Fable

Adrienne Young’s The World of the Narrows series includes 4 full-length novels and 2 novellas. Fable (2020) introduces readers to the eponymous hero and the dangerous maritime setting that gives the series its title. The second book in the series, Namesake, was published in 2021. Following her abduction at the end of the first book, Fable must help Zola forge a partnership with a powerful gem trader named Holland so that she can find her way back to West and the rest of the Marigold’s crew. The sequel continues the theme of familial legacy as the protagonist uncovers more of her mother’s secrets. Young penned two novellas that focus on side characters from the duology. Tides (2021) is set before the events of Fable and explains how Paj and Auster met and escaped the Unnamed Sea together in a story that exhibits the series’ focus on romance and The Quest for Autonomy. Drift (2023) follows West’s sister, Willa, after she leaves the Marigold and starts a new life on Jeval, the island where Fable begins. She forges a business partnership and eventually falls in love with Koy, the ferryman who attempts to kill Fable in the first book.

Young published a prequel to the series in 2022. Saint explores the origins of Fable’s father, depicting how he started his career as a trader and how he met Fable’s mother. Isolde is already deceased by the time that Fable begins, so the prequel helps the reader better understand her character and her lasting impact on her husband and daughter. Saint and Isolde’s romance continues the series’ examination of The Perils of Attachment Versus the Need for Belonging: The young trader must choose between “the love of the girl who could change their shifting world, or the sacred beliefs” that help him survive the treacherous sea (Young, Adrienne. “Saint.” Adrienne Young, 2024).

Published in 2021, The Last Legacy is the final novel in the series. The story centers on Bryn Roth, an 18-year-old who lives in Bastian, the city in the Unnamed Sea that Isolde hails from. The Last Legacy weaves together the series’ themes of familial legacy and autonomy as Bryn struggles to extricate herself from her family’s corrupt business dealings. Readers who enjoy Fable can set sail on more suspenseful maritime adventures in the World of the Narrows.