Fable for the End of the World will keep you on the edge of your seat, just like all the other spectators who tune in daily to watch Inesa and Melinoë navigate their gauntlet. I could never have imagined the twists and turns this book took. I truly loved it and the intense, impactful scenes it delivered. I was so captivated by the story that I couldn’t tear myself away.

3.5⭐ rounded down because of how it ended. Thank you NetGalley & HarperCollins Children's Books for the ARC. When I first finished this book just short of 2025 coming along, I wasn't exactly sure just how MUCH I liked it. It's after further reflection that came with typing out this review that confirmed, okay, I had a pretty good enough time. Not amazing, but it did leave me wanting more.

Ava Reid mentions in her notes that she was directly inspired by <i>The Hunger Games</i> and those influences are therefore impossible to miss. The story beats of "impoverished and marginalized people forced to participate in a televised death match to the entertainment of the upper class" and "Sibling tries to keep Other Sibling alive when the latter has to participate" would mean it'll feel very familiar to many readers. Similar themes are explored. Regardless, that wasn't necessarily off-putting to me because of the Marvel Black Widow-esque element in the book, whereby cybernetically-modified girls known as Angels act as assassins to hunt and kill the "Lambs" forced to participate in this killing spectacle called the Gauntlet. <i>Fable</i> is thus like if <i>THG</i> gave a POV to one of the Capitol's mutations and Prim was the main character instead.

The story largely explores the abuse, control & commodifying of young girls. Their bodily autonomy is stripped away for the sole purpose of fulfilled the corporation Caerus' capitalistic needs. Caerus profits off people's deaths, and like <i>THG</i>'s Capitol, even spins a narrative around each Gauntlet like it's a soap opera and not merely murder. The Angel program further cements the horror—all the modifications it forces upon girls starting from their pre-teenhood, including ones for pure cosmetic reasons that encourage the objectification and sexualization by their audience. They're designed to kill, but they must look beautiful (and therefore eventually, marriage material for rich, sick men). Everything described as having done to Angels is so skin-crawling that it's hard to actually hate them, even the one Angel who's so indoctrinated that she acts like she believes in the system and relishes the violence. Because at the end of the day, these are teenage girls who never had a proper say. As we further along the story, <i>Fable</i> also brings up the disgusting voyeuristic lens that women, notably sapphic women, are subjected under. Nothing is sacred when you're put up for the consumption of an audience.

While romance wasn't a driving feature in the first <i>THG</i> book, it is here. <i>Fable</i> is about Inesa & Melinoë finding new meaning in life through each other. The sapphic romance was an effective enough slowburn, and I appreciated that that Reid gave us a lot of essential quiet moments where the two opened up to each other of their traumas. Given that the girls' first encounter was through intense brutality, with violence inflicted on each other, it was necessary for empathy for the other's tragedy to sink in for any kind of meaningful bond to develop. Inesa & Melinoë come to see each other as kindred spirits—both are victims of a system that consume and spit out girls like them; both were abused by parental figures who should have protected them. They were raised to see the other as an animal and a mere killing machine respectively, but grew to recognize the humanity they shared. It is this humanity that they desperately try to cling to, with how they struggle with and ultimately reject having to kill the other despite their lives on the line. Inesa refuses to kill another human, and Melinoë is constantly being haunted by the blood on her hands.

Melinoë, despite being a victim herself, acknowledges she still holds some privilege over the impoverished Inesa and the power imbalance that thus exists between them. At the end of the day, it's people like Inesa who are supposed to die. Melinoë doesn't make excuses for it, and it's heartwarming to see her reject the comfortable fantasy crafted for her for the harsh and ugly reality ... because Inesa is part of it. Inesa being the first real thing she wants to fight for.

Meanwhile, Inesa's arc is about her finding the fire she has so long tampered out just to stay alive. There's an interesting reversal of roles when it comes to her character. To bring it back to <i>THG</i>, she is the older sibling (a la Katniss), but her personality and role defaults more to Prim. It is her younger brother Luka who hunts and tries to keep her alive with his superior outdoor wilderness skills. Her time with Melinoë ignites her formerly suppressed rage at the system; she did everything "right" and was still punished for it. By book's end, Inesa wants to DO something rather than keep her head down and merely survive.

The start was a bit of a slog to get through, but once it was just Inesa & Melinoë, I grew much more invested. I actually wished this was at least 50 pages longer because I eventually came to enjoy following these two. I rooted for them so hard and wanted them to finally be free to live meaningful lives. The ending did not leave me wholly satisfied, but it wasn't completely cynical either. Prior to <i>Fable</i>, I've never read an Ava Reid book and WANTED a sequel, so this was a first.

I’ll caveat this review by stating that I love Ava Reid. Ava Reid’s Fable for the End of the World is a stunning and deeply atmospheric novel that showcases her signature lyrical prose and masterful world-building. Reid has an incredible talent for creating richly imagined, immersive landscapes, and this book is no exception.

Set in a hauntingly beautiful world on the brink of collapse, Fable for the End of the World blends myth, folklore, and melancholic reflections on the human condition. Reid’s writing is poetic, weaving evocative imagery that captures both the vastness of the world and the intimacy of the characters’ emotions. The story is both epic and introspective, exploring themes of loss, survival, and the search for meaning amidst despair.

The characters are richly drawn, each struggling with their own sense of purpose in a world that seems to be unraveling. Reid’s prose captures their longing, fear, and resilience in a way that feels both timeless and haunting. The narrative has a quiet, meditative quality, but the moments of tension and discovery are intensely gripping.

While the pacing might be slow for some, it enhances the reflective and philosophical tone of the novel. Fans of Ava Reid will find much to love here, as the book showcases her gift for blending the ethereal with the human. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Rating: 5/5
Recommendation: A must-read for fans of Ava Reid’s previous works, as well as anyone who enjoys atmospheric, poetic fiction with deep exploration of humanity and survival.

The book begins with a foreward that mentions The Hunger Games which puts those books in the forefront of your mind, and thusly, you instantly start to compare Fable for the End of the World to it. Hunger Games it is not, which should be a good thing, but unfortunately for Fable, it's not. This book lacks the world building, political complexity, and heart of those books. And I'm not even a hardcore Hunger Games fan.

Fable tells its story through two POVs: Inesa, a taxidermist who lives in a waterlogged, podunk town along with her stoic brother and histrionic mother; and Melinoë, a corporation-created lethal cyborg (called Angels) who kills "lambs" during "Gauntlets".

So let's talk about these gauntlets. A giant corporation called Caerus essentially controls the country through a mega monopoly and is an obvious nod to Amazon. People rack up debt through Caerus and you're allowed to carry up to 500,000 in which then you can offer up somebody (or I suppose yourself) to pay off the debt. This...volunteer is thrust into a gauntlet, in which they have to survive for 11 days while one of the aforementioned Angels tries to off you.

I tried not to think too hard about the details of this, but the suspension of disbelief here is difficult. This gauntlet and its relationship to the classes feels very flimsy. There's frankly a lot of things you just have to try not to think about too much, or it stops making any sense. Why is Inesa and her brother surviving as taxidermists in a poor town?

Anyhow, the story starts off fine, and I actually really like the relationship between her and her brother Luka, and their shared grief with their father. When Inesa is inevitably thrown into the gauntlet, I was really enjoying her and her brother fending off Melinoë. (view spoiler)

The pacing of this book is all over the place. It really feels like the plot is just paused so that Inesa and Melinoë can talk. All the intensity is lost, and as a reader, you do not feel any stakes or suspense. Then there's the romance...sigh. It's so dry and forced and I felt zero chemistry between the two characters. I never felt like I really knew Inesa as a character, and Melinoë I knew a tiny bit more. I needed more depth to everything in this story, and in this world.

I gave it 3 stars, because I think the writing in general is good, though nowhere near as good as something like Juniper and Thorn which was beautifully written. I think there were some elements touched on here that worked, mainly with the Angels. I don't think it's necessarily a bad book, but just very shallow.

Hunger Games but make it sapphic. I love a dystopian YA, due in huge part to my love of Hunger Games in high school. Ava Reid writes beautifully and hauntingly, and you can tell she was inspired by those YA stories we grew up with.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Thank you to Net Galley and HarperCollins for the ARC. Unfortunately this was not for me. The plot and characters were boring. The story was predictable.

Ava Reid is so completely chaotic- capable of pretty much writing anything, although I find her books are often a little controversial/taste specific. I do think Fable for the End of the World might be her most accessible and well received work.

In the future, everything is irradiated, corporations rule everything, city states reign supreme, and crippling inherited debt dominates the lives of most regular people. When you cant paid that debt, you can offer yourself or someone in the family into a murder gauntlet where an overpowered technologically advanced killing machine chases after you on livestream until you are dead.

Inesa lives a small life on the outskirts of town with her brother and mother, and is offered up to the gauntlet when her mothers debts become too much. She has no real hope of survival, but with the help of her brother, she hopes to escape into the wilderness that is often littered with Wends, monsters victim to radiation.

Melinoë is an angel- a genetically modified human with one purpose: to kill.

This premise borrows a lot of popular dystopias without being a boring copy and paste scifi- it heavily utilizes gaming and streaming culture in the narrative and addresses late stage capitalism surprisingly well for a young adult book. The scifi elements; particularly involving human modulation, are fascinating- and Reid manages to make a generally compelling world that will elevate your cortisol with anger and absolute anxiety.

All of the characters are pretty interesting, with Inesa being a bit closer to our baseline "relatable girl", though I find her internal monologue fascinating. As a bit of an outlier and raised by at least one rebel parent, she acts as a counterbalance to the world she lives in. Her relationship to her brother Luka is compelling- and in fact, her whole complex family dynamic opens up a lot of room for mystery and suspense.

Melinoë is the heavy hitter when it comes to pure story engagement as a modified human (known as an Angel) with no memories of her former life. She lives a dual life of comfort and wealth, however, she is completely under the thumb of her handler Azrael, and gives us some of our darkest glimpses to how capitalism is used to abused women in the "Fable" universe. The politics of Angels and how they are used as entertainment and enforcers to the system is fascinating. Her engagement is often with her handler or with other Angels, and its pretty much non stop uncomfortable.

The romance is the beating heart of this story, but not because of time spent. The first long leg of the novel really focuses on worldbuilding and setting up the plot. The positive to this is the world feels very lived in by the time our heroines meet. The negatives are that when they do meet, apparently not a single author is contractually allowed to have their romance burn into the next book because the romance goes fairly fast. Not offensively insta love fast, but the timeline feels really abridged. I was still deeply engaged, but a lot has to happen very fast in order to ensure both characters fall in love effectively.

The romance is friends to enemies to lovers on an accelerated timeline, but watching the two characters team up to survive is a ton of fun.

Fable for the End of the World borrows a little bit from The Hunger Game and The Grace Year with possibly some Wilder Girls mixed in. Its a adventure and romance and scifi goodness in a classic YA Dystopia package.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for accepting my request for an ACR of this book!
4.5/5
Even a wolf can be gentle if it wants, but you should never forget its teeth
I was so ecstatic to find the acceptance email in my inbox. I am a sucker for dystopian novels so when there are any new books I will always read them. I loved the different POVs of Mel and Inesa. The worldbuilding was incredibly immersive, I loved certain creative liberties that took place. I will say, I can see the ending being discussed on if it was the right way to end it that way, but I personally really enjoyed it. My only complaint about the plot is that I wish there was more of Lukas, because I felt like the character wasn’t really fleshed out as much as he could have been

I don’t even know where to begin with Fable for the End of the World, because this book is honestly just a vibe, and I’m fully in my feels about it. It’s like if you took an apocalypse, a broken world, and just added some seriously amazing writing, and then shook it up with a whole lot of emotional chaos. And somehow, Ava Reid just makes it work.

Inesa? She’s out here surviving, and I mean really surviving. The world’s fallen apart, and she’s constantly on the run, hunted by Melinoë—who, let’s be real, is like the dystopian version of a cat playing with its prey. Think The Hunger Games, but with immortal, god-like beings who don’t play by the usual rules. Inesa can’t catch a break. She's running for her life while also trying to hold onto whatever’s left of her humanity, and you really feel that constant tension as the story goes on. Every step she takes, you know there’s someone just behind her, always waiting for the chance to catch her.

And then there’s Melinoë. Ugh. Melinoë is the type of character you love to hate (or maybe hate to love?). She’s this perfect mix of calculating and cold, a deadly force that plays her own game in a world where rules don’t exist. She’s hunting Inesa, sure, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a power struggle, a dance of survival and control, and it makes every interaction between the two of them so tense. The way Melinoë toys with Inesa, manipulates her... it was hard to put the book down because I couldn’t wait to see how their dynamic would unfold. It’s one of those love-hate relationships that makes you question whether you’re rooting for the villain or the hero—or both.

What I loved most about this book, though, was how Inesa and Melinoë’s interactions were never simple. They start off as complete opposites, but as things progress, you realize they’re both just trying to survive in a world that doesn’t give them the luxury of peace. There’s a push and pull between them that’s so beautifully written, and their interactions had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

As for the world-building, wow. Ava Reid really brings this broken world to life in a way that feels both dangerous and mesmerizing. The stakes are high, the world feels alive, and every page made me feel like I was caught in this chaotic, ever-shifting landscape. It's a place where nothing is guaranteed, and everyone’s out for their own survival.

The pacing of the book is just right. There’s always something happening, and you’re never quite sure where the next twist will come from. It’s got that Hunger Games vibe where you’re constantly wondering who’s going to be left standing and what it’ll cost them to make it to the end.

The relationship between Inesa and Melinoë? It’s everything I didn’t know I needed. The way they play off each other, the constant friction—it’s not just about survival, it’s about power, trust, and who can get the upper hand. And while there’s no neat, happily-ever-after here, the ending felt right for the story. It’s raw, messy, and earned. I can’t say much more without spoilers, but trust me, it’s worth the emotional rollercoaster.

Overall, Fable for the End of the World was a whirlwind of survival, betrayal, and complex relationships. It’s gritty, it’s intense, and it had me hooked from the start. If you’re into books that make you question everything, push you to your emotional limits, and leave you with no choice but to turn the page, then this one’s for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins and Ava Reid for this ARC.

Fable for the End of the World will have you at the edge of your seat, just like the rest of the viewers watching the Inesa and Melinoë’s gauntlet day in and day out. Never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted anything that happened in this book. I absolutely loved it and all of the intense emotional moments it had. I found myself glued to the story, unable to pull away. You’ll love Fable for the End of the World if you love enemies to lovers, post apocalyptic settings, and unpredictable endings.

Another great book by Ava Reid. I found that as with all her other books I've read, she does and excellent job setting the scene and pulling the reader into the setting - her writing is very atmospheric. I'm very nostalgic for the dystopian YA era this books pulls from and I feel like it did so beautifully. It was referential and familiar without being a rip off. I find Ava Ried's books to generally be a cut above, yet they tend to somehow never give me exactly, exaaaactly the pay off I want. I'm always left wanting 5-10% more, idk how else to explain it. However, this book has many strengths it does deliver on and is well worth the read - recommend!!

3.75 stars rounded up to 4!

Warnings for: child abuse, mentions of past sexual abuse (very vague in text), wild animal death, capitalism/corporatism

Some spoilers ahead!

After sitting with my thoughts for a while, I feel like I finally have a handle on my feelings for Fable.

While there are some elements that really worked for me — such as the prose, messaging, some of the world building, and the characters on their own — I think overall the story needed more time to develop. The romance between main characters Inesa and Melinoë (both who I think should've been older than 17 based on their experiences and voices) feels rushed; while I know that trauma bonding contributes to their feelings, ten or so days didn't feel long enough to go from predator/prey to lovers. While reading, I fully expected that somehow the 13 day deadline would be pushed out to give them both time to develop feelings. Instead it felt a little bit like instalove to me, especially with their declarations of love towards the end of the book.

Because this was inspired by, and comp'd to, The Ancient Texts (Hunger Games), I had certain expectations going in with regards to the romance, world building, and the state of the characters' world at the end of the book — namely that somehow the entire corrupt system would be shattered by the end, or that at least cracks would have formed. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

For me the climax was a bit of a let down. It felt rushed, over and done with in just a handful of pages, and it seemed like the author was leading to a bigger connection to Esopus Creek than what the connection ended up being. I'd accidentally seen a non-spoiler review of the book before reading that said the ending was "hopeful." I assumed that meant both characters managed to evade their persuers, and the story would end with them deciding what to do next. So after the Gauntlet was over, I kept waiting for that hopeful ending, running through all the possibilities of dramatic escapes and a system falling from the inside. The ending was a sad gut punch for me personally.

Despite all this, I felt compelled to keep reading, driven by a need to know what would happen next. I'm hoping the longer I sit with Fable, the more I'll be able to overlook my issues with it; I did genuinely enjoy reading it in the moment, and really enjoyed these characters! I would recommend this one to fans of the OG YA dystopian novels who don't mind ambiguous or non-HEA endings.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free digital ARC for my honest review!

Fable is part Hunger Games, part Running Man (the movie, haven't read the book), very small part Dollhouse (tv series), and is very much a sapphic tribute to/inspired by the YA dystopias of 10-15 years ago. It doesn't really do anything too groundbreaking, but it's fun to read the author's take on what a near-future dystopia would look like based on the world today. If you're not into the YA dystopian setting, this book is not going to change that, but if you have some fond nostalgia in your heart for that era of (mostly mediocre, let's be honest) YA history, there's a lot to enjoy and appreciate here.

This is a beautifully written book with wonderful reflections on society today, but perhaps it simply isn't the book for me - I might not be a dystopian girl and it's rather dark.

I haven't read any of Ava's other books, but many of my friends adored A Study in Drowning. Right before I started reading this, I read the summary. I have to say that I was wary of the Hunger Games influence. I've read books before that say they are influenced by other books but seem to copy them more than be influenced by them. I loved Ava's authors note explaining her inspiration for this book. And what I absolutely adored was that I could see the inspiration from the Hunger Games although this book and world were entirely its own. The gauntlet, the angels, the streaming, the water. Wow! What a perfect example of inspiration without copying.
The world was oddly scary to me, perhaps because of the real life overlaps I can see and commentary on a lot of issues going on today. Ava makes a wonderful commentary on the world that could be - land animals in a drowning world - as well as a lot of the bad things on the internet such as a woman's perception and how streaming can make us forget our humanity.
As for the characters, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about them. Their mother is horrific - but why? I feel like I'm supposed to feel the sibling bond, but I just don't. I am told of it, but I do not feel it. Inesa is honestly a bit hard to root for in my opinion - most of her survival was dependent on her brother. What the angels go through is absolutely horrible, but I'm not sure how I feel about a kind of robot love interest.

Ava is undeniably a wonderful writer, and I love how unique this world is. This novel is darker than anticipated, particularly due to it's commentary on today's world. While I had trouble connecting with the characters, I think there's a lot people can learn from this book!

Bleak and lovely, Fable for the End of the World surprised me in all of the best ways.

Dystopian has never been my preferred genre, but a book pitched as the sapphic Hunger Games meets The Last of Us had me intrigued. To top it off, Ava Reid is one of my favorite authors. Her prose is always excellent, her sense of setting immaculate, and her use of romance as a pivotal part of her storytelling is simply to die for. That said, I was still very skeptical going into this novel. Lady Macbeth and I didn't see eye to eye, and I've been steadily outgrowing YA as a whole for the better part of a year and a half now. I should have known that Reid wouldn't let me down though.

At its core, Fable is a story about hope. More specifically, it's a story about the way that hope has the ability to change and save us. Inesa and Melinoë couldn't come from more different worlds. One is human to a fault (though there really is no such thing as being at fault for being human), and the other has been modified until she's more machine than girl. Or so she thinks.

The unlikely alliance between these two, as well as their budding romance, was so tender. I love Big Time Yearners and despite the life-or-death circumstances that our Lamb and our Angel found themselves in, they still managed to want the other badly. Some of my favorite scenes between them were the ones that were, in Mel's words, terribly domestic. I think some people might call into question how insta-lovey the relationship between them was, but in the context of everything that happens in Fable, as well as who Mel and Inesa are at their cores, it makes sense to me.

Romance aside, this book had some really interesting things to say about society's consumption of suffering, capitalism, and what it means to survive. These are the parts of dystopian novels that I do like, even if they happen to hold a mirror up to our own reality. Reid doesn't pull any punches when it comes to describing this brutal--yet very familiar--world. Echoes of New Amsterdam are everywhere within the current political climate of America and that was a very harrowing realization. Of course, Fable is bellied by an undercurrent of hope: hope that Inesa and Mel will get their happy ending, hope that the world can be changed, hope that people have not completely forsaken one another.

It's that hope that makes it a truly beautiful gem of a book. I can't wait for it to make its way into the world soon.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow. I am honestly stunned by this book it was so good.

Fable for the End of the World captivated me within the first chapter, and it did a nice job of explaining the dystopian terms in the beginning. I enjoyed the plot, and just kept wanting to continue reading no matter what. I think the ending was a good point to leave off but one that still left you wanting more. There's not a whole lot to say in terms of things I didn't enjoy because there wasn't much, but I think the last chapter was a lot of skimming over everything that had happened since then, however it was really well written! Maybe just not something for me, and I'm not sure how others feel. Overall, this was great and I'm so glad I got to read it! Ava Reids work is truly romantically devastating.

Thank you netgalley and HarperCollins for the arc!

Wow wow wow. ARC Review- Thank you NetGalley & Harper Collins!
What an incredible standalone YA dystopian romance novel. I felt like I was back in my teens reading books like the Hunger Games again for the first time.


“It’s a privilege, really, to desire, to imagine, to believe”

This book is an ode to the hunger games world, with the author explaining in the prologue that she was heavily influenced by the hunger games throughout her life and when writing this story. The book does not really take elements or ideas from the book but reminds me of how I felt the first time I read the hunger games.

This story was gripping, fast paced, and very well written. I can’t wait for it to be released!

Ava Reid's writing carves out a space of its own in the legendary dystopian subgenre. Fable for the End of the world is an incredibly atmospheric commentary on society and the issues we face, particularly women, in a way that touches on the aspects of the genre we're familiar with while still maintaining its own fresh perspective. I absolutely enjoyed this and can't wait to see what's next!

Thank you to Ava Reid’s team for always sending me ARCs. Forever grateful.

This one was a hard one to rate. The influence of the hunger games was seen everywhere and I do wonder if some readers will think that it strayed too close to Suzanne Collins’ books.

This books follows Inesa, the sacrificial lamb, and Mel, the predator angel - in a world based on credits, climate change, and survival.

the beginning was a slow start for me, not because it was slow or bad, but because it was so painfully real. This dystopian world created is so close it hurts. The rain and the flooding felt like it was happening in real time around me.

Some thoughts:
I think what makes this a bit different from THG is that I could 100% see this happening, and in our near future. Towards the end of the book, Mel walks out exactly how the world got to where it was and I really just saw how we were living in this world. What’s crazy to me is Ava Reid wrote this before the hurricanes this year, before the election, but it’s somehow all in the pages of this book.

What I struggled with a bit was the believability of the romance. Could you really fall in love with someone with such big differences that you truly despise? Just because you understand that survival was the reason why? I see it, I do, but I struggle with it. It’s so unrealistic what brought them together it almost works because you know it’ll never work - kinda reminded me of songbird and snake romance wise.

Overall - WOW. I love being brought bake to my dystopian roots. I felt so many things including heartbreak. A sapphic hunger games? Sure I’ll read it again and again.