While there were a few mild surprises, the book (and the duology in general) doesn’t do much to stand out from the crowd. And overall, Namesake was a predictable, tepid follow-up. I do intend to go back and read Fable, I think I will get a better feeling for the characters history even though I don’t think it will have much impact on my thoughts on this story.Rating: 2/5 While I kinda enjoyed Fable, I wasn’t expecting too many great things out of the sequel. I love a pirate themed story even if there isn’t much plundering. I wish that we had gotten to spend more time with Fable under the ocean as that seems where it is most comfortable at. The world itself is lovely, I enjoyed as the visited other island and the diving aspect of the book. Which makes it weird because Fable has such a strong connection with her father but yet seems to be willing to sacrifice her new family. The strongest point of the book is the relationship that Fable has with her parents, Saint and Isolde even when one is gone and it seems the theme of family is what runs strong through the book. I wish we had gotten more of Holland for someone who is portrayed as powerful and dangerous yet her ending is so easy its almost laughable. Yes, I know its Fable’s story but she gets lost in it. Which brings me to Saint and Holland, two very interesting characters that I wish had been expanded on more. How these two manage to survive is all about bigger players watching out for them. He just seems to make poor choice after poor choice all for Fable when she herself seems to be all about making poor choices.

West is built up to be this big dark character that never really pulls through. They are background characters to move the story along. Maybe I needed that first book but the relationship with the other characters other than West, Clove and Saint doesn’t feel very strong.

Fable herself is a bit flat, I think the book is trying to make her more clever than she is. I understood her loyalty to someone like Saint, even if they may not show the same level of love for Fable in return. Fable’s feeling for her time on Jevali to her complication relationship with Saint and finally the family she has found on the Marigold there is enough there that I understood Fable’s feeling.

The book does have enough backstory in it that I didn’t feel completely lost without it. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it although I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more had I gotten to read more of Fable and West backstory.

The characters felt too familiar with each other, the backstory glossed over as though it had already taken written and yeah, having finished this I realized this was the second book in the series not the first. As I started this book I got through the second chapter and started to have that feeling that I was missing something.

Namesake by adrienne young