mrssmithreadsrom's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I loved everything about this book except for 2 things:
1) I’m not big on secrecy and lying, two things that the world Fable lives in thrives on. Knowing it is how her world works helped me look past my own irritations, but it did keep me from fully loving this story.
2) There we’re some passages where I was confused about the setting. It seemed like those were instances in which Fable was daydreaming she had a functional family, but it made it hard to understand when she was dreaming up her father’s presence and when she wasn’t, or when she was having memories of times she truly experienced and when she wasn’t.
The cliffhanger was a little confusing too, but that just adds intrigue to reading the next book for me.
1) I’m not big on secrecy and lying, two things that the world Fable lives in thrives on. Knowing it is how her world works helped me look past my own irritations, but it did keep me from fully loving this story.
2) There we’re some passages where I was confused about the setting. It seemed like those were instances in which Fable was daydreaming she had a functional family, but it made it hard to understand when she was dreaming up her father’s presence and when she wasn’t, or when she was having memories of times she truly experienced and when she wasn’t.
The cliffhanger was a little confusing too, but that just adds intrigue to reading the next book for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Physical abuse
katiev9beb5's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Hate crime, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Vomit, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Torture, Child death, and Physical abuse
fromjuliereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed this well enough! It was a quick read and some parts were fun. The twist was good - I thought it would go a different way! I liked the characters. I think there were just some things that bugged me. The characters aren't very well developed for how many there are - I had to keep reminding myself who the hell Hamish was 😅 I think there was too much "keeping secrets" and it made the characters under developed. And I obviously haven't read the second book but I feel like things could have been cut to be one book...
My biggest annoyance? Fable continually refers to her mom by her first name which I found so weird for a teen. It made sense for her dad but not for her mom, who she was close to and lost...
Anyways. If I can find the second book inexpensive then I might read it 😅
My biggest annoyance? Fable continually refers to her mom by her first name which I found so weird for a teen. It made sense for her dad but not for her mom, who she was close to and lost...
Anyways. If I can find the second book inexpensive then I might read it 😅
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Violence, and Injury/injury detail
Minor: Vomit
erinpatreiss's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
For seventeen-year-old Fable, the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home she 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. 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. 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.
✨My Opinion✨
Fable was a compelling heroine that was dynamic and not overtly feminine, which I really liked. She was practical, humble, smart and tenacious. She knew her worth.
West was stoic, but a caretaker. While not flowery with his words, his willingness to risk it all for those he cared for made him a man to be respected and admired as a romantic interest for Fable. He was the stability she could depend on when her dad was absent.
The stakes were high from the beginning and really drew me in to the story. Survival, found family, parental death, estranged family, enemies-to-lovers. There was a lot going on, but it was spread out and explored fully so you didn’t feel like you were bombarded with trope.
The tension that came with the hesitant savior/enemies-to-lovers was well done. I enjoyed every moment.
The word building was seamlessly intertwined with the familiarity of maritime seafaring. It gives you the sense that oceans are the same in any world, and maybe even an additional character.
I enjoyed it so much and started the second book right away.
✨My Opinion✨
Fable was a compelling heroine that was dynamic and not overtly feminine, which I really liked. She was practical, humble, smart and tenacious. She knew her worth.
West was stoic, but a caretaker. While not flowery with his words, his willingness to risk it all for those he cared for made him a man to be respected and admired as a romantic interest for Fable. He was the stability she could depend on when her dad was absent.
The stakes were high from the beginning and really drew me in to the story. Survival, found family, parental death, estranged family, enemies-to-lovers. There was a lot going on, but it was spread out and explored fully so you didn’t feel like you were bombarded with trope.
The tension that came with the hesitant savior/enemies-to-lovers was well done. I enjoyed every moment.
The word building was seamlessly intertwined with the familiarity of maritime seafaring. It gives you the sense that oceans are the same in any world, and maybe even an additional character.
I enjoyed it so much and started the second book right away.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Blood and Kidnapping
taelights's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
I did enjoy the setting, plot, conflicts, and characters in this. Those elements really got me hooked to the book and made listening to it very enjoyable.
But, I hated the romance elements. Honestly I thought Fable and West had no chemistry at all. Like Fable has a huge crush on West throughout the book but I never bought her feelings for him and other than his looks didn't understand why she liked him so much. I also thought their interactions had basically zero chemistry and felt really forced. Fable had a lot more actual chemistry with Willa who would have been such a better love interest for her. Yet another book where the cishet romance is boring and falt and the possible queer romance that authors refuse to acknowledge would have been 10 times better and more interesting.
It wasn't a bad book and I will probably listen to the sequel one day. I'm not dying to read it but this was a solid short read that I did enjoy though!
But, I hated the romance elements. Honestly I thought Fable and West had no chemistry at all. Like Fable has a huge crush on West throughout the book but I never bought her feelings for him and other than his looks didn't understand why she liked him so much. I also thought their interactions had basically zero chemistry and felt really forced. Fable had a lot more actual chemistry with Willa who would have been such a better love interest for her. Yet another book where the cishet romance is boring and falt and the possible queer romance that authors refuse to acknowledge would have been 10 times better and more interesting.
It wasn't a bad book and I will probably listen to the sequel one day. I'm not dying to read it but this was a solid short read that I did enjoy though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Injury/injury detail, Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Sexual content
gwynn0715's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Physical abuse
mattheo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
kels_18's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
Nothing really happened, it was mid
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, and Child abuse
thereaderfriend's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Liked the character development, characters themselves, the dredging aspect, the bonds between the characters.
Disliked lack of fantasy, its slow pace—took more than half of the book to get to the action after explaining the setting, rules and introducing characters, little character exploration despite character development, the insta love between the mc and her love interest, the ending, how the author told most of the events rather than shown—I don’t like that pov :/
This is the instance where I’d prefer a longer book bc there’s so much potential for this book. But I will try the sequel and maybe the side characters books bc I’m curious about them.
Disliked lack of fantasy, its slow pace—took more than half of the book to get to the action after explaining the setting, rules and introducing characters, little character exploration despite character development, the insta love between the mc and her love interest, the ending, how the author told most of the events rather than shown—I don’t like that pov :/
This is the instance where I’d prefer a longer book bc there’s so much potential for this book. But I will try the sequel and maybe the side characters books bc I’m curious about them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Death, Blood, Alcohol, Injury/injury detail, and Physical abuse
Minor: Body shaming, Medical content, Torture, Self harm, Stalking, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/injury detail
mimccub's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent