This is one of my favorite reads this year. I’ve already pre-ordered the special edition based on it being the most beautiful book I’ve ever seen and I’m so excited to know the writing is even more amazing than the outside. This was sapphic, enemies to lovers, hunger games style, but without feeling like a rip off because the world building was stellar. I loved the writing, the story, the characters. I'm a little bit emotionally devastated due to the ending, but I wouldn’t change it. I don't usually rate things 5 stars unless it’s a favorite of all time book. This is going on my short list.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!

Fallout meets Hunger Games in this thrilling stand-alone by Ava Reid, author of A Study in Drowning.

The title is an ode to the setting. It is late-stage capitalism’s wet dream. Citizens are indebted to the corporate pseudo-government through a credit system. There is evidence of nuclear war and the environment and organisms around have been affected by this devastation. This gave off the same vibe as Fallout series. This easily could have been a side story in that world.

The Gauntlet is a televised event that occurs when someone is offered up as the “Lamb” by a family member who has maxed out the credit system. Inesa’s mom (who I probably hated the most in the book) puts her up for slaughter.

The Lambs are hunted by “Angels”, humans who were crafted into perfect killing machines. Melinoë is the angel chosen to hunt Inesa and this book explores the relationship that grows between them and causes them to question everything they know.

This beginning was quick and fast-paced. There is lots of action and I could not put the book down. The middle of the book is slower and we really see Inesa and Melinoë grow into each other.

The ending is not a HEA and I figured it wouldn’t be, knowing this was a standalone. It leaves me creating a happy ending later on when I am thinking about the two characters. They both deserve better… but knowing the world they were born into, is there really such thing as a happy ending?

I have not read many sapphic romances and that is something I am working on this year so when someone described this as lesbian hunger games, I was interested.

Accurate description: it is lesbian hunger games.

I also don’t enjoy YA much anymore but this was excellent. It is YA without being too YA. Does that make sense?

If you enjoy Ava Reid, you will enjoy her next installment.

Fable for the End of the World will be released March 4, 2015. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for this eARC in exchange for a review.

Thank you so much for an early copy. I absolutely was blown away with this story. I loved the fast pace dystopia world. Look forward to a continuous of this series.

I'm not kidding if we don't get a sequel i'll be in the STREETS.

people aren't lying when they say lesbian hunger games, which is exactly what lured me in. I'm so grateful i was able to read this! you can feel the love for thg and other young adult dystopian novels in this, and that made me nostalgic.

a world ruined by climate change and capitalism, it felt entirely too real. mix in some commentary about social media, people's desensitization of violence and murder, women and their lack of self autonomy and their bodies.

it was beautiful and creative and brilliant. the relationship between mel and inesa was slow burn but so worth it.

im actually still crying about this and im begging for more.

[This review was written after reading an ARC of this novel, and might not be fully relevant to the final published work. Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.]

"You can hate the person who imprisons you, but you can't hate the person who sets you free. So what do you do when they're one and the same?"

Date: October 2024
Format: electronic ARC
Rating: 3 stars

"Sometimes you don't even realize that you're drowning until the water closes over your head."

A sapphic YA love story set in a post-apocalyptic land where those who go into debt send their children to fight specially trained assassins for their survival. A story of two young girls finding both each other, themselves, and the truth of the dystopian world they live in.

"She grows like ivy on the insides of my eyelids. The roots of her are in my rib cage, winding up around my heart"

To preface, this is my first full read of an Ava Reid novel. I have attempted to read a few others, but due to personal issues with their writing style I have never finished one. This one isn't inherently different, and still has some of the issues that I didn't enjoy in her other work, but due to the nature of it being an ARC I decided to push through and finish it. Unfortunately, despite me wishing otherwise, it has not converted me and I wasn't as impressed as I was genuinely hoping to be.

However, a disclaimer might be in order -- most of my issues with this book may very well be due to the nature of it being an ARC and not a finished copy. There were so many glaring grammatical and consistency errors that I was constantly having to step out of the story. The grammatical ones I could easily attribute to reading an uncorrected proof, but the consistency errors read more like a lack of editing. To note, I have provided a full list of the issues I ran into to the publisher and hopefully these are rectified before publishing. Because other than these, my only real issues with the book come down to personal taste and preference -- and because these vary so wildly between each of us, I'd say that's not a bad thing at all.

Going into that, I wasn't the biggest fan of the YA-style of writing. Though in being honest, I cannot tell if this is me growing too far out of the target audience of the genre, or if the writing and story themselves were just too simplistic. I was very confused by this one, mainly because the writing would bounce around between extremely over-simplified and using words like "castigate", and "chiaroscuro". Again, it blows the immersion when I'm reading the inner monologue of a teenage girl and am then suddenly presented with a deep dive into a thesaurus.

Speaking of inner monologues, I actually quite enjoyed both Melinoe's and Inesa's point of views. While I found the dialogue between them a bit cheesy for my tastes, the inner monologues and thoughts were interesting and engaging. But again, it is certainly a YA novel so perhaps it is excused in this case. Though this is certainly one of those that are completely and undeniably YA, which I feel like is an important distinction with so many books being marketed as YA nowadays really being NA/Adult level with just younger protagonists. This is not the case here. The writing style, themes, characters, dialogue, all of it falls very much in the purview of YA and is at times even firmly juvenile - simplistic and heavy handed. Likely to be attributed to the fact that it feels very much like an amalgamation of numerous popular dystopian YA novels that came before it.

Another important note regarding marketing: I have seen this mentioned multiple times as an "enemies to lovers" tale, but I don't think this is accurate at all. At no point are the two main characters true enemies, it's more of a "society has deemed us unfit to be associated with one another" meets "I was made to kill you". [Potential Spoiler] There is never any hate or animosity between the two, it's more of a predator and prey relationship that evolves into something more symbiotic. There is much more of an "instant love" trope than an "enemies to lovers" one.

Overall, an okay novel with some pretty rough edges. I'm holding out hope that this might receive a final round of edits that pushes up it a notch.

""How do people love, I wonder, knowing that every moment is so precarious, that at any second, it could all melt like snow, or turn to ash?"

Ava Reid is a true talent and I think going into this I had high expectations like I do for all her books. I really liked the shift in genre and tone in this book. It had the normal dark tone but this sci-fi type of genre was much different then the normal gothic dark academia I've read from her in the past. I really liked it and think it was a good change while still being the same Ava Reid I've grown to love over the past couple books. I think the characters and world were interesting a fun to follow. The pacing was well and I got to learn more and more as the layers of the characters and world as the story progressed.

Caerus is a massive corporation that climbed its ranks by having the lower classes amass a ton of debt. Inesa lives in poverty with her brother and mother, who has accumulated a lot of debt over the years; so much, in fact, that one of the children qualifies for an event titled The Lamb's Gauntlet, which is a live assassination event hosted by Caerus. Inesa gets chosen, and believes she can survive as she has spent years surviving in the poverty of her current home. Once in the Gauntlet, Inesa is tracked by Melinoe, an assassin programmed to kill without mercy. However, something is happening to Melinoe, who had flashbacks in her last Gauntlet, which impacted her performance. With Melinoe tracking Inesa, the two wonder if there is more to life than what they are doing, and maybe more to their relationship, too.

I loved the author's world building of the future, which is essentially a wasteland for many due to things like corporate green and climate change; the government is in control and people are divided. Particularly, The Lamb's Gauntlet is live and people can comment on the action as it occurs, which is extremely reminiscent of today's era in which people are glued to their devices 24/7 and live streaming and commenting on just about anything. There were also good points in this book about women and "beauty". Since the book ended a bit abruptly for my tastes, I am hopeful there is a sequel in the midst.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The way Ava Reid writes yearning is a gift to this world. I’m not normally a sci-fi/dystopia girly but I did get my teenage reading start with Hunger Games and Divergent and this book felt like revisiting that part of my readerly past, except fifteen thousand times better. The characters are all fleshed out and vividly perfectly imperfect in a way that keeps you hanging on to the page, the setting was lush, atmospheric and gave serious The Last of Us/Annihilation vibes with the radiation altered mutated creatures, the pacing was perfect and the romance aspect? Chefs kiss. 10/10. Sapphic Katniss and Peeta vibes all over the place.
I am once again convinced that Ava Reid can do no wrong because if she can get me, in the year of our lord Moo Deng 2024, to not only enjoy a sci-fi/dystopian book, but to be so thoroughly enthralled by a sci-fi/dystopian book that I cannot stop thinking about it…….she can do literally anything.

The core focus of the plot is a very Hunger Games-y system that drops the whole lottery aspect and primarily emphasizes a similar vibe as the tesserae. But the romance in this story makes it sing, bringing it from a relatively standard YA dystopian sci-fi work to an absolutely gorgeous styled and interactive piece. 4 stars. Tysm for the arc.

i really enjoyed the first half of this book. the premise was familiar but in a comforting way - it was very easy to fall into inesa's world. i am not a frequent YA reader, so i was pleased to find the story and character voices to be engaging.

the back half of this book sort of lost me. there were some repetitive scenes, some dragged out moments. i feel like this book could possibly be 50 pages shorter. i actually liked the ending, but it read a little clumsily. there were a lot of moments in this book that didn't quite land for me, but i saw the vision. i unfortunately wasn't hooked by inesa and melinoë's romance, so there were a handful of scenes that weren't entirely impactful for me.

i don't want to dog on this book too hard, though. "fable for the end of the world" had a lot of moments that were excellent. it touched on some really important themes of abuse, capitalism, and environmentalism in a masterful way. it makes for an excellent eye-opener for its target YA audience - it drives home points that so many young people need to learn about.

ultimately, if dystopian YA is your genre of choice, you'd probably like this book. there's a lot to like about this book, it just personally didn't pull together for me.

you had me at the last of us meets hunger games. this was SO good. i didn't know i needed a dystopian written by ava reid in my life but i absolutely did. this story was addicting and written beautifully. it was so reminiscent of all of the dystopian stories from childhood and i loved it. also that ending 🥺

thank you so much harpercollins & netgalley for the arc!

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.
Fable for the End of the World is a dystopian YA novel set in a grim world with extreme socio economic inequality and mutated animals. The main source of entertainment is the Gauntlet in which family members dubbed the Lambs are sacrificed to pay off debts. The lambs are given a brief head start to outrun trained assassins with cybernetic enhancements called the Angels and the spectacle is livestreamed. This book follows the Lamb Inesa as she is hunted by an Angel Mel and narrated from their POVs.
The plot was derivative of the Hunger Games and didn’t really have anything different from other stories in the YA dystopian genre. The characters weren’t particularly interesting and I didn’t feel much chemistry between the two leads. I think people who are looking for something very close to the Hunger Games will enjoy this more than I did.

When I saw this being advertised as “The Last of Us meets A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”, I knew I had to read it immediately. This is truly a love letter to the YA dystopian novels of the 2010s, and incorporates so many different ideas into a relatively short book (some of which I think really worked, but others needed more expansion).

The book takes place in a not-so-distant future in which climate change has caused irrevocable damage, society is run by a mega corporation, and there’s a live-streamed event that involves people being sacrificed to pay off their families’ debts. While aspects of the story of course felt like an ode to those other YA dystopian novels, overall it still felt like something I haven’t quite read before.

The initial world-building was so interesting and full of vivid imagery. I wanted to know everything about how the world got to that point, and how their society functions (beyond the debt to the mega corporation and the obvious voyeurism in media). I think that’s where it fell a little flat to me - although it had so many cool ideas, I wanted them to be expanded on more. Perhaps we’ll get a sequel to this book where some of those details will come into play more.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. This was a fantastic read. Ava creates some great and layered characters that really get into your feels. I thought the plot, which I would describe as Wall-E if they were evil and a one person Hunger Game. The idea was fascinating and plausible based on the corporations we find ourselves with today. The ending was so good. 4.25 stars.

This made the younger me that adored Hunger Games so happy. It had the feel of Hunger Games, but had a beautiful sapphic relationship. I hope this ends up becoming a series. This was beautiful and creative.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Fable for the End of the World is a dual POV sapphic dystopian story inspired by YA dystopian books (The Hunger Games). Inesa is a young woman from a flooded town on the outskirts of a small nation run by a capitalist nightmare of a cooperation who allows the lower members of society to rack up debts in exchange for any goods and services. When someone’s debts hit the maximum allowance, you are able to volunteer yourself or a family member for the Gauntlet (the Lamb); a televised event where the volunteer can run and try to hide from an assassin like figure (the Angel), and either be killed, and manage to survive and have the debts cleared.

After her mother volunteers her for the Gauntlet, Inesa is left to run from everything and everyone she knows to try to survive the Angel coming for her. Melinoe, the Angel, is a beautiful and deadly assassin trained to kill the Lamb as quickly as she can.

To say I fell for Inesa and Melinoe’s relationship is an understatement. Although I wish the story were longer and less rushed, the blooming love between the characters had me craving for more every page. Reid’s exploration of capitalism, climate change, and more, while building a small love story, was beautiful.

I hope this will not remain as a standalone. I think Reid has created enough of a world where there can be additional books that build onto what the corporation does, as well as explore more in depth the relationship between both FMC, as well as tell the stories of other Lambs.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I read Fable for the End of the World entirely too fast. I wanted so much more of it, in the very best way. Even though it had elements similar to the Hunger Games with the televised hunting of unwilling participants, it was entirely unique and I would LOVE if the author made more stories in this universe where they all meet up in the end to bring down the tyrannical overlording corporation that runs the providences. I loved the romance, the ending though bleak was also hinting at the conclusion that both of the FMC's deserved. The creatures that inhabit the woodlands were a great touch, and I really think that with this combination, it's what sets this book apart from other dystopian novels. I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy!!!!

4.5☆

Fable for the End of the World is a dystopian novel inspired by Hunger Games, told from two points of view. One of our protagonists is Inesa, a girl who lives in a half sunken town with her younger brother and mother. They barely have anything and they work all day long to avoid falling deeper into debt. However, their mother has other plans and her decisions turn Inesa’s life upside down.

Mel, according to people like Inesa, is more machine than human. She is a trained killer who starts to unravel after hurting a little girl. Though they try to "fix" her, she is given one more chance to prove she can continue doing her job. But as she is sent to kill again, unwanted memories resurface, and everything begins to spiral out of control.

In this book, Ava Reid transports us into the future and with the help of her fictional characters shows us the consequences of our actions. They really develop their characters, give them the depth and humanity we need to care for them and their journey. I also appreciate how they don’t just portray everyone as either good or evil, each one has flaws.

The romance is sapphic enemies-to-lovers, so not only did Ava bring us back to the dystopian era, they also made it lesbian! I loved the relationship between Inesa and Mel, but I do wish they would be more slowburn. Don’t get me wrong, I adore them, but I felt like their story was a little bit rushed.

The worldbuilding and writing were impeccable. So far, I haven’t fully connected with Ava’s writing style, but I do think if I read more of her work, I will appreciate it even more, so, please, write a sequel (or more)!

This was a very interesting story and you can definitely see how Hunger Games influenced the dystopian world created here by Ava Reid. You have a lot of similar themes: a single entity or company controlling the vast majority of society. Class stratification takes a big role here in particular. All the wealthy congregate in the major cities, given the very best technologies, medicines, and benefits while everyone else in the outer areas (aka the 'Outliers') are just trying to survive and avoid crippling debt. At the same time, debt is how this society is run and used to exploit its lower class citizens.

There are also a lot of subtle nods to current pop culture and some of the negatives surrounding how we treat folks on the other side of a screen, for example. E.g. using livestreams/influencers as part of the commentary. I thought that was particularly cool.

Funnily enough, the only other story I read by Ava was a Study In Drowning which had a peculiar fascination with water and flooding. This one shares a lot of similarities except the flooding and water-logged cities are due to climate change and a vastly changing dystopian world trying its best to adapt to said changes and nuclear corruption.

I also found it fascinating how Ava crafted the stories behind the assassins aka the not-quite android not-quite human killing machines and how easy it was to sympathize with their plight and backgrounds.

Where I struggled was the love story. I didn't feel particularly drawn to either Mel nor Inessa as a couple. There was also a period of time where I felt myself getting bored when it was just the two of them (Mel and Inessa) and wanted to see more action. I feel like there could have been more happening while their relationship was beginning to blossom vs the stagnant "wait" period I felt we were being forced to sit through.

Despite that, I do think this is Ava's best work and the world is one of the most interesting I have come across in a while. I think my favorite part that kept me wanting to know more was the relationship between Inessa and her brother Luka. In fact, I felt the stronger love story was the story between the two siblings. The love Luka had for Inessa and vice-versa flourished despite their odds of success and it was hope that drove them forward along with the shared love for their father.

Growing up, I so desperately wanted to find people like myself in the fiction I read. Fable is everything I wish I could have read as a queer teen, and I'm so happy YA readers today will have this book. Inesa and Melinoe are both really strong characters, and I loved how each influenced the other to be a better person despite the hostile world around them. Without spoiling anything, the ending wrecked me and had me rushing online to see if there is a sequel planned (devastatingly, no). If you're a Hunger Games fan, you will not want to miss this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.