As a boy, Elias learned the hard way what happens when you don’t heed the old tales.
Nine years after his lack of superstition got his father killed, he’s grown into a young man of piety, with a deep reverence for the hallowed sea and her fickle favor. As stories of the fisherman’s son who has managed to escape the most deadly of storms spreads from port to port, his devotion to the myths and creeds has given him the reputation of the luckiest bastard to sail the Narrows.
Now, he’s mere days away from getting everything his father ever dreamed for him: a ship of his own, a crew, and a license that names him as one of the first Narrows-born traders. But when a young dredger from the Unnamed Sea with more than one secret crosses his path, Elias’ faith will be tested like never before. The greater the pull he feels toward her, the farther he drifts from the things he’s spent the last three years working for.
He is dangerously close to repeating his mistakes and he’s seen first hand how vicious the jealous sea can be. If he’s going to survive her retribution, he will have to decide which he wants more, the love of the girl who could change their shifting world, or the sacred beliefs that earned him the name that he’s known for―Saint.
Title : Saint
Author : Adrienne Young
Series : Fable 0.5
Format : Physical
Page Count : 352
Genre : YA Fantasy
Publisher : Titan Books
Release Date : December 16, 2022
Reviewer : Micky
Rating : ★ ★ ★ ★
Micky’s 4 star review
Headlines:
Still read after Fable/Namesake
Quietly brooding Saint
As a self confessed fan of the Fable series, the addition of Saint’s book just brings a 360 degree feeling to the series. I have come away from this feeling that even though its a prequel, it’s best read after Fable and Namesake. I think going into this book with the whole history of Saint good and bad is great, but more importantly, how you perceive Saint in the next books would be skewed if read first.
Saint was dark, brooding, quiet and contemplative. He was a fierce figure, quite severe in some ways but there was a slightly softer centred that slowly revealed itself. I enjoyed seeing the start of his and Clove’s sketchy sea life, the rye trade and that family. In addition, seeing Holland in earlier days sealed my negative thoughts of her. Isolde was a understandably secretive but she was honest and open in other ways.
The connection between these two I would describe as gentle, bourne of distrust but building into more. I wanted to see a bit more of that on the page but that’s probably just my love of the series and characters coming through.
I just loved this reading journey, being back in the world, the peril, adventures, allegiances and enemies. The series truly feels complete now.
Thank you to Titan Books for the review copy.
A Take from Two Cities 