• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2022 November #2
  Isolde, the daughter of a fearsome trade magnate in the Unnamed Sea, makes a daring escape after she steals her mother's prized possession. A gem sage, someone who can find real gemstones by humming magic resonance, she's wanted by a number of merchants and pirates across the waters. Meanwhile, Saint, once called Elias, and his best friend, Clove, are illegal traders eyeing a legitimate license and a ship of their own. They just have to dodge other traders, legal and illegal, while they wait for their proper papers. Isolde and Saint cross paths at the trading hub, where she realizes he's smuggling gemstones, and he realizes she's about to be sold into slavery. What follows is a daring, swashbuckling adventure, complete with—no matter how hard they try to resist—a heaping helping of romance. While it's not immediately clear that there are two narrators, this fast-paced prequel to the Fable series gets going right away. The language is thick with in-world slang, so readers may benefit from a familiarity with the other series installments. Grades 7-10. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Adrienne Young is a foodie with a deep love of history and travel and a shameless addiction to coffee. When she’s not writing, you can find her on her yoga mat, sipping wine over long dinners or disappearing into her favorite art museums. She lives with her documentary filmmaker husband and their four little wildlings in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling Sky in the Deep duology and the Fable duology.