Full review on my blog from February 22nd 2021: https://inkandplasma.com/2021/02/22/fable/

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks to Titan Books for the eARC of this book. It has not affected my honest review.

Content Warnings: blood, violence, grief, death (parental), child abandonment, murder, mutilation.

For piratey found family vibes this book is an impeccable pick. I adored the dynamics onboard the ship and the treasure hunt style storyline was so much fun. I really enjoyed the way that it could be so character focused, with the crew learning to work together. I'm a sucker for protagonists joining established groups and having to learn where they fit, so that worked so well for me. Unfortunately, I wasn't sold on the romance. It was obvious from the very start, which meant it was a little boring to read the will-they, won't-they and ultimately the barriers stopping them from being together didn't really make sense. The idea that being together would put a target on their backs made perfect sense to me, but we're being sold this found family dynamic, so surely that's true of all the crew. And besides that, there were close relationships and couples aboard the ship anyway, so I didn't really understand why we were being told they couldn't be together. What did work really, really well for me was the focus on complicated family relationships. The relationship between Fable and Saint was fraught and hard and I absolutely loved it. It guided Fable's motivations so well and made her feel so authentic and real the whole way through. She's a fantastic protagonist with flexible morals and clear goals (my favourite kind) and I do want to read more about her story.

I do wish the gem sage thing had had more of a focus. I assume that it'll be a big thing in Namesake (the sequel) but for now it was a little strange. It was mentioned so casually the first time that for a moment I assumed I was supposed to already know about it, and then it flickered between being mentioned frequently and disappearing. I still don't totally understand it or its role in the plot, I would have liked it to have more of a presence so it didn't feel so much like it was just leading to the sequel.

The ending of this book was fantastic though and I found myself absolutely absorbed in the final few chapters. Overall the book was super atmospheric and the world was really interesting. I will absolutely be picking up Namesake at some point to find out what happens next, so if you're looking for an easy to read book with pirate vibes and found family, this series is a good pick.