For August’s FYA Book Club pick, we’re heading out on the high seas with Fable by Adrienne Young! I devoured this book in a single day – it’s a perfect combination of pirate-y adventure and high-stakes swoon, with a great ensemble cast to boot. But before you dive in headfirst to these discussion questions, beware: thar be spoilers ahead!
Content Warning: death of a parent
Icebreakers
- Fable has survived for four years on Jeval as a dredger, using her talents for diving and finding gems as a way of making enough copper to stay alive. If you were stranded on the mean streets of Jeval, what talents would you use to stay alive?
- Fable has survived for four years on Jeval as a dredger, staying alive by using the talents for diving and finding gems that her mother taught her. What is a skill that you learned from a parent or an adult when you were younger that has proven invaluable in your life?
Discussion Questions
1. Fable has risked life and limb to find her father and join his crew. What did you think of her as a protagonist? Did you understand her obsession with finding her father, not just to prove him wrong but to prove herself to him?
2. Paj, Willa, Auster, Hamish, and West all have important roles aboard the Marigold and in each other’s lives. What did you think of the Marigold’s crew? Did you have a favorite side character?
3. What did you think of West as a helmsman? Did you think it was right for him to grant Fable passage despite his crew’s objections? What would you have done?
4. West also withheld information from Fable. What did you think of their romance? Did West’s secret-keeping dissuade you from rooting for them as a couple, or did the fact that he spent all those years looking out for Fable make you swoon?
5. How did you feel about Saint as a father? What do you think his true priorities and intentions were with regards to Fable?
6. From dredging in Jeval to sailing through storms in the Narrows, Young takes us on quite the sea-faring journey. What did you think of her world building? Do you think that Fable’s ability to recognize gems was pure talent, or possible magic?
7. Adrienne Young weaves a lot of details about the inner workings of ships, not to mention ocean life, into the book. Did you find these details interesting or tedious?
8. Fable is the first book in a duology and ends on a dreaded cliffhanger. What do you think happens next, and do you plan to read the sequel, Namesake?
