14 must-read SFF releases that will make your September magical
By Lacy Baugher
Fable – Adrienne Young
The latest novel from the author of Sky in the Deep and The Girl the Sea Gave Back, Fable is the swashbuckling feminist pirate adventure you didn’t know you needed.
Whereas Young’s previous novels focused primarily on butt-kicking Viking women, Fable kicks off a new adventure on the high seas. In it, a young girl named Fable, who must fend for herself on an island full of dangerous grifters and cutthroats. Her quest? To find the father who abandoned her and take her rightful place in his organization. Will she survive long enough to track him down?
As is the case in her other novels, part of Young’s appeal is her rich world-building and that’s still the case here. The world of Fable is inhabited by a colorful cast of characters with dark backstories, complicated secrets, and agendas of their own.
The official synopsis has more details on the story specifics.
"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."
Fable is available on September 1.