Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Fable

While I enjoyed this book, it really wasn’t what I was expecting.
Fable is a story about a girl abandoned by her essentially pirate father and made to figure out how to join a ship crew on her own.
I definitely thought there would be more pirates and swashbuckling. Or at least less descriptions of how to rig a ship and climb a mast and whatnot. Those scenes really bored me and it got to the point where I didn’t care about the major plot points because I don’t care about ships and trading.
What I did like about the book was the complex characters, the slow burn complicated romance, the found family trope, and the themes of grief woven intricately throughout.
So overall, I liked the book and probably will continue the series, but I didn’t love it and am not in a rush to read Namesake.

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filipacmiranda's review against another edition

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3.25

When I picked up Fable, I was excited to read a book with pirates and a revenge plot. Despite hearing many good things about it (and enjoying it myself), the plot did not convince me fully.

Both the main character and the ship's crew were likeable enough. It was easy to empathise with Fable's story and understand her desire for retaliation. However, I constantly felt like the story was missing depth. Everything seemed to either happen too fast or take forever.

Young's writing is simple and easy to read, but the narrative could have benefited from a more descriptive style - particularly when the crew set foot in new places. Additionally, I found the tropes to be a little too predictable, which took away from the plot twists' surprise factor.

Despite the first instalment’s shortcomings, the ending captured my attention and I have added Namesake to my TBR.

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madalina0_0's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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eleko's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

I did enjoy it but it's way too slow everything happens at the end but at the same time not that much happened... I liked Fable's character and the world is original

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ms_sarah621's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a fun adventure! I loved reading about the seas, the difficult times at sea, and the trading aspects. This is definitely a character novel, as the plot was very much in the background. Then, since this is a character novel, I wish the characters had been built up a little more. The biggest thing was don’t let anyone know what you love or care about. So everyone is very mysterious and you don’t learn much about the characters, more comes near the end. However, this made it hard for me because I felt like I needed to know more about them. Overall, this was a fun story, and I enjoyed my time reading it. Just could have been fleshed out more, may just be my personal preference.

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nicolewhopickedthisbook's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

I did enjoy this book, couple things could’ve been fleshed out or more detail added. Like the whole

“I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you” quote from West… Uhhh really? Could've fooled me. There were no longing looks, no tension, no angst then all of a sudden they’re kissing?

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thebookaholic's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved this book so much more than I expected! I thought it would just be an okay YA pirate-themes story akin to Daughter of the Pirate King (which I didn't love) but thought I'd give the audiobook a go after finding it availalbe on Libby as per Cari Can Read's recommendation.

I FLEW through it, finishing it in two days and it was so so much fun. I love the world set-up of the Narrows and the trader/dredger politics; the stakes felt perfect for the decisions being made, and the characters were great. I loved Fable's POV and seeing this world through her eyes, the descriptions of all the places felt imaginative and unique and like I could picture each one and the way we feel her experiences especially whilst underwater were awesome. We didn't get tons of depth to the secondary characters, and this book certainly serves as a set-up for the sequel, but I loved it and felt it really easy to immerse into and learn about this pirate-like world of gemstones and islands.

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