Fable: A Novel

4 stars — Every time I read a book by this author, I’m always taken to a world completely unlike anything I was expecting…and not only that, but unlike anything I usually read. I tagged this as pirates, but pirates are never referred to in the book. But it was the closest thing I could describe the traders to, and the adventures that occur on the sea. Let’s talk about the narrator for a second. In general I really enjoyed her. She was pretty consistent, great pacing and emotion. I occasionally wanted more distinct voices for some of the secondary characters, most particularly West. It’s funny, b/c she would have good voices for background male characters, but West, Paj and Auster were only mildly distinctive. She also has a strange quality to her voice — it’s not a lisp per say, but just something to it. I worried it might bother me, but in the end I really loved her voice as Fable. There was a daring quality to it — like you could imagine this teenaged Fable fighting for what she deserves. I will definitely be looking forward to hearing her voice the sequel as well. Fable was…just so many things wrapped up into one package. She was terribly naïve in some ways, but worldly wise in others. We really get an accurate picture of the terrible struggles she was facing on Jeval. Like, dude — harsh. It really sets the tone for the book, b/c there are a lot of charged moments where morally questionable decisions are made…but they make sense in the context of the world they live in. I truly felt for how desperately she longed for a family to belong to, and I admired how hard she worked to prove her worth. The crew was interesting. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about what they were about, but once you found out it made total sense (and my reading buddy totally called it). They were all really interesting characters that added to the dimension of the Marigold. None perfect, all with flaws — all with burdens to their names. They were misfits, but it was more than just that. I wanted a bit more from West, but I did enjoy what I got with him at the same time. I just hope I get more and more in the sequel. I still have so many questions! There are bits about the world that I’m not sure I quite grasp. I honestly don’t have a lot of theories about where the story is going to go. But I’m excited to see how things end up for our peeps. I kind of enjoyed that there was very little by way of “magic” in the story…it felt real that way. But at the same time, I loved the little bits of gem sage stuff we got. So yeah. Thoroughly entertaining, has my mind just whirring with the possibilities.

I really loved this book, the characters were amazingly written, and I found it very easy to fall into the book with them.