Saint

- Adrienne Young

May 5, 2023

GOODREADS BLURB:

Albany, WA

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.

SERIES / GENRES:

FIRST WORDS:

There was a blue door with a black lantern on Forsyth Street.

Behind it was a man who could make me disappear.

MY REVIEW:

solid, good read:

☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5

It was so nice to return to the Narrows. Even knowing how everything would end up (one of the drawbacks to a direct prequel), I was very happy to be back in this world.

I do find the title to be very misleading. We already have a pretty good understanding of Saint from Fable and Namesake. There may be a little more to explain his childhood and how he started out with Clove, but most of what’s here could be inferred from the information we already have. Saint is much more about Isolde. All we know about her is myth and memory as a painful, beautiful, lost family member. But Saint brings her to life, and I found her even more compelling than promised. She’s a bit naive, but she’s quick and brave, not to mention adventurous and hardworking and with just the right amount of deviousness. I wish we got to see more of her and Saint plotting and working together; it took a little too long for them to come together and reveal why they were so drawn to each other.

I’m glad Saint isn’t a romance novel – it’s not supposed to be – but considering how little happens, it feels like there are a lot of wasted words and too much wasted time. The entire book spans, what, a week or two? And I think that’s being generous. With such a simple plot, I do wish there was more complexity in the characters and their interactions. It’s a theme I’ve noticed in Young’s writing before. She does such a good job with setting that I’m distracted from what’s missing until I’m here writing out a review, trying to piece together what actually happened, and realising it wasn’t a lot. Young can place you almost anywhere with almost no effort. I’ve experienced Viking war fields, island witchcraft, and the decks of many ships in the Narrows, with such vivid imagery and use of language, it’s easy to return to these worlds with little effort, even weeks or months after completing the books. It makes the experience a highly enjoyable one, even if later, I’m left wishing something more had happened to make the characters and their experiences as memorable as the world in which they live.

spoiler

The little throwaway at the end about West there was interesting. It’s been a while since I read this series, but I don’t think he knew who his father was? I don’t think it was necessary, unless another book is planned to bring West and Bryn together. They’d be cousins, right? Now that I’ve said that, I don’t think I’ll be happy until it happens… Honestly, it was more disturbing how many similarities there seemed to be between Saint’s moods and actions and West’s. Is Fable aware she’s basically dating her father?

I don’t know if Young plans to return to the Narrows again, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out. I’d honestly love more about almost anyone we’ve met so far, and these characters and this world seem full of possible directions she could take in this series.