"The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in this standalone dystopian romance about survival, sacrifice, and love that risks everything."
This may be one of my favorite reads of this year! Sapphic love story amidst a deadly game in a dystopian society. I loved this book from the premise, and it did not disappoint. Ava Reid is becoming an auto-buy author for me. This one was brutal, and it was different than other Reid books I have read. Inesa"s mother has a lot of debt and puts Inesa up for Caerus’s livestreamed assassination spectacle: the Lamb’s Gauntlet, which will get rid of her debt. Melinoë is a Caerus assassin, and she is beautiful but deadly, never missing a mark. As the hunt ensues, both women question everything, and start to realize they may not hate each other... I definitely recommend this book to everyone!

As an LGBTQ member, I am beyond happy that one of my favorite authors wrote a sapphic novel.

I love the dystopian setting, and I could see the inspiration from Hunger Games. It is nostalgic and inspiring. I would sell my soul for a sequel. I love the refreshing atmosphere. I love Ava Reid's gothic vibes, but this book was different, and I love to see someone branch out of their comfort zone. I am excited to see this new style from her!

If you are a fan of Hunger Games and love sapphic romances, then you have to read this! If you have a toxic mother daughter relationship, you will find comfort in Inesa. If you are tired of men telling you who you need to be, then you will resonate with Melinoe. The characters embody struggles that women collectively endure just to survive in a world dominated by men.

I would NEVER skip an Ava Reid book. I will anything this human writes (even her grocery list). And finally we have a sapphic romance from her I was excited when I got the ARC for this.

This was giving a good mix of hunger games, blade runner and handmaids tale with each trope standing out on its own. It was definitely the most interesting of all her books. Because of how current the themes are right now in our everyday world. Loved the characters, Reid always manages to write the most lovable characters that you cannot help but root for, even if they are unlikable, it is because she makes them realistic and relatable.

STOP NAME-DROPPING THE HUNGER GAMES. YOU ARE SETTING BOOKS UP FOR FAILURE.

disclaimer: i love ava reid as an author. she's incredibly at creating atmosphere and digging through the unsettling. i think she does gothic folklore REALLY well. i haven't read a study in drowning, but i assume it will play into her strengths and i'll love it. my point is i LIKE her books.

the prose in this book is fine. it's the most consistently well-done part of this book. everything else fell so flat. she wanted to have commentary on climate change and its disproportionate impact on the less privileged, social media and the commodification of people, capitalism, pollution, human connections and complicated sibling relationships, this book had grand aspirations and lived up to *none of them.* most of all by specifying in her note that she took a lot of inspiration of the hunger games. the problem with books comparing themselves or taking inspiration from the hunger games is that i'm going to analyze them through the same lens of the hunger games and no book has compared.

the worst part of the commentary in fable is that there's no satisfying conclusion for any of it. it may not be a rule for dystopian books, but a BIG part of why the hunger games was so solid is because the social, political, and economic issues detailed throughout all three books are satisfyingly resolved. if not directly, you get the sense that they're being addressed by the fact that the country is being entirely restructured. fable doesn't have this. climate change and pollution are never addressed, nothing changes about the social media or tech environment, capitalism is alive and thriving at the end, and the complicated sibling relationship didn't exist in the first place. the world from the beginning is the exact same as the world at the end and the characters don't even view it differently.

this world-building is also ungrounded in reality that i couldn't suspend any disbelief whatsoever. authors don't all need to have a mind for politics or intricate world-building. i think ava reid is very good at telling character-driven stories with more straight-forward plots and little complexity in original world-building. without giving too much away, the country is basically run by a megacorporation that, i guess, has a monopoly on every product in every market in the country? it is not explained outright. they are apparently allowed to cybernetically modify and legally murder anyone for their gauntlets. they are intertwined with the government (which i didn’t know existed until pretty late in the story) because the country was in devastating economic crisis and they…. swooped in and save the economy by….. allowing people to buy on credit? i dont know how they were wealthy enough in a country wrought with poverty to start letting people buy on credit, unless everything available to buy was their own product. anyways, this saved the economy,, somehow, and the government lets them get away with most things and somehow the population is grateful for and loves this corporation that keeps them permanently indebted and can legally kill them (in the gauntlets). people don’t act realistically. there’s no clear class division. there’s the lower part of her rundown hometown, the upper part, then “the city,” which i think is a shallow recreation of the capitol. yet, all of these people are the same because (with credit) they can purchase the same items and partake in the same internet spaces.

i’m not going to get into the gauntlets. i think ava reid wanted to have the same message of dehumanization and learned helplessness as the hunger games, but didn’t want it to be too similar, but changed it in ways where it loses most meaning. there’s a sort of career/outlying district tribute dynamic between the lambs and the angels, where both are being exploited in different ways. but she doesn’t really explore it.

all of this made it hard to enjoy the sapphic romance. i liked it well enough, though i didn’t feel much chemistry. someone else noted that of all ava reid’s couples, this is the only one that doesn’t end with them together (and apparently no planned sequel).

ava reid’s tell, don’t show style of writing i think works for gothic folklore, but was too frustrating with this one. it felt like the reader couldn’t be trusted with any interpretation. whatever ava reid means to convey with a scene, she tells you. not to compare it to the hunger games again, but one thing i love about the writing of it and why i feel like the commentary and world-building are so strong is because it can be interpreted and discussed. there’s not much to discuss about fable, since everything is explained for me.

i like when authors try and write outside their comfort zones and maybe try to challenge themselves. unfortunately, i think this type of book played on none of ava reid's strengths and was undermined by her weaknesses. i still like her and she's a good author, but i don't think this was a good book.

I think this author may just not be for me. I can’t pinpoint exactly why I struggled to get through this book because I honestly liked the characters, story, and writing. But there is just some disconnect that happens to me with this authors books that even though I try to enjoy the book, I just don’t. I do like Ava Reid and will continue to recommend her books to others but personally they aren’t for me.

Fable for the End of the World is Ava Reid's YA dystopian novel following the nostalgia of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Sent in a futuristic world of New Amsterdam, aka New York, we follow Inesa and Melinoe, the Lamb and the Angel sent out to kill her in the gauntlet. Ava Reid actually notes Hunger Game as a very obvious influence on this novel and we do really get to see the similarities. However, I did like the emphasis of technology and the streaming nature of watching the Gauntlet. It made it more relatable and the connections the author makes about the anonymous aspect of streaming platforms and the exploitation of women through AI images really spoke true especially in out current political and technological climate.

The novel uses Ava Reid's quintessential beautiful prose and is set to a fast narrative pace. What I particularly enjoyed was the development of Inesa's and Melinoe's relationship. Stark with yearning and longing, I could practically feel that tenderness, the nervous anxiety of a new love and truly watching them grow from enemies, hatred, to something was softer was the best part of the narrative. Melinoe was the stronger character in terms of her character arc and I felt it was beautifully done, the shift from a killing machine to something softer, deserving of relief.

There were two things that felt a little lacking. I wished we took advantage of the high rises of New York, the technological utopia of the city as a the setting for the Gauntlet. It might have felt refreshing and a little different from the Hunger Games if we were removed from the complete wilderness survival aspect of the story. The other thing was the ending. It felt as though maybe there would be a sequel and perhaps in that sequel we would enter that typical NYC setting with high rises and billboards. I felt the story ended a little abruptly and I felt rather empty and unsatisfied. That being said, if it really is setting up for a sequel, I would be looking forward to reading it.

Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for the arc!

Another gorgeous book from Ava Reid! I am a sci-fi dystopian girlie at heart and I was so excited when I saw Ava was planning to tackle this genre. This was beautifully written--as are all of her books--and I found the near future society interesting (and a little too real!) The only reason why it's not a five-star book for me is because I believe this could have benefitted way more as a duology or extended series. There's so much story here that the character relationships did feel a bit rushed at times.

I’ve never rooted for two characters more in my life!! 😭 I loved this book and was so happy when I finally got to sit down and binge read it! A queer Hunger Games?? SO GOOD!

Thank you Ava Reid for crafting such a beautiful book that speaks to eco-feminism and thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I enjoyed this book and found the premise interesting. I think it could have been longer to flesh out the characters a little more but I will definitely be purchasing it for our library

all of ava’s stories i’ve read so far have had a relatively happy ending for the couple. maybe THEY weren’t happy but they were together. it’s not lost on me that her first sapphic book the protags end up separate with one not knowing the other. i will not forgive this, ada i need sapphic happiness rn

also her using w*ndigos is very unsettling to me. i absolutely do not like that she did that and it would’ve been SO easy to not do that it feels …… very odd of her to include them. she could have literally named them anything else

most of the book i did enjoy. but the ending i did not enjoy. like this is divergent level bad ending (exaggeration maybe but man come onnnn)

the story itself was very interesting and i did enjoy most of it. but i must admit that the "wends" and the ending dropped this down to a 3 star for me.

Ava Reid has done it again, while each of their novels have taken place in unique worlds Fable for the End of the World branches off into a new genre while still maintaining their voice. Ya dystopian can be difficult to write since its easy for the world/obstacles to be vague backdrops for your action-packed leads rather than an actual political message, Ava did not have this problem. It has clear takes on climate change, capitalism, impacts of social media, sexualization of minors as a whole but particularly girls, etc. My biggest complaint would just be the pacing/rushed results of the ending, the melancholy events felt right just wrapped up too quickly.

E-ARC generously provided by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

First and foremost, Thank you net galley and HarperCollins for selecting me to be an ARC reader for this anticipated read!

This is far different from anything I've read by Reid previously and what an exciting journey it was! I was still expecting the same folk horror feel but instead we got more sci-fi with the dystopian world she has created (that being said there were versions of the Wendigo). This is very much a twisted version of the Hunger Games. (As if those couldn't get any darker, this in fact does!)

Though this is marketed as YA I would advise readers to go in knowing how dark this story actually it is. True to Reid's work she doesn't hold back any punches and she starts throwing them from the very first page. Set in a corrupt world where you can pay off your debts by sacrificing family members to fight in the Gauntlet is not for anyone with a weak stomach.

Inesa is a sharp-minded woman with a soft heart in a very dark world... with a bit of a toxic family to boot. She works as a taxidermist to preserve what is left of creation. Melonie, trained and altered by the correct Cearus is a unique killing machine called an Angel. "Being struck down by an Angel is is meant to be a beautiful thing: riveting, theatrical, perfectly paced, like your favorite TV show."

Both characters come face to face in the most recent Gauntlet when Inesa is offered up as a Lamb due to her mother's incurred debt. I'd classify this as a rivals to lovers versus them be total enemies. If you've enjoyed Ava's previous work I think you'll enjoy this too...just go forward knowing it is different from what she has previously written.

I really enjoyed the setup of this book. It truly felt like a real homage to the Hunger Games and other YA dystopias. I liked the protagonists and the plot was really cranking along...until about halfway, when it all came to an abrupt stop. It almost felt as if Ava Reid didn't know where it was going from there, but she had a character journey she needed to accomplish. The ending felt anticlimactic, and I'm actually unsure whether she's writing a sequel? It feels like it could set up for a second book, or it could be a real lackluster ending to a standalone.

Overall, I had a good time for most of this. I loved the enemies to lovers, the high stakes, and the dystopian world building. I thought it was paced mostly well and Ava Reid is always engaging, but if that's truly the ending, well, it's pretty disappointing.

Thank you so much to HarperCollins Children's Books for the opportunity to read this book in advance of it's release March 4, 2025!
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Fable for the End of World is Ava Reid continuing to show off her amazing capabilities at creating the most enticing relationships between characters. I was so invested in Inesa and Mel. Their yearning and how they begin to care for each other despite their circumstances is really special. Two girls who had to go through really different but both very difficult circumstances being able to open themselves up to each other... My heart was theirs. I really enjoy this and found the universe and stakes it was set in to be just realistic enough that it had me feeling uneasy because I can imagine how the world gets to the place they were in. My only tiny gripe is that the blushing of their faces was mentioned enough that I got a bit annoyed by it but I also recognize it really underscores their youth and the tenderness they have for each other. That ending was brutal and middle school me would have been crying for days. All in all a great book and I have my fingers crossed for this being a series???? Who knows!!!

Overall the book was very engaging. I loved how she made points on how women are viewed in society. It was a little YA and predictable and I don’t know how I feel about the ending. 3.5/5

Fable for the End of the World is dystopian YA novel. It does have a sapphic romance between our two FMC’s. Ava Reid has created an amazing dystopian world that has hints of Hunger Game vibes, but is definitely a new twist and wasn’t just regurgitated themes. Inesa lives in a world where due to climate change and war, water levels increasing, radiation mutated animals, her and her family are struggling to survive. Amidst this is the corporate conglomerate known as Caerus which essentially have control over everything from doctors, groceries, and technology. They offer x amount of credits to be used to purchase these items, and if the debt exceeds the allotted amount, they hold a “Gauntlet” to repay the debt. This means that the family members can choose someone in their family to became the “lamb” who has to run/fight the “Angel”. This is live-streamed to the world and usually ends in the chosen lambs death. Our Angel is Melinoë. After suffering a mental break from killing her last lamb, she is forced to enter a new gauntlet where Inesa is the chosen lamb. This begins a journey of self-discovery on both sides, and such love and hope. The world building is so well done. I did cry at the ending. I just love them both so much. Special thanks to NetGalley and Harper publishing for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for proving an ARC for review.

Being fully honest, I felt disappointed by this. Ava Reid’s prose is beautiful as always, and I felt excited with the setting. It felt very reminiscent of 2010s YA dystopian fiction, and I loved the lore of the world.

The plot is where I struggled. There are moments where it feels like the dystopian horrors inexplicably pause in order to grow the relationship between Inesa and Melinoë. For instance, a key character goes missing, with their survival unknown, and for some reason there doesn’t feel like there’s any urgency to find this character. This laxity is also never explained. Instead, the plot tension pauses to build the romance between the characters.

By the end, this book was seriously dragging for me. I still feel mystified by where the story ended. Is there a sequel coming? Is that it?

I enjoyed parts of this but ultimately I feel stumped. The romance felt like Hunger Games fan fiction that was messily blended into a unique and interesting setting. I feel frustrated with this book and where it left off, but I also want a sequel.

3.5!

The concept is chilling and immediately hooks you into its bleak reality. While the characters are engaging and well-written, the world-building feels a bit thin. There were moments when I wished for a deeper explanation of how things came to be in this society.

Also, it is clear that Ava Reid intended it as an homage to old school dystopian stories, and while it nails that nostalgic vibe, occasionally leans a bit too heavily into familiarity.

The writing itself is beautifully crafted as we know is the strength of Ava.

Overall, if you are nostalgic for the dystopian era/ book where survival is on the line, I will be recommending this.

What a book to start in the wake of this election…


“Fable for the End of the World” by Ava Reid was a very enjoyable read. I was a little confused by the beginning of the book, but it very quickly picked up. Reid’s upcoming novel takes place in a world where a person can go into debt for material goods, whether it be fads or basic goods. If a person goes too into debt or wants to spend past a certain limit, they can be entered into the gauntlet, which is a fight to the death against an “angel” a cyborg like human entity that has been altered to become a killing machine.

This is going to be a book I think about often. Both Melinoë and Inesa have impacted me. I wish they lived in a different world, one where they could live freely.

In terms of critiques of the book, I feel like not that much happened in the matter of plot. However, this book did deliver in terms of sapphic love (that I wish was a little more fleshed out, but it is YA), conversation of capitalism, feminism and the consumption of the female body, humanity, and violence.

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

Absolutely stunning!! A triumphant entry into the dystopian space.. I felt so connected to Inesa and Mel. I found strange comfort in reading this around the election. Terrible, atrocious things will happen. Things that cannot be forgiven and cannot be forgotten. And also in the midst of all that terror, there can still be small moments of love and hope and beauty.