Fable by Adrienne Young
I would like to thank Sarah from Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan
Published – 26/1
Price – £7.99 paperback £5.59 Kindle eBook
Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men.
As the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home seventeen-year-old Fable 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 on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. 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.
But her father's rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him and 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.
Adventures on the high seas are getting popular at the moment. I suspect it’s the appeal of a tight crew or found family battling both nature’s dangers as well as human ones sailing on it. Be they the pirate-based TV show Black Sails, RJ Barker’s wonderful Tide Child series or the recent The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Jackson there are tales offering adventure and a journey through new varied worlds. Adrienne Young who wrote the excellent Sky In the Deep has moved from Vikings to the oceans in the charming novel Fable focused on a young woman trying to rescue herself and finally find her father but no journey is ever simple.
Fable four years ago lost her mother while she was sailing on her father Saint’s main ship in a terrible storm. Saint a man known more for practicality than emotion decided at that moment the best thing for Fable would be to leave her on a dangerous island full of thieves alone with nothing. He does however promise her that if she ever gets home to meet him, she can get what she deserves. Fable learns theft, bargaining and the skill of dredging (picking treasure from the sea floor) and slowly has created a nest egg of copper while gaining a reputation for finding the best precious ore the sea floor has to offer. Unfortunately, she has also attracted the attention of the more dangerous population and so now desperately needs to escape her home before she is killed. Her one hope is the simple trading vessel The Marigold captained by the taciturn young West who has become her best customer. Unwillingly West agrees and the ship begins an uncertain voyage to where Saint resides. Fable though is about to find nothing is quite as straightforward as it seems.
I really enjoyed this tale for its elegant simplicity. It has a nice snowball effect of a simple scene building up both characters and plot so by the time we get to the end of this first volume in the planned duology we are in a very different type of story. Fable is key to this story’s success she comes across as young, ambitious and in desperate need to see and get approved by her father. Young gives her both a confidence and sense of yearning/loneliness that four years alone has built up into some walls that will be finally broken. She is no nonsense and doesn’t think of any danger in her actions if she thinks it’s the right thing to do from diving to the bottom of the sea on a dare to jumping into a dangerous port at night. There is though a morality at her heart – she is not a pirate she is a trader who doesn’t mind bending rules sometimes. This gives the story a nice contrast with Saint who though we only see him a few times looms large over the tale. An absent father who can be both scary due to his more criminal enterprises and yet I felt you can see that he feels a lot of emotion for his daughter but rarely ever lets it show. It’s an unusual parental dynamic and I loved the turns it took to drive the story giving it some real heart.
The other element that appeals is the crew of the Marigold. This is a small ship (crew of four) and in particular Fable and the handsome but secretive West add some mystery to the tale to resolve. Initially everyone is unwelcoming to Fable’s arrival, so the first half of the story is getting them each to know each other and eventually they find common goals and enemies to resolve. This adds intrigue, humour, action and romance as we move across seas and ports and meet rivals both of West and Saint who find Fable adds a new factor. There is a sense of a wider tale starting too as we hear of different factions squabbling on the seas and an interesting subtle use of magic – Fable can sense gems and metals which makes her a great dredger but also a decent gem trader when required. I look forward to seeing how this story develops as it ends on quite a cliff-hanger.
This is a charming adventure story that subtly tells us a story of a woman growing up out of her father’s shadow and gives us some high seas adventure on top. Young is a great storyteller, and I loved that emotional driver of Saint and Fable which I think make this worth a look.
