3 out of 5 stars | Goodreads
I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.
Being a bit of a sucker for video game novels (or well, okay, video games in general…) I had to accept this one from the wonderful Titan Books when it was offered. The Fable series is a fantastic one, allowing the player to take control of a hero and decide the destiny of Albion, as well as their very own fate. However, this concept is lost in the transition from game to book.
I can’t fault the book for its readability though. I felt like no time had passed and suddenly I was 50 pages in. The Fable series of video games is known for its sense of humour, which was incorporated into the book, but sometimes it felt just a little too silly.
The story begins by introducing the reader to four Heroes. Then suddenly, a good 100 pages in, four more Heroes appear with no real introduction – the book just suddenly switches to their POVs. The link between the two groups is not immediate, and when finally shown feels very weak. With eight points of view, this felt like far too many, especially because they were pretty much indistinguishable from the other. No single hero stood out, and they felt a little ‘cookie cutter’ – perhaps though, they suffer from being based on video game characters that perhaps have less room for development.
Ultimately, whilst I enjoyed Hines’ writing style – and am still very interested in reading his Libriomancer series – I found the story to be rather unstructured and the characters lacking. Perhaps more of a book for only the biggest of Fable fans.
Rinn Reads 
I’ve yet to get to this one, despite having an eARC to read! I was thinking to time it closer to the launch of Fable Legends. Which I am so excited to play!
Is Fable Legends only out on XBOX? I’d love to play it but I only have a PC for gaming 😦
I had no idea that Fable had novels based on it. I love those games so I would be interested to get farther into the story behind the game. It’s too bad this didn’t really work for you. I am super excited to play the new game though it’s taking forever to come out. I swear I saw a preview of it at the San Diego comic con in 2014.
I believe there are a couple based on the other games too. Perhaps if I’d tried a novel based on the first or third games, which I have played, I would have enjoyed it more?