Namesake by Adrienne Young: ARC Book Review

^{This is a spoiler-free review.}

Namesake by Adrienne Young

^{Published March 16th, 2021 by Wednesday Books}

My rating:

Trader. Fighter. Survivor.

With the Marigold ship free of her father, Fable and its crew were set to start over. That freedom is short-lived when she becomes a pawn in a notorious thug’s scheme. In order to get to her intended destination she must help him to secure a partnership with Holland, a powerful gem trader who is more than she seems.

As Fable descends deeper into a world of betrayal and deception she learns that her mother was keeping secrets, and those secrets are now putting the people Fable cares about in danger. If Fable is going to save them then she must risk everything, including the boy she loves and the home she has finally found.

Filled with action, emotion, and lyrical writing, New York Times bestselling author Adrienne Young returns with Namesake, the final book in the captivating Fable duology.

^{Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.}

After the absolute cliff-hanger of an ending, Namesake picks up exactly where Fable left off.

Separated from the crew of the Marigold and her only allies in a world full of thieves and crooks, Fable must make her way back to them as best she can. But that’s easier said than done, and more than one surprise may be sailing towards her. Along the way, Fable finds herself in deep water, and at the crosshairs of a political affair she never could have foreseen. While trying to untangle the web of lies and half-truths that surround her, Fable soon learns more about her mother than she could have ever hoped to… And that knowledge may just change everything.

“We were salt and sand and sea and storm. We were made in the Narrows.”

As any book lover likely knows, a good sequel is hard to come by. So, when going into a sequel – even one as highly anticipating as Namesake – I can’t help but feel a little apprehensive…

But honestly, I needn’t have worried when it came to this book! Unlike so many sequels that came before it, Namesake does the almost impossible, and managed to reel me into its story almost even more succinctly than its predecessor, Fable. Namesake succeeds where so many other titles have failed by being just as captivating as the first book in its series.

I think Namesake does this so well by expanding the world of the Narrows and the Unnamed Sea and delving into all the parts of it that Fable left untouched. Namesake does a really good job of both presenting exciting new information while also satisfactorily answering all the burning questions Fable left unresolved. Fable’s cut-throat world of pirating is so fascinating! It was so easy – and so much fun! – to dive back into that world again (pun intended).

The biggest thing I was hoping for after finishing Fable was getting more of the backstories behind the fellow crew members of the Marigold. And I’m so happy to report that Namesake did an incredible job giving me just that! Not only that, but it also had me rooting for characters I didn’t even like in the first novel?! Talk about impressive.

I loved that this story delved deeper into Fable’s relationship with Saint as well. There were also some great new characters and plot lines in this instalment; all of which were so well foreshadowed in the first novel it felt like they were already a part of the journey. I was so pleasantly surprised by how much Namesake honestly felt like the perfect continuation – and conclusion! – to the captivating story started in Fable. Truly a gem worth reading. 😉✨

Are there any sequels you adore?

What makes them so memorable?

Let me know!