Uptown Oracle Reads… Namesake

Namesake Adrienne Young

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With the Marigold ship free of her father, Fable and the rest of the crew were set to start over. That freedom is short-lived when Fable 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 the secrets her mother took to her grave 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.

Similar to Fable, there’s one story and goal for the first half of the book and then a secondary goal for the second half. I kind of like this because the blurb doesn’t mention the second goal at all, allowing a nice surprise whilst reading. It also makes the book feel like a fast read because certain aspects are concluded earlier on in the book to make way for new quests and places to explore. 

I continued to love Fable as a character because of the nuance in how she acts and how she really feels. She’s still young and doesn’t know everything, but she picks up things easily and manages to outwit multiple people throughout the story. She’s learned from what happened in Fable that she can rely on West and his crew like family, and this pushes her to be better at reaching what she needs. 

Fable had more interactions with her actual family in Namesake too which I thought was really well written. Saint and Fable don’t have the perfect father daughter relationship after what he did to her, but you can see it’s evolved and allowed Fable to be a better person for it. She learns to make the important decisions, and she takes care of her own crew of the Marigold. 

Namesake starts where Fable ends, and we’re introduced to The Luna where Fable must dredge for her freedom. Her childhood adversary from Jevali, Koy, is also on the boat and this causes a lot of tension. It also shows off why he was an important name at the start of Fable, it’s so we know he’s sneaky and untrustworthy as soon as we re-meet him. I loved the development of this rivalry, and how it pushes Fable to mature and grow. 

One aspect that was missing in Fable was the backstory and exploration of all members on the Marigold and Namesake delivered. We find out more about Auster and Paj, their relationship as well as the backstory there. I loved how this directly intersects with the storyline too, and their relationships from before Fable come in handy to help the Marigold get what they need. 

We also can’t not talk about Willa in this book. She’s such a great character and has always been there for her brother West, and now Fable too. She has to make some tough decisions throughout to allow her to do what she wants with her life, and this sometimes means disagreeing with West. West also grows throughout the story, with adapting to what it’s like to love Fable and what that means for him and his family. 

Namesake was beautifully written and we managed to explore many new places as well as being at sea a lot. It feels like Adrienne Young wrote a bit more around the world building, as if she was expanding outside of the “sheltered” life of a girl growing up on Jevali and we get to explore. I especially love the dredging scenes and being underwater, Fable was always in her element in these scenes. 

Overall I loved Namesake and I’m quite sad that it’s only a duology. I’d love to see more of Fable, West and even Saint if Young wanted to write more books but I did find the ending to be a great ending for their stories too.

Positives of Namesake

• Intresting story, which brought back small elements from first book
• Exploration of family and found family

Negatives of Namesake

• Last of the duology

I received Namesake by Adrienne Young from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review

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