The Dark Fable

The Dark Fable #1

by Katherine Harbour

Magical heists. Deadly secrets. Come along for the ride . . . if you dare. This heart-stopping, seductive fantasy is perfect for fans of Six of Crows .

Evie Wilder is an orphan who has gone through most of her life unnoticed . . . until she's caught up in a dramatic heist and captures the attention of the Dark Fable. They have chosen her for a she can turn invisible. This skill would make Evie a treasured asset to the legendary group of thieves known for spiriting away obscure and occult artifacts.

Evie cannot resist their allure and is eager to join this newfound family. But she discovers there are more skeletons in the Dark Fable’s past than she could have ever imagined. And these secrets might be the answer to her own tragic past.

No one is who they seem to be and the price of uncovering the Dark Fable’s cryptic history just might be fatal . . .

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Young Adult Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Magic, Urban Fantasy

Unknown Binding

First published January 30, 2024

About the author

The author of The Dark Fable, Thorn Jack, Briar Queen, and Nettle King. (The Children of Night and Nothing series) Pretty good Painter and terrible gardener. Loves Faery, the Gothic, Victorian writers, the female surrealists, botany, and myth & folklore. My aunt once dated a Beatle, my father loved to read Mark Twain, and, if I was brave enough, I'd explore all those haunted woods and houses.

Reviews

[Lizzy (reviewsshewrote) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mmmmm I didn’t like this. There was WAY too much going on. Maybe if Katherine cut back on a few plot points, didn’t describe their outfits every time, she’d be able to make things not so surface level. I wanted more details about the planning, more relationship development between the characters, more exploration into their “talents.” Cool idea, poor execution

Saying this is perfect for fans of Six of Crows is…. No 🖤

[Lindsay (pawsomereads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐️
I’m not gonna lie, I feel like I didn’t know what was going on for most of this book and not for lack of trying. I think there was a bit too much going on; too many characters and too many different storylines without a lot of explanation about the world and magic involved. The writing wasn’t bad and I feel like the characters had some potential, I just wish they had been delved into deeper. The magic system was interesting and the plot moved at a good pace but I think this could have been about 100 pages longer to really expand on the different plot lines. It seems like this book was the first in a series but I don’t think I’ll be continuing with it if another book comes out.

[Greer Rutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

ITS NOT EVEN OUT YET AND I NEED THE SEQUEL YESTERDAY!!!!!! This was dark. Twisted. Brilliant. Witty. Theres unreliability tainted through SO many characters its not even funny. I love the world building, and given that the last chapter hints at a sequel, I'm already ready for the next one. BRILLIANT book. Brilliant power and world building. Just in awe.

[Spiri Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Wow wow wow
Renegades meets six of crows?
This is a dark YA fantasy that borders on horror at times. Found family & morally gray characters + lots of twists. It’s a bit hard to keep track of all the characters at first, but they all have pretty unique abilities. The writing style immediately drew me in at the start. It lost me a little from 100-200 and got super good again after. I want to know the stories of many of the characters that came before. Or a sequel! But this had a good ending.

[Louise H's Book Thoughts · Rating 1 out of 5]

Goodness, the writing in this was so bad I couldn't read further than the first chapter. It had a very "tell not show" feel to it and failed to capture my interest in any way.

[Lesley Reyes · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF-60% way through and tried to push through but just couldn’t.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certain parts fir example when they discuss their upbringing, very repetitive

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not a big reviewer but this book was so bad I felt like I had to write about it. I was really excited to read this, I mean that cover is gorgeous and the idea was super interesting, thieves with superpowers who wouldn't want to read that? But when I tell you this book was bad I'm not kidding. I honestly wasn't going to finish it but I had nothing better to do and I kept hoping it would get better... it didn't and I should have stopped, but instead I completely wasted hours of my life reading what I can only assume is the worst book ever written. The plot was non-existent, things just happened without explanation and without connecting to the overarching story, the characters were bland--they had no personalities like I spent over three hundred pages with these people and I can't tell you a single thing about them except their names, the conversations were stilted, it kinda read like a fifth grader wrote it, and nothing and I mean nothing made any sense. This review is obviously just me ranting and I'm sure some people enjoyed it and that's great, to each their own, but I just felt like this book was the Percy Jackson movies--great idea absolutely horrible execution and I would love to have it erased from my mind.

[Julei · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like heist arcs but … this was all surface I couldn’t connect

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having recently finished “The Dark Fable” by Katherine Harbour, I am happy to have had the chance for the Advanced Reader’s Edition e-copy; thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA Children's Books.

This YA fantasy was a story of another place and time, but the where and when of this story was too scattered and confusing to be entertaining. Some books contain so much filler that the plot gets lost in the excessive word count. Knowing which cars were being driven, what outfits were being worn, and each and every exotic drink being sipped became a constant distraction from this fantastical fable.

[Avril Polson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is just to help me remember key points about the book. If you find it helpful or relatable that's cool too.
︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

"We're the tricksters.We're mayhem.
Spirits of mischief and violence."

5 Stars ⭐️

This was such a fun read and its action packed from the first chapter. This did remind me of The Starless Sea purely based on the vibes. Hear me out.
Attending fancy parties full of wonder and misdirection, the fight to obtain powerful objects, and rivalry that leaves you unsure who to trust.
The parent plot twist just annoyed me and I'm going to pretend didn't happen.
This book could have at least been 30% gayer but I'll let it slide for not killing off any main female characters.

[Sarah | Sisters Who Read Together · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Evie Wilder, an orphan, has walked through life unnoticed after losing her family. One night changes everything. In a moment of panic, she learns of her ability to become invisible and attracts the attention of a legendary group of thieves, led by a ruthless leader. Discovering a place in a newfound family, she is drawn into the magical and dangerous world of the Dark Fable. But there are secrets and skeletons in the Dark Fable's cryptic history that are waiting to be uncovered. As Evie finds her place in this new world, she has to learn who she can trust and be prepared for what betrayals are hiding in the shadows.

This book was intriguing and rife with misdirection. The world-building was stunning, and I could truly picture the locations though at times the detail (mostly focused on the wardrobe of the characters) was a
little distracting. It was interesting to feel pulled between time periods, which helped to separate the modern world and the world of the Dark Fable. As we follow the group through different heists, the plot jumps a bit, which does make it feel disjointed at times, but given some of the twists I can see why it was structured this way. There are still a few points I am uncertain about, so I would be interested in rereading if there was a sequel or a book that dives deeper into the other characters.

Read if you like:
💎 Heists
💞 Found Family
🗡️ Cryptic & Deadly Secrets
✨ Magic

Thank you, NetGalley and Bloomsbury YA for an ARC copy of this book.

[Katherine Bichler · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 STARS

Genre: YA Dark Fantasy

Similar Books:
Stealing Infinity
The Atlas Six

Synopsis:
Evie has the power to turn invisible. She joins a legendary group of thieves that all have their own power and everyone has a secret.

This was a fun book full of heists and magical powers. It very much reminded me of Stealing Infinity but with demons. I liked that every character had a different ability and that there were some twists. I liked the magical objects and poisons too. I didn’t care for the names of a few characters like Father Silence & Mother Night for some reason but it was probably just me. I have not read her adult fantasy, but will give them a try. I am interested to read the sequel and see where this story goes.

Thank you Bloomsbury Books for the gifted copy! 🖤

[TheGeekishBrunette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one since it was an anticipated read for me. It started off decent but as things quickly go on there is just so much going on that it was hard to piece everything together. It left me wanting less plot points. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the writing and I think that is what also caused me to not be able to enjoy the story.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a complimentary earc to review! All opinions are my own.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Overwritten, too much brand name dropping. and by 25% it just didn't feel as though it's going anywhere. I would have enjoyed more about Evie, more about her past but instead there was far too much about LSF and introducing Evie to them (chapters and chapters of that).

eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.

[RedFoxBookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I truly have no clue how to rate this. It's anywhere from 3-4 stars, but I think the higher end might be because of how much I was excited to read it.
Here are some reasons for the lower end.

1. I bought this book because of the header on the back: "magical heists," and the cover made me assume this was either a fantasy like Six of Crows or historical fantasy like the Gilded Wolves. It was not either of those things. It was contemporary fantasy/supernatural, and it was a shock at first but I got over it.
2. I'm so sorry but the writing was really bad. I'm not one who usually notices or cares about writing style in books as long as I like the story, but the way the writing was in this annoyed me SO MUCH while reading it.
3. The beginning of the book set it up for something amazing but the rest of the story didn't deliver. The characters were nice if a teeny bit flat, but even though stuff was going on it felt like nothing happened. And the heists were SO disappointing.
4. It just didnt make sense. I feel like the books was kind of all over the place, trying to do way to much in a short period of time. There was no given reason for the magic system until halfway through the book, and even then it wasn't explained well. Also, the whole concept of the thieves' organization made no sense. Why does it exist??? Mother Night and Father Silence's characters were SO inconsistent... like are they evil or nice? Are the evil pretending to be nice? Why are they evil in one scene and nice the next, and nobody seems to notice or care except Evie and Ciaran? And don't even get me started on the fact that they're called Father and Mother. Like... what the heck?? It makes it sound like some sort of cult. The "plot twist" we learned about Evie with like 70 pages left in the book made absolutely zero sense. I guess it was trying to pull a False Prince but really, really badly. And the fact that Jason was supposed to be an important part of the book also didn't make sense. It was like some random character from the background of one scene decided to keep showing up for no reason and shove himself into the story. And I guess there was supposed to be a love triangle??? There was zero romantic spark of any kind anywhere. And the ending was way to complicated for 30 pages. There was way too much going on and it didnt even make any sense at all.

Yeah this book had a lot of problems, but I was so incredibly excited to read it that I feel really bad giving it a low rating. Because it was fun... I guess... but there were a few times where I was like "what on earth is going on with this book? Why am I still reading this?" I almost considered dnf-ing. Still, I think I'm going to read the sequel at some point because I guess I want to know what's going to happen? Hopefully it gets better. And I'll keep it on my bookshelf because this three stars wasn't an "I didn't like it" low rating, it was more of a "this book was so weird confusing and the writing wasn't good but I really want to like it and the story was good (in theory) so I'll keep an open mind" low rating. In my soul I don't regret buying it though so it can't be that bad. (I regretted buying Violet Made of Thorns because I didn't like it and Vespertine because I liked it but I'll probably never think of it again) This book doesn't have the same feeling as those two so... 🤷‍♀️

[Büşra Tekin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dark Fable – Katherine Harbour
 
 
Konu: Havada asılı kalmak, kapıları kullanarak farklı konumlara portallar açmak gibi farklı yetenekleri olan bir gruba Evie görünmez olabilme yeteneğiyle dahil ediliyor. Hırsızlık yaparak kendilerini güçlendiren bu grubun farklı bir amaca hizmet ettiklerini ve altta karanlık sırların yattığını ise çok sonra öğreniyoruz.
 
 
SPOILER!!!!!! Özet: Evie garsonluk yaptığı bir etkinlikte yaşanan karmaşanın ardından La Fable Sombre denen ekibe katılmaya davet ediliyor. Çok sonradan aslında Evie’nin bu ekip hakkında bilgisi olduğunu ve aslında ailesinin intikamını alıp kardeşlerini bulmak için aralarına sızdığını öğreniyoruz. Biz bu gerçeği öğrenene kadar Evie mükemmel şekilde aralarına karışıp hiçbir şeyden haberi yokmuş gibi davranıyor. Sadece hırsızlık yaptıklarını düşündüğümüz çete aslında başlarında iki kişinin bulunduğu ve farklı bir sürü çetenin bir araya geldiği bir örgüt. Ancak örgütte bulunan herkesin yeteneği yok. Evie intikam oyununu oynarken biz de yan karakterlerimizi, yeteneklerini ve geçmişlerini tanıyor ve bu örgütün kanlı sırlarına şahit oluyoruz. Kitabın artık son kısmındaysa Evie’nin intikam oyununa ve bunu yapma sebebine yakından bakma fırsatı buluyoruz.
 
 
Klişeleri (Tropes):
·      Fantastik
·      Aksiyon
·      Süper güçler
·      Intikam
 
 
Artıları:
·      Yazarın dili akıcı ve bize farklı bir dünya sunuyor. Konu ilgi çekici ve merak unsuru çok güçlü.
·      Kitabın giriş kısmında daha kurgu oturmadığı için duyguların yansıtılışını biraz zayıf buldum ama sonrasında yazar toparlamış gibiydi.
·      Betimlemeler kitabın bazı kısımlarında uzatılmış ama olay örgüsü güçlü olduğu için ve aksiyon öğesi dikkat çektiği için rahatsız etmiyor.
·      Giriş ve gelişme bölümlerinde oluşturulan ilmeklerin sonuç bölümünde çözüme kavuşma şekli bence güzeldi.
 
 
Eksileri:
·      Ben aksiyon ağırlıklı kitaplardan pek keyif almadığım için yanında mutlaka romantizm gibi ekstra bir öge arıyorum, bu sebeple tam puan vermezdim. Ancak aksiyon gizem fantastik olarak bakacak olursak yeterli bir kitap olduğunu düşünüyorum.
·      Kitabın giriş kısmı belki biraz dikkat verilmesini gerektirebilir ama sonrasında kurgu açılıyor.
 
·      Goodreads yorumlarında bir iki kişi yazarın kitapta çok fazla kapı açtığını ve bu sebeple sürekli olaydan olaya atladığını söylemiş. Bana kalırsa bu durum kitaptaki tansiyonun hiç düşmemesine sebep oluyor. Her bir ilmeği açmak için yazar çaba sarf etmiş ama her bir konuya haliyle fazlaca detay verememiş.
·      Devam kitabı olur mu bilmiyorum ama sanki sonu biraz ucu açık bitti.
 
 

[Chloe · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars, almost DNF'd
* noted this is based on the ARC, and anything I say can be changed when the book is officially published January 30th, 2024.

You're first introduced to a girl, Evie, who's squatting at an apartment, working multiple jobs to make ends meet. During one of her waitressing gigs at an auction, she meets the haunted and mysterious La Fable Sombre. This night throws her into the dangerous world that the La Fable Sombre are a part of, where she's introduced to the four people who make up this powerful group. They're all secretive, attractive, and have their own source of "magic" that draws Evie right to them. The group is ruled by Mother Night and Father Silence, who create their own "family" of the best spies and theives to be found. There is heists for dark and mythical objects, potential romance (could never figure out what was happening there), a mystery to be solved, and a found family that is formed between La Fable and Evie. This is a dark story, featuring demons, disturbing pasts, violence, murder, and a plot twist.

Going into this book I was really excited and interested. I mean, "magical"powers , a mysterious group of thieves, heists for dangerous objects, a found family, what doesn't sound great? And honestly, the first half was really enjoyable. I loved the world building, the characters, and the entire idea behind it. The second half is when the author loses me. There's a plot twist that leads to backtracking and unexpected character developments, and before you even comprehend what just happened, the author throws in a lot of action, backstabbing (?), murder (?), and a solved mystery (?), demons (?), more mysteries (?). Note that the question marks mean I literally don't even remember what happened. The last 100 or so pages completely lost me, and I honestly can't tell you the first thing that happened. But overall, I'd say give it a shot. Everyone has a different reading experience, I just happened to have a negative one with this book.

[Güneş · Rating 3 out of 5]

Konusu ilgi çekici bir kitaptı. Yazarın yazım tarzından dolayı mı yoksa çeviri mi kötüydü bilmiyorum ama beni bir türlü içine çekemedi kitap. Gerçekten kitabın sonunu zor gördüm diyebilirim. Aslında aksiyon, karakter gelişimleri ve ard arda ortaya çıkan bütün o ihanetle asıl gerçekler çok iyiydi ama bir türlü o duyguyu tam olarak yakalayamadım.

[Sam B · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The Dark Fable” is a heist fantasy in which Evie, who uses her waitressing job to rob patrons, inadvertently gets caught up with a group that steals magical and historic artifacts. While I like the overall idea, the book just didn’t really do a good job of catching my attention, and I didn’t really feel connected to the characters. It was also very hard to pinpoint the setting, since characters were texting but it very weirdly felt like the 1920s. Also, if a book’s outfit descriptions-to-plot ratio is 50/50, I might as well pick up a magazine.

My thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Molly Minehan · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the most part this book was very hard to read with all of its grammar errors and fast story telling. The beginning and end chapters were really good. I couldn’t get over “I’ve blankets” and “my father didn’t suicide”

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun time✨
it's given Swindle vibes🥹✨

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so bad it just made me angry.

[Josslyn Munn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good towards the end but it took me a minute to get into it 😓 I was really just trynna push through

[Lucia]

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really super enjoyed the beginning of this and then it just started to get kinda boring. So three stars.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this ARC from YallFest 2023.

This book is fun, and I’d say overall worth the read. Yet I have to mirror others by saying it felt like a bit too much was going on. There would be times where storylines just disappeared or new ones were brought in and it felt disjointed.

The concept of magical powers growing out of times of trauma, and then later getting a firmer grasp on what actually they were, was very interesting. I just felt it wasn’t fully processed. It also seemed to be a bit too limitless at times.

A group of teenagers who come together and find a family, while carrying out a couple heists is always alluring. This just didn’t have the components of “Six of Crows” (that it is compared too) that made that novel so special.

I did think that the character building was nice and minus one person in particular I really felt that I had grown to like most of La Fable Sombre.

I’d have to assume from the ending that the idea is to continue this story into a series, but I’m not sure I really care all that much.

Also I didn’t enjoy the label name dropping, it felt a bit excessive to me, and I didn’t think it really added more to the story.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was… interesting. I loved the world building, it was incredible. I just wished everything else wasn’t so bad. I was confused the entire book and I still couldn’t tell you what happened. There are plenty of moments where things happen just because and defy all the logic previously presented which makes the book even more confusing. I never understood what the characters motives were even through the last page. I got to read the arc so I am hoping that maybe this changes before it is officially published but I am not pushing it.
Overall a disappointing book that had so much potential.

[melhara · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.25/5

I don't even know how to begin expressing my disappointment with this book.

The first two chapters of this book were the strongest sections of this book. The story starts with Evie Wilder working for a catering company at a museum gala auction event. When the event gets disrupted by a chaotic heist where Evie catches a necklace that a thief tossed her, she discovers that she has hidden power - she can turn invisible. And so the gang of thieves, who call themselves La Fable Sombre (or The Dark Fable) decides to recruit her for her rare and useful ability.

This story had the potential to be so much better than it actually was.

As much as I like fast-paced, action-packed books, this was too much. The pacing was so fast, there wasn't any time for relationships to form, for characters to develop, for the readers to feel attached to any of the characters, for the readers to learn about the details or stakes involved with each heist, or for there to be any suspense or mystery. Instead, we have relationships and friendships formed and broken in record time, powers that are revealed and mastered in a matter of a few paragraphs, heists successfully planned and executed in the span of a few pages, a bunch of plot twists whizzing by at lightning speed, and betrayals and losses that appear and disappear in the blink of an eye.

Then there's the worldbuilding and magic system. There was so much going on (learning how to use magical powers, a murder/kidnapping mystery, a secret society of thieves, a magical heist, gang rivalry, mutiny, demons, dangerous secrets and magical objects...), to the point where there was a lot that didn't make sense with several elements of the story that were left underdeveloped. There were also a lot of plot holes and overly convenient uses of the characters' magical powers (which sometimes have limits and at other times don't? It wasn't explained very well).

Finally, the characters all had the potential to be so much more interesting. They all appear to have interesting backstories and personalities but because the pacing of the story was so fast, we only get surface-level glimpses of all the characters who all become BFFs and a well-oiled team immediately 🙄

Overall, I felt like I read a rough draft with half-baked characters and an underdeveloped story intended to be a series where the author decided to jam the plot points from several different books into a standalone novel (although the ending seems to hint at a potential second book).

You're better off reading the following books instead (which are all 3-5x better than this one - in fact, I wasn't a big fan of Gilded Wolves but this book made Gilded Wolves feel like a 5-star read):

[Molly Wonnenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like all of the characters were surface level and the main character treated them like npc’s getting story from them. I just had very little connections to any of the characters.
All of them had motivations that made sense, but the stakes felt non-existent.
I guess it just wasn’t what I was expecting and it did not live up To my expectations.