable has been trapped on the island.

Adrienne young fable