while the start of the book is not my absolute favorite (cw for financial distress) I trulyoved that Ava Reid finally did a sapphic romance. I was never into Hunger Games but this felt like the perfect homage to it and as always, Reid's writing is phenomenal.

Huge hunger game nostalgia here! Nostalgic, but the environmental challenges are even more potent and relevant to current issues we could face. Love Ava Reid's writing style as alway.

In this electrifying and emotionally charged dystopian novel, the ruthless corporation Caerus maintains its grip on society by turning debt into a death sentence. The Lamb’s Gauntlet—a brutal, televised assassination game—serves as both entertainment and a grim reminder of the consequences of financial ruin.

At the heart of this gripping story are two unforgettable protagonists: Inesa, a survivor hardened by a world that wants her dead, and Melinoë, the deadly assassin tasked with ending her life. Their cat-and-mouse chase through the apocalyptic landscape is pulse-pounding, but what truly elevates the novel is its deep exploration of power, control, and the possibility of love in a world built on violence.

Inesa’s resilience and fierce determination make her an easy character to root for, while Melinoë’s inner turmoil and haunting past add layers of complexity to what could have been a simple villain archetype. As the two clash and navigate their growing connection, the tension is both exhilarating and deeply emotional. The novel expertly balances action-packed sequences with moments of introspection, making it a thought-provoking read that lingers long after the final page.

Dark, thrilling, and unexpectedly tender, this book is a must-read for fans of dystopian fiction, high-stakes survival stories, and slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romances. It’s a brutal world, but the glimmers of hope and humanity shine all the brighter against its darkness.

I’ve read a few Ava Reid books and whole I find the writing to be lovely, I haven’t been blown away by the stories. But WOW okay is YA dystopian her genre or what?! This was so good!!!

You can definitley feel the Hunger Games inspiration running through this story - highly advanced govt, televised “game” to the death that often ends with the death of the participants that are from the poorest areas, a hope for a better future that’s separate from the govt, and a love story that transcends the violence.

I enjoyed the dual POV. I will say the romance kind of came on at a weird time? I thought there wasn’t enough build up leading up to it. I did like how it was written and developed but I coulda done with a little MORE. Not in a spicy way but in a pining, angsty, almost desperate way. It just felt almost “oh and by the way here’s the romance”. It was too insta love for me, especially with an enemies to lovers trope as well.

The ending definitley leads me to believe something has to be coming after this? If that’s the case, I think the ending was really good. But if that’s the ending and there’s no sequel, I think there’s a lot to be desired. If this is a standalone like I think is the plan, I definitley have more questions than answers.

I also think that a one pager with the rules of the gauntlet would have really helped the world building. While we get the general idea I think that would have been a bit more immersive. I think there’s a bit of an info dump near the end explaining the Caerus corporation that we could have gotten a bit earlier on to clearly outline the world building.

The societal commentary was thought provoking. Consumerism, climate change, corporate greed, the role and expectations of women in society, the impact of social medias and internet, and a few more topics were all present in this novel.

Overall I really enjoyed this and I think it’s worth the read! Dystopian is so back! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and Ava Reid for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

3.75 rounded up

I've read several Ava Reid books now and just haven't been blown away like others seem to be. With that being said, this is my favorite so far. Dystopian YA might be her sweet spot. Reid calls out Hunger Games as an influence in her acknowledgments, and it's clear to see where she drew a majority of her inspiration. I tore through this book.

In a society where lines between corporations and government are blurred, the population spirals deeply into debt. Those who've gone too far are put into a gauntlet where they will be hunted by surgically altered trained assassins in exchange for their debt. Of course, it's all televised live. Dual POVs take us from Inesa, the lamb being tracked as she struggles to survive, and Melinoe, the most ruthless of the assassins looking to redeem herself. The stakes are high for two young girls in a world turned against them.

My biggest issue with the book was the ending. It felt like a sizzle where I expected a bang. I'm not sure if the author is planning on writing another book to continue the story as it's left open-ended. If a sequel is released I would definitely pick it up as I think there are more storylines to continue and wrap up. If you're a fan of the Hunger Games series, or YA dystopian novels in general, I would check this one out.

Unfortunately this book fell short for me, but before I go any further, don’t let my review or opinions stop you from trying this book out! As a dystopian lover, I was very much excited to hear about and read this book. I loved how Reid set up the beginning of the book, and Inesa and her brother’s relationship was a highlight throughout. As a post-apocalyptic world, Reid woven elements and themes that made the world-building intriguing in some parts.

What I didn’t like was the pacing. For a standalone, I was definitely expecting more and the book could’ve used being longer in length. Inesa and Mel’s relationship felt insta-love, and that’s a trope that I am very much over. While there were some things that set it apart, it felt like other dystopian books but make it sapphic. I was really hoping for more of the tension when they were enemies, before they quickly turned into lovers. To me, it was also missing the author’s prose that I’ve read in her other books. This book was still beautiful in its own way, and I encourage you to give it a shot!

🩵 Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

Ava Reid perfectly integrates lyrical prose with deep commentary on such intense and pragmatic topics such as the value of memory, self vs. public image, the meaning of love in relation to ownership, and much more in ways that are stimulating and prudent. Young readers are given a space to unpack and consider what Ava Reid presents at such an important and relevant time. Fable for the End of the World is the resurgence of dystopian literature that our future needs. Ava Reid's writing stands next to that of George Orwell and Suzanne Collins not-so-safely challenging the status of present society and position of government practice.

Ava Reid is able to comment on an extraordinary amount of topics regarding humanity and society. Fable for the End of the World takes a dive into parent/child relationships looking to understand or dissect how love and ownership get muddled as well as the distinction between ownership and responsibility. Ava Reid subtly makes climate change and the governments role in said change a major theme in this novel, questioning its role and responsibility in protecting the world vs. the control and power grab it often reverts to. Another topic that moved me to its core in a thoughtful manner was how social-media streaming, consumption, and online interaction change the chemistry of how our minds perceive ourselves, others, our actions, and the world around us. Reid also notes on topics such as body adaptation vs. soul, debt vs. help, addiction, and one I thought was so important, the expectation/ habit of the female apology. Ava Reid integrates mythologies from around the world to personify and explain the roles and expectation of the characters with the story deepening the reading experience.

“Nothing is created without need. When we see flowers blooming or hear birds singing, we think it’s beautiful. But when people need each other, it seems so ugly.”

Fable for the End of the World is the Hunger Games meets climate change and an irradiate corporate hellscape as well as enemies to reluctant allies to lovers and sapphic yearning.

This book features to two young women living in this dystopian hellscape:

Inesa — a teenage taxidermist living in a not-so-future rural New York who works hard to scrape by and take care of herself and her family and keep them out of debt

Melinoë — a teenage assassin that’s basically half human half cyborg who was groomed to be the perfect killing machine except she is in fact not the best killing machine because of those pesky little things we call *human emotions*

Melinoë is part of what they call the Angel program that hunts and kills people who have racked up too much debt in what they call the Gauntlet. Due to an unfortunate series of events, Inesa ends up being chosen to be a Lamb (yes, like a sacrifical lamb) in the next Gauntlet with none other than our girl Melinoë hunting her.

The book deals with climate change, the ills of social media culture, and more, including an ‘Zon-like company that controls the market and keeps their citizens entertained and docile, and, of course, shelling out money.

If you are like me, you would say that sounds like everything I love! But unfortunately, the execution left something to be desired imo.

One major issue is I think it tried to tackle too many issues. Books like The Hunger Games (which Ava says was a huge inspo) tend to focus on a few key issues and really go in hard on those concepts with the criticism and commentary. This book tried to tackle so many issues like climate change, capitalism, class, corporate greed, social media and influencer culture, violence, plastic surgery (and probably more that I’m forgetting). Because of the many issues it tried to comment on a lot of it felt like surface level commentary. I do think this book has more substance than Divergent because it definitely wants to make commentary rather than just capitalizing on a popular genre, but it’s surface level thoughts did bring me back to Divergent in the sense that it just feels like a book you would read for fun and entertainment and not come out at the end feeling any different — unlike its inpso the Hunger Games.

Another issue, one that really contributed to my rating this 3.5, is the worldbuilding. In my teens when YA dystopians were all the rage, a huge part of understanding the story, the characters’ motivations, what the author is critiquing, etc… is the worldbuilding. Understanding the institutions that oppress the characters and how they came to be imo are integral to understanding what the author is trying tell, and I spent a huge part of this book not knowing much about the “villain” of the story that is Caerus. They are just a corporation that somehow came to control everything, but how did they end up in this position? We don’t find out until the end of the book near—I think—the 90% mark in a info dump. If this info had come earlier in the book and peppered throughout, I think my opinion of this book would be alot better because I wouldn’t have felt so lost about who we were trying to oppose. To me, a good book needs—especially one with a oppressive institution—to have a clear villain that you can rage against, and Caerus as a villain felt weak because I just didn’t know enough about it. I just had to fill in my own feelings about the ‘Zon.

Also, one last note, I just feel like this book should have been longer. The slow burn (ish) of Inesa and Melinoë’s relationship was soooo good (for my swifties, it was HARDCORE giving ivy) but once they got together everything got reallllly rushed.

That being said, Ava Reid’s writing style is beautiful as always. I had a very hard time picking out a quote to start this review with because there were so many GORGEOUS quotes. So, I think if you don’t go into this with high expectations for a social commentary/critque, and just want a beautiful sapphic romance (that felt a little shakespearean) with some great things to say about issues our own world is plagued with, then I think you would like this.

Ava Reid is becoming one of my favorite authors. I have a hard time with horror so I have to be selective but Fable for the End of the World was right up my alley.

Sapphic Young Adult dystopian fantasy. Themes of corporate greed, women in media, climate change and mob mentality. The nods to Hunger Game were appreciated and filled me with a sense of nostalgia.

I loved the character growth of Mel and Inesa through the book. Inesa got tougher and more confident right before my eyes and Mel got softer and more “human”.

The animal and human mutations were thrilling and terrifying and a very real concern if the planet isn’t taken care of.

I wish the ending had a bit more emotion behind it. I would have liked to see Inesa dealing with her grief and anger more and exploring that.

Thank you, Netgalley and HarperCollins, for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Oh man, what a trip. There was so much to love here. The writing was excellent, and the storyline—which, okay, yes—did feel a lot like the Hunger Games, but not in a derivative way, and I think there were notes of The Handmaid's Tale, too. God... poor Melinoë and the other Angels... I also want to shout out Ava Reid, who wrote this very dark tale, but everything encompassing the dark, tragic, or even horrific themes didn't feel gratuitous. Everything had a purpose.

I thought there was a good build-up with Melinoë and Inesa's relationship. The romance didn't feel forced or rushed and it very well could have been because the narrative's pacing was fast, but it just worked. Also, *god* I loved Inesa and Luka's relationship too. Excuse me as I sob to death.

My only nitpick was that the ending felt abrupt, but that might just be me. Overall, it was a solid, well-told tale.

4.75
Holy Crap. What a story.
The writing is amazing. The concept is entertaining and draws you in so well. It is definitely Hunger Games inspired and it invokes a lot of similar feelings in terms of thinking about the world. If you were a fan of the Hunger Games than I believe you would love this as well. I wish there was more. I was so invested in everything that was happening and unfolding. I didn't want it to end. The characters are so rich and develop so well over the course of the story. it's easy to see how this dystopian world could potentially come to be. READ THIS BOOK!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5
# Pages: 400
Publication Date: 03.04.25

"𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒕, 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓.”

* YA Sapphic Romance
* Dual POV
* Dystopian
* Climate Wasteland
* Enemies To Lovers
* Voyeurism
* Standalone
* The Last Of Us X Hunger Game Vibes

- The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in this stand-alone dystopian romance about survival, sacrifice, and love that risks everything.

Fable For The End Of The World by Ava Reid is a sapphic dystopian standalone. Ava always has such creative, beautiful, alluring and captivating way of writing. She is amazing at world building and character development. This one didn’t disappoint, per the usual.

Melinoë is a Caerus assassin, who is trained to kill the “lambs”. Inesa, a taxidermist (with her brother), goes to the Gauntlet in place of her mother’s debt. Both our FMCs come from different walks of life. However, despite these differences, they’re able to teach each other, love each other and see things differently. I loved how their love story unfolds.

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

"And maybe that’s all it takes—at least at the beginning. Just a few people who care. And that caring matters, even if it can’t cool the earth or lower sea levels or turn back time to before a nuclear blast.”

I’m honestly surprised with the ending and I’m hoping Ava changes her mind about it being a standalone. If not, this will still live rent free in my mind. Overall, I throughly enjoyed the read and can’t wait to read more of her work.

Thank you netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for this ARC.

In the author’s note, Ava explains that Fable for the End of the World takes heavy inspiration from The Hunger Games. The anti-capitalist themes are just as strong in Fable as they are in it’s predecessor. What’s more is we get a glimpse at how capitalism pits two girls – who are both used – against each other, and the danger when they don’t fall for the game.
Esopus Creek is drowning. Every year the water gets higher. Every year its citizens go more in debt to Caerus, their savior and their damnation. What started as a slow economic changed turned into a corporate government hellbent on owning everything in sight, even it’s people. While the elite are given high ranking positions in the city, the poor are left to fend for themselves, going into untold amounts of debt until Caerus says it’s too much. Then, they face the gauntlet or they sell out another to do it for them.
Inesa and her brother, Luka have been living with that debt as much as possible. But a turn of events sets them in the gauntlet together, facing down one of the Caerus angels – Beautiful, deadly girls sent to hunt their prey for the city’s entertainment. This violent, brutal challenge is how those in too much debt pay it off… They fight for their life or they sacrifice another. Inesa is constantly put down by her mother as weak and emotional. She is defined by her kindness, her unwillingness to betray others, and her deep sense of empathy—traits that, in the eyes of Caerus, make her ill-suited for survival and the perfect lamb.
Melinoe is the most hated angel. The most perfect angel, according to her maker. But after a failed gauntlet, she’s being tested. She cannot fail again, or they’ll wipe her… Turn her into a doll on the arm of a corrupt corporate elite.
The dystopian narrative serves as a powerful critique of capitalism, particularly highlighting the commodification of human lives. Caerus reduces it’s citizens to mere assets, their worth measured by their economic contributions and debts. inspiration from real-world capitalist practices, notably the predatory nature of debt. The corporation's strategy of encouraging massive debt accumulation mirrors modern issues like exploitative lending practices and the oppressive weight of financial obligations. This parallel underscores the novel's critique of how capitalist systems can devalue human life, treating individuals as mere economic units rather than beings with intrinsic worth.

I want to start by saying that I LOVE the cover for Fable for the End of the World. It immediately caught my eye while scrolling and made me so excited to read it. This is my first Ava Reid novel and I really enjoyed her writing style! The characters were so well done, the plot was interesting, and world building was perfectly intertwined with the storytelling (rather than info dumping).

My biggest problem with this novel though was the pacing. It took me awhile to get into the story like with most fantasy/dystopian novels but once I was in it I was hoping for a fast paced Hunger Games-esque middle to end. Sadly, I found it got really good, fully capturing my attention and then slowed down significantly. Once the immediate danger of Mel hunting Inesa went away because the cameras were off I found it really lost my attention. I understand that the two obviously had to fall in love somehow but it felt a little disjointed the transition between the two arcs. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely still enjoyed myself while reading but it ended up taking me a lot longer to finish than I would’ve liked.

All in all, really solid book and I can’t wait to read more by Ava Reid!

Fable for the End of the World challenges the thought, what if there was more to life? But unlike the fairy tales where the protagonist gets the love interest, this book doesn't go as prettily. Instead, you're met with the bleak outlook that no matter how much you may want to live a different life, sometimes that's just not in the cards. It makes you think of the oppression minorities face daily, the things they go through in the face of an oppressive government who seeks to control the minds of those who are less fortunate and boost up the lives of those who can afford to rise above the rest.

2.5 stars
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I’ve mostly enjoyed Ava Reid’s books so far ( although Lady Macbeth is a temporary DNF). and while I’m all for authors experimenting and going outside their comfort zone/genre, I found myself feeling very mixed about Fable for the End of the World. While Reid’s prior works have delved into the darker side of life through folkloric and literary metaphors, this one is a gritty dystopian, and while there are merits to this, I feel like it didn’t quite resonate with me as much as their other work, due to my different form of investment in this genre by comparison.
The world building is intriguing, and the ways the social commentary was woven in was probably one of the highlights of the book for me, highlighting how our already terrible situation could get worse through giving power to megacorps, as well as the over-reliance and consumption of everything from tangible goods to media. A lot of it felt very prescient, hitting close to home.
The other saving grace here was Reid’s writing, which at least did not frustrate me the way it did with Lady Macbeth. It’s YA, so I’m not shocked it’s more accessible prose-wise, but I’ll take any win I can get here.
The characters were a major area where I felt let down, which sucks, because I was so hyped for the sapphic relationship. But both were rather underwhelming, and considering some of the books in Reid’s backlist deal directly with rage, trauma, and healing, I had hoped there would be more of that, but there wasn’t, and both leads were pretty uninspiring. Melinoe was a bigger disappointment, as she was meant to be a cold-hearted assassin, but she didn’t fully deliver on that. Inesa was kind of just...there.
And the Gauntlet trials…I’ve seen some Hunger Games comps, and while I can’t accurately compare the two as I haven’t read that, I will say that the competition aspect felt a little too unoriginal, given all that had come before, in both the dystopian and the wider SFF genre. This book felt a little like Reid was a fan of the genre and understood the facets of it, but not quite how to bring it all together in a way that would both stand out and be interesting to readers.
However, it should also be noted that early reviews do seem to skew more toward the positive than critical/negative. And as I’m not an avid fan of the genre, this could be one of those cases where my own genre bias is getting in the way. I’d recommend consulting a variety of reviews, especially from those who share your taste in books before making a decision on this one either way.

This is one of Ava’s better books in my opinion! I loved the twist on The Hunger Games - instead of a big tournament, people are selected individually to be hunted down by “Angels” or girls modified by the government to become beautiful assassins, while the world watches on their tablets.

I really enjoyed both of the MCs and their sapphic enemies to lovers story. I felt like their connection was natural and I was anxiously rooting for them to find a way to beat the system. This was super fast paced and action packed and I finished it pretty quickly because I couldn’t put it down.

That being said, there were things that I wanted more of. While I can appreciate the ending, I personally prefer a more solid conclusion especially in a standalone. There were also certain storylines with a lot of potential that I wish had been expanded upon. I feel like this could have been a really great series.

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

Phenomenal. I won’t stop thinking about it for a while. If you like the Hunger Games you’ll love this.

I wanted to love Fable for the End of the World—I really did. I’m usually a huge fan of Ava Reid’s work, and I was especially excited to see her branch into a sapphic romance. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work for me. The romance felt rushed, and I never felt any real chemistry or connection between the two main characters. Their tragic backstories set up a promising start, but the story quickly plateaued, and I struggled to stay invested in where it was going.

Beyond that, the book felt like too many genres mashed together—2014-era YA dystopia, a forced sapphic romance, Wendigos that aren’t really Wendigos, and a drowning world mixed with a modern city that I just couldn’t visualize.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Fable for the End of the World is Ava Reid’s ode to the dystopian YA of Hunger Games, Divergent, and all the heroes we loved to root for as teens ourselves. The story follows Inesa, the lamb, and Mel, the angel as they are thrust into a Gauntlet where Inesa is all but certain to die at Mel’s hands. What follows is an endearing dystopian love story that details the extents we go to not only for our survival, but the survival or our loved ones, our world, and our dreams.

I’ve read and enjoyed a few works by Reid previously, and what I enjoyed about this novel in particular is the way she stays true to the classic YA angst while inserting her classic lush writing. I could tell there was a few moments she knew she would have our stomachs in a twist (in a good way!) from the longing, uncertainty, or sadness that unfolds over these pages.

Something I would have liked to see more of in this novel is worldbuilding. There were a handful of times that I felt that the tension of some of the scenes could have landed harder if we’d been given some additional context for the harshness of world, as well as a few of our other periphery characters. This felt particularly true when it came to Mel and Inessa’s dynamic—I found it hard in some places to believe their romance fully without the tension building across characters and world. I do think Reid gets her main points across, but I feel this world and people have a lot more it could offer, and I hope others can see it!

As Reid notes in the introduction, this book is inspired by Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games. While this is not necessarily a critique, I found myself comparing those parallels in Fable for those scenes in Hunger Games. I didn’t mind it too much, but other readers, know there are some strong parallels if that might not be your cup of tea. I’m curious to know how other readers will react to the ending. I won’t say much to avoid spoilers, but I look forward to others sharing their thoughts when this comes out in March 4!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for this e-ARC!