#fable duology

[booksaesthesic]

-fable aesthetic-

[beccas-books]

Namesake

Things I liked:

-      The amount of twists and turns in this book was great.  It felt like at every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, the author did the opposite.  I especially loved when Fable, Koy, and West didn't actually find the Midnight for Holland.  In almost every other fantasy novel they would gave found it and would have saved everyone.  But in this book that was not the case, and I loved that.  

-     I loved that Willa got her dream of getting off the ship.  I was kind of worried that she would change her mind and decide stay, but the author stuck to her guns on this.  I think it was a good choice to have Willa leave because it shows that these characters do change and helps me as a reader connect to them more.  

-     I loved that Saint told everyone that Fable is his daughter.  That was all she wanted, and it makes me so happy that it happened!  I love happy endings, and this was just the icing on the happy ending cake for me.  

Things I didn't like:

-       I still wish we got to see more of the story through other characters eyes.  Especially West the Fable was taken.  I feel like so much happened with him during that time, and we didn't get to see any of it.  That was kind of disappointing for me.  

-     This book could have used a bit more action thrown in to help move it along a little faster.  At some points it felt like it was dragging, especially after how fast paced the first one was. 

Overall:

-      This book totally lived up to the first one.  It was just as fun, but had a touch more romance going on in it.  All the twists and turns of the story were great.  They were good enough that I wasn't able to predict most of them.  The only one I predict fully was that Fable was related to Holland.  But even still that was a great twist.  The story really deviated from what I thought was going to happen.  Which made it a really great read.  As always Im sucker for a happy ending, so the fact that everyone got what they wanted made me really happy.  Overall the pace was a bit slower then the first book, but they were on land for most of this book.  Defiantly a great read, and it wasn't as heavy on the fantasy as other books I've read this year.  So it was really nice departure from my usual stuff.  Would totally recommend this duology to anyone who wants a quick fun read.  

- Rating: 4.5/5

[sobbinscenes]

⚠️ contains spoilers! proceed with caution ⚠️

Finally got my hands on Namesake and,

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I’ve been in somewhat of a reading slump this past week. Usually when I read a book I read quite a chunk, but I hadn’t been reading even 30 pages a day for a while. However! Once Namesake came into my possession I was up and reading every day again. Still a little burnt out, but I really did love reading through the book over the last few days.

Now, for thoughts of the content: My theory was right! Somehow. I’d guessed that the midnight was hidden in the pendant somehow, though I’d suspected Fable lumped together the hum of some other gem in the pendant with the midnight which was why she didn’t raise suspicion to it. I didn’t expect her to believe the feeling came from her mom, but I was pleasantly surprised. It just works so well!! Especially when looking back at other scenes where she felt the presence of her mother ahhhhhh.

Can we also discuss the high intelligence of our dearest Isolde? That girl could smell the manipulation of her mother from miles away and scrammed. I wanna know more of the reckless girl who ran away from home days at a time. What other secrets did she have?

I appreciated quite a few things in this book, so let me dress up a list:

- Fable finally reaches her goal and makes amends with her father. Though Saint is definitely not the best, I appreciate that they figured it out and he let himself show his love for his daughter (I awww-ed at that scene).

- The mix of romance with the rest of the plot and the book! Especially the fact that it isn’t always easy-going romance. After all, West and Fable really do have some issues sometimes, which, natural, and it’s nice to see them discussing or reacting to them realistically.

- Would also like to separately mention that one scene where they’re first on their way to the Roths. I absolutely lost my mind and ranted to my friend about it. Paj and Auster are incredibly sweet.

- Another scene I loved was when they were at the ball and Holland dropped her glass and said “Isolde?” over the crowd and Fable escaping. I kid you not I closed the book and audibly gasped. The implications of Holland mistaking her granddaughter for her daughter because Isolde was about the same age when she left Bastian made my heart break a bit (then I learned how sly and despicable that woman is).

- I loved that Koy came back in this book! It was something I was hoping for, since I wanted to know if he’d play in later as an antagonist. Pleasantly surprised to see that he worked with the crew. He’s an interesting character, I liked his attitude a lot.

- And very pleasantly surprised to see Koy and Willa have some chemistry! I love their dynamic anyhow. Was happy reading the epilogue when I read Willa had set up in the barrier islands upon Koy’s request, I was hoping for that haha.

This was messy but I wanted to rant about the book !

[libertyreads]

Book Review #19 of 2021-

Namesake by Adrienne Young. Rating: 4.25 Stars.

Read from March 20th to 23rd.

We finally got the conclusion to the Fable duology. Praise be to whichever book god is responsible for that. I read book one while I was quarantined and getting over covid last spring so Fable and her crew will always have a special place in my heart. And book two took a very different journey than book one.

I will always love the crew of the Marigold and Fable. They are everything I have always wanted in a found family. Please, for the love of god, let me onto your ship and into your crew. My love especially grew for Willa when she came out and basically dragged Fable and her whole family for being the source of everyone’s problems. But there was a character appearance that I wasn’t expecting. We saw this person briefly in book one and then they came back and made me feel completely different about them now. That’s growth. There was also growth for a lot of the grown up characters in this novel which I wasn’t expecting. The settings and the time spent on these ships definitely gives off pirate vibes and I’m living for it. With the weather starting to warm up now, it’s the perfect time to read this book.

There are three main flaws with this one for me. The first one is that a lot of the tight places Fable manages to find her way into were easily avoidable and the second is that she gets a lot of help getting out of them. That doesn’t mean Fable brings nothing to the table, but god knows where she’d be if she didn’t get a helping hand here or there. The third problem for me is something I think is just a me thing and not necessarily a book thing. I really enjoy West as a character because he’s a lot more morally grey or even just dark than the rest of the crew. Because he’s the helmsman of the Marigold and it’s his damn job. But my problem is the way Fable views that side of West. She spent 4 years on Jeval and she’s acting like she hasn’t done some messed up stuff in that time frame. You don’t get off that island without being underhanded at some point. I think they both toe that line and I don’t like that she views that as a negative character trait for him.

But this was such a great conclusion to the duology. I wish we had more books so I can spend more time in the crew’s cabin of a ship in my own hammock. It was a fast and easy read and a lot of fun.

[sobbinscenes]

“The Last Legacy” by Adrienne Young

[pub date: september 7th, 2021]

Man I literally just finished Namesake a week ago and Adrienne already announced a new book! I’m so glad it’s in the Fable universe, I can’t wait to read more about it— especially the Roths! They’ve definitely intrigued me in Namesake. The synopsis already has me impatient for September to come.

[gopeachllama]

🥺 😊 😈

same brain, must be the water here.

🥺 an underrated series that I recommend - the Fable duology by Adrienne Young!!! I love this series so much and I will go to my grave hyping it up. it is CRIMINAL that it is this underrated 😭 everything about is top tier: the world building is simple and but well thought out, the story is so compelling, the amount of romance is just perfect, and you'll end up rooting for all the characters. a great little series from start to finish.

😊 - Alex Clermont-Diaz from Red, White, and Royal Blue. it's not an exaggeration to say I should die for this boy. I relate to him so much and not just in the glaringly obvious way. the way he struggles with being caught between two different cultures, having to adjust his perspective and expectations for the future he worked everything for. the fact that he's a complete and utter mess despite acting like he has everything handled. I just love him and he brings me such joy and comfort.

😈 my favourite villain/antagonist - so I'm a really boring person and I don't really end up liking/rooting for the bad guy 🤷 idk. but if I had to choose I would go with Queen Tatiana form the Vampire Academy, although by the end of the series she becomes more of an anti hero. she's a character that I've come to appreciate as I've grown older and a lot about her intrigues me. if there was ever a prequel story I would want it to be about her, I think it would be really interesting to read.

[beccas-books]

Current Read

Namesake by Adrienne Young

[beccas-books]

Fable

Things I liked:

-     There isn't a single character in this book that I did not like.  They all were really fun and different enough from each other that they all served the story well.  The fact that each character has a purpose and a role really helped that.  Sometimes in books that have a lot of characters is that some of them feel redundant.  But that is not the case in this book.  

-     I liked that the author didn't shove the romance between West and Fable in my face.  Sometimes that kind of thing works with a story, but this story defiantly benefitted from a more understated love arch.  Because the author didn't shove all the romance/angst at me in one go I thought the relationship between Fable and West played out really well.  

Things I didn't like:

-     The only thing I wish we saw was a different point of view.  I liked reading everything from Fables POW, but I think it would have given some dimension to hear from other people.  I hope we see that in the next book, considering that Fable is now a captive of Zola.  

Overall:

-      This book was really fun to read!  I haven't read any pirate books before, so this was a new fun thing for me.  The book was super easy to read, and had a great pace throughout.  It didn't have any extra filler that some books have.  It was quick, to the point, and a great book overall.  The characters were fun and really were all pretty great.  The romance wasn't the typical will they won't they drawn out for 500 pages, and I really liked that.  The story as a whole was fun and really kept my attention for the whole story.  It was a nice change of pace after the last book I read dragged on for over 500 pages with nothing happening for most of it.  Thanks to the cliff hanger in this book I can't wait to read the next one! 

- Rating: 4.5/5