Took me right back to my YA dystopian era. I just know 14 year old me would’ve eaten this up.

I’d say a strong 3.75 overall. The ideas were intensely compelling. This story wears its influences on its sleeve and doesn’t shy away from some dark themes. But I wanted it to just do a bit more.

4.5 - This was such a fun YA dystopian book and what I think will be my new favorite Ava Reid book!! This was such a perfect throwback to the YA dystopian of our youth, mainly Hunger Games. I loved the new and fresh twists that Ava put on the classic dystopian stories we all know and I honestly could not put this book down!!

Fable FOr the End of the World follows Inesa and Mel who come from two different worlds. They live in a society that is run by Cearus, a corporation run by greed, that works to force people into debts and carry out violence to pay their debts off. The Gauntlet is Cearus' way of allowing people to pay their debts off, by forcing people to sacrifice one of their loved ones to fight a trained assassin for entertainment. Mel is one of the most famous trained assassins and she is ordered to hunt down and kill Inesa. When the Gauntlet goes very differently than anyone expected, Inesa and Mel are left alone together, forced to work together to survive, and develop a connection.

This book had a lot of great themes, namely the effects of climate change in a not so distant future, corporate greed, the consequences of capitalism, and trauma porn and how capitalism often capitalizes on trauma for profit and gain. There was great sapphic representation with the relationship that developed between Inesa and Mel. Overall, I had a really fun time reading this one and definitely felt like it was a great throwback to the YA dystopian novels of our youth.

Thanks to Harper Teen for the free book!!

Beautiful cover, a Hunger Games-like story with lesbians, one who is some kind of robot, and a road kill decorator, with the ending disappointing. I don't think the story lived up to the cover.

I'll admit: I was very skeptical going into this one, even as the professional journals were giving it glowing reviews. It just seemed like The Hunger Games in a different font—and while Suzanne Collins's influence is definitely present (Reid herself, in an author's note, credits Hunger Games fandom and fanfiction she consumed as a teen for partially inspiring the story), I'm pleased to report that this book neither reads like fanfic with the serial numbers filed off (all too common in the publishing world today) nor a blatant rip-off of a more successful author. Rather, Reid plunges us into a terrifying world that is already sinking into ecological disaster, ruled by a corporatocracy that's hard not to read as a stand-in for a certain river in South America, where every single part of your life—including your death—is commodified for others. As with Reid's previous YA novel, A Study in Drowning, I did feel at times like she was trying to cram TOO much social commentary into a book that was already a very solid social commentary, but it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment. I liked how rich, fraught, and terrifying the world she crafted is, with suggestions of massive nuclear fallout in the past reshaping the whole United States and a monstrous, goliath city simply known as "The City" (presumably New York) hoards wealth and safety while the poor have to live more provincially in a flooded world. I liked the relationship between the two main characters and thought Reid wrote their journey from predator and prey to friends to more with a deft hand; that kind of storyline is typically a hard sell for me, and this worked. The only two things I didn't like were the term used to describe the feral humans in this world who have resorted to cannibalistic tendencies (which comes from a creature from certain Native American traditions and, I was under the impression, was not appropriate to be attached to spooky dystopian monsters) and the ending. I cannot remember the last time a book, particularly a YA book, had an ending as unsatisfying as this one. Everything that led up to it was great, though, so a very minor quibble, but one that's still bothering me a week after the fact!

Ava Reid has made a love letter to dystopian media with Fable for the End of the World. This world has been altered by climate change and oppressed by you named it greedy corporations. We have Inesa who barely makes ends meet when her uncaring mother throws her into the Gauntlet to pay off her debts and then there is Melinoe, a Caerus assassin who will be the one to kill her on live tv.

This book is dark especially from Melinoe's POV. She is an assassin who has been altered to be the perfect weapon. Melinoe has her memories wiped regularly so she doesn't even know who she is any more. Her entire life is run and owned by Caerus. It is so heartbreaking reading her side of the story. Not to say that Inesa's life is any better. She lives day to day not knowing if she is going to be able to afford food all while trying to make her narcissistic mother happy. She is then thrown into the Gauntlet with no hope of survival against Melinoe.

It took me a while to get into the book. The first half was an introduction to the world and some of it was hard to follow in what was going on. The second half was when our characters met and began to really grow. This is not like Reid's other works which are more folklore and horror. This story is about the dangers of climate change, corporate greed and inequality which reflect in our current reality. I do feel like this does not have Reid's usual stunning prose that I have come used to with her other works.

I do think if you enjoy dystopian media you will enjoy Fable for the End of the World. It is not what I am used to from the author but still a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an review.

DNF @ 39%

I was enjoying this book, maybe not as much as some of Reid's other works, but then the inhuman, cannibalistic creatures called "W*nds" showed up and...hoo boy, cool, a non-Native author appropriating *that* entity with no respect for the actual beliefs and practices around it. Yeah, no, hard pass.

For the first time, a book that claimed to be similar to The Hunger Games actually delivered. The action, tension, and world-building made me feel as if I were watching the story unfold on camera. The pacing kept me engaged, and the stakes felt real. My only critique is the sped-up timeline of emotions, but that’s something I’ve come to expect in most books. Overall, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to publication day. Solid 4 out of 5 stars!

I loved this novel!

As a fan of the hunger games and all those dystopian novels of the 2000's this was amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed this story and characters!

I think Ava did an amazing job creating two strong female characters that you root for as a reader even when they are on opposite sides of the story. I fell in love with both female leads and loved to watch their relationship blossom.

The world that was created in this story was believable and heart wrenching! The story was fast paced and exciting without leaving out any details that gave me the full picture of what was happening.

My only critique is that I am devastated with the ending!! Will there be another book?

I loved this story and would love to read more of her books!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Children’s for a digital review copy of Ava Reid’s new book in exchange for an honest review.

Fable for the End of the World is the first of Ava Reid’s books that I have ever read and honestly just made me want to look into more of her work. It is a YA Dystopian that, rather than showing society under the rule of one person or one governmental entity, is controlled by a corporation.

We see that Caerus is king and those that bow to their will and are of more affluent means are well taken care of. The Gauntlet is their means of entertainment as well as their tool to cull those they deem undesirable.

While this is a work of fiction a lot of the absolute craziness that the main characters, Melinoe and Inesa, go through is ringing true in real life today. The us v them mentality between not only people of different financial classes but of different races. The treatment of women as property. Even more recent the ‘bailout’ of government by corporate figureheads and businessmen.

I did get introduced to the genre name Cli-fi, short for Climate Fiction and thought that was apt as the climate and environment is just as much of a character as our main duo. While it isn’t the environments fault, it shows that those that don’t kneel to the ruling body will either mutate or deteriorate. Conservation is an idea for those that believe in unity. Destroying the land and climate is just an easy cash grab for corporations who could then sell the cure to the masses for profit.

There were times in this book that absolutely shocked me which is something I love. Rating this story a 5 star read is a no brainer for me.

Ava Reid is definitely known for some bittersweet romances, but Fable for the End of the World takes the cake. Described by Ava as “a love letter to the dystopian YA fiction I grew up with,” particularly referencing the importance of The Hunger Games, Fable takes the do or die love of dystopian romances and reimagines it in the most brutal way. After finishing this book, I had to sit with my feelings for days, digesting everything this book stands for.

My absolute favorite part of this book was the setting. It takes place in the Esopus Watershed of New Amsterdam, i.e. the Esopus Watershed of upstate New York—where I live! New York state is often overlooked for the glitz and glam of New York City, but my state is vast and full of so many varying environs. Seeing the climate ravaged future, that is barely fictional and so scarily likely, of my home was heartbreaking.

Of course, my second favorite part of this book was the star-crossed romance of Melinoë and Inesa. Think Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray, but with less ambiguity and a more classist, corporate, patriarchal system of oppression. The sweet, practically domestic moments the two women have are contrasted by their dangerous environment and brutal circumstances.

In the end, this book may have broken my heart, but I have to give it five stars.

I started this review at 3 ⭐️ but moved it up to a 4⭐️ because clearly if I can write this long of a review I did feel a strong way about this book lol

TLTR: very immersive world, I felt the eeriness of the woods/forest as I was reading. It had a slow start but I enjoyed the book when I was reading. However, I didn’t feel the urge to pick it back up again after I’d put it down.

(Maybe that was also my mind protecting me from the ending because I didn’t see how they could live HEA.)

Quick intro: We meet Inesa in a sinking town living in a world ruled by a powered-up version of Amazon (Caerus) and a culture of people accumulating debt in order to just survive. Melinoë is a human, but has been under so many surgeries and had her mind Wiped so many times that it’s hard for her to feel human. Caerus, runs The Gauntlet that allows people to voluntarily to be hunted (and killed) by an Angel, like Mel, in order to earn 500,000 credits for their family. That’s how Inesa becomes the sacrificial lamb when her abuses mother volunteers her for the Gauntlet.

Characters: this is good coming of age story. Both Mel and Inesa are taking the steps to explore who they are apart of the system and people who have raised them. You see how they process their worlds and reflect themselves as individuals in that.

Note on world building: Ava Reid has a way of writing that really crates an atmosphere and felt the fear and eeriness of the woods beyond the civilization. However, we didn’t get a big chunk of the political history until 85% through the book. I really like the angle she took with it but why did I have to wait so long for it? For instance, it wasn’t until 85% through that it explained further that so many people went into debt was because Caerus allows everyone a line of 500,000 credit to be used for anything. **

For all the times Ava writes about strength in softness, I was annoyed they didn’t write about strength of showing her emotions (at least I didn’t see the big shift). Despite how many times Inesa commented on how crying madd her seem weak.**

** if I missed something while reading let a girl know please ✌🏻

Ava Reid is of course the queen of one liners so here were some I liked:
- It’s a shame we’ve started believing that credits are worth more than a life.
- “I’m sick of just surviving,” I whisper. “I want . . . more.”
- Nothing dooms you quicker than desire.

Final note: JACOB SUCKS

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

This is published Hunger Games fan fiction. Is that a bad thing? No, but it does mean the book is rather boring.

Reading this book I kept feeling like I've read this book before and the world building was much better the first time around. I'm not saying that the corporate controlled future dystopian setting was bad, if anything I found it realistic. However, I found it annoying how often the author would point out that people's debt was driven by their poor spending habits on things like action figures and greasy take out. It was a very avocado toast perspective and ignores that the majority of personal debt in our world are things like mortgages, medical debt, and student loans not consumer debt.

The premise of what if a career tribute fell in love with another tribute? is an interesting one but it's not well explored in this story and the ending was frankly lackluster.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC of this title.

Thank You to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC.

I love gay dystopia and this book DELIVERS. I struggled with the pacing in some parts, but I really liked this book. The romance was a beautiful contrast to the violent setting.

Thank You to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC
I was pleasantly surprised by Fable for the End of the World; normally I shy away from dystopia, but I am so glad that I gave this one a chance. Mel and Inesa's slow burn romance was a lovely contrast to the violence. Ava Reid makes clear that she has found her voice in science fiction and crafting a world explores the horrors of environmental disaster and how people crave escape from the world around them.

An achingly romantic and hopeful story that takes place in a bleak, unsettlingly familiar dystopian world, Fable for the End of the World is the kind of story we all need right now that clearly draws inspiration from many familiar stories while forging its own path. This book reminds you that kindness, softness, love, and compassion are the things that keep you human as the world falls apart.

A lot of this book, I was thinking about giving it a 3. It's dystopian, which isn't really a preferred genre for me, and it's YA. I feel like it wasn't very new and there were a lot of elements to this book that just kept making me think of others that have come before it. It was just kind of okay. The only thing really going for it was that I didn't HATE it as much as I did A Study in Drowning.

It goes for the enemies to lovers vibes, but I would have liked for them to have been enemies longer. Everything just felt too easy? I don't know. It was very mid to me.

The ending, however. Wtf was that? It was awful??? That's like a 1 star ending, so that's why I'm giving it a 2. I reserve 1s for the worst books I've ever read, but that ending was definitely up there. I can only hope it's meant to keep it open for a sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early eARC.

*Potential Spoilers*

This was a really interesting read. Dystopian is not my usual genre and yet I was pulled in by this story from the start. You can definitely see how Reed was inspired by The Hunger Games. I also got Lunar Chronicles -specifically Cinder- vibes because it has a little bit of the Cinderella feel to it.
I liked all three of the lead characters in this. Inesa is a little sheltered from the reality of her society by choice, but not ignorant. She knows hard work and responsibility. She just doesn’t condone the violence. Her brother, Luka, is probably more of a secondary character but he plays a large role in the story. He is Inesa’s support and strength. Without him, this book would have been MUCH shorter. Melinoë is a tragic character from her upbringing to her ending, but watching her learn how to live was so poignant and bittersweet.
To me, this book is about how hope perseveres even when it is futile. It’s a little scary how the history of Caerus fits with 21st century America. Reed makes it very easy to imagine how this could be us someday and it’s a chilling thought.

Thank you for the ARC opportunity! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Solid 4.5 stars. The only aspect that prevents me from giving this a full 5 stars is how the development of the Caerus world happened being explained so densely. I feel like that background information could be presented in a more immersive way that multi-paragraph inner thinking done by Melinoe. Fable gives full Hunger Games vibes without Inesa battling against several other teens simultaneously. Action-packed and emotion heavy means I could have read this in one or two days, if time/life allowed. I heard myself saying OMG repeatedly and staring at the pages, NEEDING to know what happens next. Inesa comes alive through her Gauntlet, and Melinoe appears to wake up, albeit slowly. Throughout their time in the wilderness, I rooted for Inesa and Melinoe, separately and together. I was so torn! Trust no one but your own community and be wary of government OR corporation overreach. Climate change and the effects of chemical warfare are also central to the plot and how the characters are shaped. A very fitting book for current times.

This one's for the girlies who grew up on that classic early 2000's YA dystopian! I feel like I've been chasing the high of Uglies and Hunger Games my entire adult life, and I finally found something that gave me those vibes!

I loved the world-building of this book so much. It feels just realistic enough to be high stakes and just fantastical enough to not feel existentially terrifying. I was so fascinated by this world and I especially liked that it took place in the exact part of the world I live in - it made it so cinematic because I could visualize the exact environment. I also loved the characters, and the fact that we got both Mel and Inesa's POVs made the stakes SO MUCH HIGHER. This book was dark, atmospheric, and full of tension. I loved the sapphic romance element and the climate fiction element - everything worked together so well and created a true banger of a story.

...also the ending destroyed me and I loved it.

4.5 stars rounded up

Thank you so much NetGalley and Ava Reid for allowing me to read this book early in exchange for an honest review. This dystopian ya is akin to hunger games or divergent and I loved ever second. I have it a 3.75 and rounded to 4 on goodreads