Reviews with content warning for Murder - Namesake

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Namesake by Adrienne Young

28 reviews

walmartblairwaldorf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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aspoonfuloflanguage's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I wanted to love this book. The first one had so much world building, character building, mystery, and adventure that I had such high hopes that this book would continue with that trajectory, but the storyline just... fell flat? Don't get me wrong it had a lot of promise, but it felt like the majority of the chapters were there to add bulk to the book, not add anything enriching to the story. Plus, while I don't mind conflict between characters, a lot of it was created by a series of grand misunderstandings. Frankly I wanted to grab some of the characters by the shoulders and shake some sense into them because if they just got! their! head! out! of! their! butt!!! And the resolution? Don't know her. Just sweep the conflict under the rug as if it never happened and call it a day. Personally I would have preferred it if some of the filler chapters were condensed and combined to leave room to fully explore the reactions and reasonings of the primary characters that led to the story outcome. I think it would have made it a lot more believable as a whole. All that being said, I am glad I read this book and it did have some really beautiful and moving moments, it just didn't live up to my expectations after the first book.

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maregred's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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camiandkitread's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

We jump right back in to the story, so abruptly it’s like we flipped to the next chapter of “Fable” rather than started the sequel. And, even more so than in the first book, the titular heroine finds herself in so many terrible situations—one right after the other. There were so many that it was difficult to stay invested, particularly when Fable didn’t seem all that concerned.

Fable’s constant internal monologue tells us exactly what she’s thinking and how she’s upset by the different strokes of bad luck, but ultimately she reacts very passively. She allows the situation to play out rather than doing much about it. Alternatively, she allows the other characters to steer her through these unfortunate events.

Since we learned in the first book that she had survived four years—alone—on the island of Jeval, it seems that Fable would be more of a fighter than she is. Her thoughts also don’t reveal that’s she’s given up after so many years of fighting and that she’s decided to go with the current either. Fable just doesn’t have much agency.

Although I was disappointed by the main character, there were several very interesting characters that were introduced. Holland, the feared gem merchant that was mentioned in the first book, appears about 1/3 of the way through the book. At her appearance, the book began to pick up and kept my interest more than the first few chapters had.

Other side characters from the first book appeared in “Namesake” and were ultimately more interesting than Fable and West, our main characters.

Although we barely saw it, even the love story between Fable and West feels bland in comparison to the love story that potentially developed between Willa and Koy. We just glimpse a few brief allusions to something between them possibly developing. For our main love story between Fable and West, we spent a lot of time rehashing that he had done bad things for Saint, and that the darkness had a hold of him, which concerned Fable, but not enough to do anything about her concern.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the writing. Adrienne Young is a master at describing the different scenes the book takes us to. When Fable was dredging underwater, I would find myself stopping what I was doing to listen to the rich descriptions of the underwater world the character was in because the words were so beautiful and vibrant. Even simple description’s of a character’s clothes were beautifully detailed enough that I could picture the scenes perfectly.

Overall, I wanted to like this book more than I did. “Namesake” is very much a plot driven book rather than a character driven book. But the plot is constant, there’s no break between anything. We can’t catch a breath before Fable is pushed into another problem. Yet she reacts passively to almost every situation she finds herself in. She’s very astute and introspective, but lacks agency. The book is beautifully written, with every scene described in impeccable, rich details that help to insert the reader in to the story. But kt isn’t quite enough to mask how bland the characters have become since the first book.

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joricottone's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I didn’t much care for the first 75% of this book. (Spoiler) with Fable getting kidnapped at the end of book one that left lots of opportunity for this book… but it just didn’t feel right. Her romance felt forced, and the timing of this book felt weird. I did like the creativity it took to come up with all the agendas and sneakiness and how everyone played everyone else but it felt like Fable was too naive and fell into things very easily and she felt like such a bystander with a bunch of things just happening to her. (Spoiler end)

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chaoschali's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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juliette_95's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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oliviabrcka's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Namesake picks up right where Fable left off. Fable has been kidnapped by Zola to complete a job, and things are quickly turning out to be far more complicated than they initially seemed. Fable is now tasked with trying to play the games of experienced traders on her own; and not get killed in the process. I enjoyed the first book, and while Namesake was fine, I liked Fable better. However, I think it wrapped up Fable's story nicely and I don't regret reading it.
I did prefer Young's overall writing style in Namesake. It felt more tangible, like I could reach out and touch gems underwater. Her pacing was slower, but I see why it had to happen that way, so I am not too bothered by it.
As far as returning characters, they all stay the same. I liked the development in Fable's relationship with Saint, and I think that is one of the more powerful relationships in this duology. I was also LIVING for Koy and Willa's relationship but we didn't get to see very much of it:( The only new characters we really get are Holland and the Roths. I was pretty underwhelmed by both. I saw the "evil grandma" card coming from a mile away and we didn't get to know enough about the Roths for me to actually be invested in their part of the storyline.
The world of Fable expands to the Unnamed Sea, and more importantly, the opulent trading city of Bastian. I loved the contrast between the Narrows and Bastian. The grandeur and elegance of Bastian was so interesting, and I wish we could have explored that space more. I would be interested to see a novel in the same world as Fable, but set in the perspective of a rich girl from Bastian. That would be so fun! Namesake also delves more into the politics of the Fable universe; there is a lot less action and a lot more intrigue and political chess happening.
Namesake explores a few themes: loyalty, mourning, and tough parental relationships. Young doesn't really explore them in depth, so although I could see some readers connecting with them, I don't think everyone really will.
Namesake was worth reading and I think it wrapped up the duology nicely. I am interested to see what Adrienne Young writes next.

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