this is lowkey if the hunger games had lesbians
i had a lot of fun reading this and i finished in a day because i just couldn’t put it down

3.5/5
This was actually my first Ava Reid book.
I really liked the concept of this book. Poverty forcing people to get so far in debt that they must send a family member into the ‘gauntlet’. There are modified humans who are put in there to hunt down the ‘sacrificial lambs’ and it’s all live streamed for everyone to watch. You get both the hunter and the one being hunted pov in this. They both need to win and it’s hard not to root for both of them too.
It is very hunger games ish which was fine by me. I love the hunger games so much and this has enough differences that i liked it.

I guess my main complaint is that the gauntlet portion didn’t really seem all that life or death and I didn’t love the romance. I just didn’t feel it. In the middle of the book when it’s just the two of them together was my least favorite part to be honest. Melinoe’s backstory with a different person was more intriguing to me.
I liked both main characters and their individual storylines though. I really liked Inesa and her brother’s relationship a lot. Almost everyone has an ulterior motive or they’re just out for themselves in this world but those two had each other’s back. I loved it. 🩵

This wasn’t my favorite book but I look forward to reading more from this author.

This was alright, but really hard for me to get into. I understand it's inspired by the Hunger Games and although it is unique in its own way, I just couldn't help feeling like I had read all of this before. I didn't necessarily attach to the characters in the beginning, and didn't find myself wanting to pick the book up and keep reading. Was probably most intrigued by the idea of this taxidermy shop and the possible sibling relationship but we barely get any of that before moving on to elements that I did not find as new or interesting in the slightest. I think I will try Reid's adult books because I saw promise with the storytelling, but would have just appreciated adult characters and more depth.

There's no way that was the ending?!?! Ava Reid has always amazed me with her words. Not one book has felt similar to the others. This story felt nostalgic and brought back the memories of diving into a new dystopian world just like in the late 2000's. This felt fresh and new and made me reflect of the happeningings of the world and political climate today. Many compare it to The Hunger Games and while it has the element of making a game out of killing people it is a completely different world. This world is ran on debts, rich people running society and the online streaming culture. There were so many parallels to actually society, I don't know how anyone can read this book and not walk away deeply thinking about how we engage in the world. The explanation of how the gauntlet started, the rich corporation swooping in under the guise of saving the community and taking them out of a recession. Only to further put it into ruin where people lost their ability to afford to live unless they indebted themself to the very cooperation that claimed to be trying to help them. The main characters Inesa and Melinoe (beautiful names) journey was just truly heartbreaking. Two people that just wanted to be set free. Ugh I hope there to be a continuation of their story some day because the way that ended was not good enough for those two. I demand justice!

Very hunger games core! It was a lot of "oh wait, we're both just trying to survive" and i loved seeing them bond.

HOWEVER WHAT WAS THAT ENDING? I've never been more upset and annoyed with anything in my life.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review this title.

This book took me completely by surprise—in the best way. Fable for the End of the World is a fast-paced, emotionally layered dystopian story that somehow feels familiar and completely original at the same time. It pulls from the legacy of The Hunger Games and even reminded me a little of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, but it never once feels like a copy. Instead, it builds its own fierce identity and carves out a space that feels both relevant and refreshingly new.

The story follows Inesa, a girl thrown into a brutal survival competition called The Gauntlet to pay off her mother’s debts, and Melinoë, the assassin designed to kill her—live, on camera, for mass entertainment. It’s a dark and gripping premise, but what really stood out for me was how Ava Reid managed to pack so much heart and nuance into it. I binged this in two days (which, for me lately, is impressive) because the characters were so well written and the pace so relentless that I had to know what would happen next.

Melinoë in particular broke my heart—her story is devastating. As a tool of the regime, modified and controlled since childhood, she’s more machine than girl in the eyes of the world. Yet Reid gives her so much depth, showing her as someone aching for connection, struggling with memory loss, bodily autonomy, and a life she never chose. The dual POV worked so well, with both voices feeling distinct and meaningful. And I really appreciated how their relationship developed slowly and carefully, even against the odds.

The world Reid has built here is terrifyingly believable: climate change devastation, corporate control, and the hollowed-out spectacle of pain as entertainment. But even in the bleakest moments, there’s a thread of hope, softness, and resistance that runs through it. That balance is one of the reasons this worked so well for me. And as a standalone, it delivered a satisfying conclusion that didn’t feel rushed—something that’s not easy to pull off in dystopian fiction.

This is a book that asks hard questions about power, love, and survival, but never loses sight of the people at its centre. It's sharp, emotional, and beautifully crafted. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time—and eagerly awaiting whatever Ava Reid writes next.

I think the book was alright but there might’ve been too much going on. The fmcs seem interesting but I had a hard time grabbing on to the story. I really wanted to like it, it had a decent premise/plot, but I think some points could’ve been shifted. Maybe I’ll try rr again at a later time.

Fans of the hunger games and criers war may be interested.

"We all do what we have to in order to survive."

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Fable for the End of the World is an ode (as Ava Reid stated) to the dystopian genre of the early/mid-2000s, and to the carefully crafted and cultivated world of The Hunger Games and explored in the realm of fanfiction. It's a statement on climate control and environmentalism, the dangers of overconsumption and capitalistic controlled worlds that become oligarchies. This story delves into geographic and thereby economic inequalities, and how communities and relationships can either be uplifting, or full of debt.

And after all of that, at its core, this is a story of what it is to be human. The power of being able to feel and that all of those emotions are what make you human. The ability to feel anger, and love, and hatred, and hope, no matter the circumstance. To find that little speck of light, even when you're surrounded by darkness. To take those things that make you infuriated, and use them to push forward to find something better.

Dystopian worlds are meant to take aspects of our current world, and push them to the extreme. To show just how bad things can get, if we forget to, ultimately, be human. To care for our neighbors even when they're crazy. To believe that there is good in the world, and that people are, inherently, good. It's meant to give us a reality check, and force us to feel and to try and be better, to avoid those types of futures.

There's a lot to be said for dystopian style novels being popular amongst YA fiction stories. To have people in their formative years—when they're just learning about what it means to be your own kind of person, and to choose right and wrong for yourself and to learn how to expand your horizons and connect with people both in and outside of your own little world view and bubble—read these types of stories. To see themselves in these characters who are inherently flawed, but unapologetically themselves, and who fight and strive to make the best of their world for themselves, but to also make it better for everyone else, and the people who come after them.

I do also find it fascinating that so many dystopian stories really take a hard look at the lines between what is human, animal and machine when it comes to survival and living, versus just surviving. How so much of the world wants us to be placed in these boxes and live this very standard, formulated life. But that humans, as a species, have never really been all that good at it. We want more out of life, just like Melinoë.

Reid is clearly a mastermind at weaving worlds together, and saying so much in just a few pages. The world they've crafted in this novel and with the inspiration of its predecessors and current political, gender, social and environmental climate and overall state of things, is a masterpiece worth reading and taking to heart. The conversations around hybrids, mutations, humanity, technology and corruption are so crucial, especially right now. Because we are human, and that is what makes us different.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"Who knows what they would do, if they had another choice? If they knew they were safe? If they were free?"

I was so excited to read this book, even before I was approved for the arc, and boy did it deliver! I fell in love with the characters and their journey. The world building was immersive and the writing transported me immediately. The RAGE that Reid made me feel towards Caerus was palpable. Especially loved the ending as there was no way this world that Reid built could produce a cookie cutter ending, but there was still hope. Definitely would recommend to anyone interested in YA/ dystopian.

Every time Ava Reid puts pen to paper you know it’s going to be good. In a dystopian future where a single corporation controls society, the poor either struggle to survive or go into debt. Those that accumulate too much debt can choose to enter themselves or a loved one into the Lamb’s Gauntlet to have their debt forgiven. The lambs aren’t supposed to survive the gauntlet, after-all, their death at the hands of the corporations enhanced assassins is the spectacle so many tune in to watch.

I love dark dystopian and I really enjoyed the unique world Reid created, it genuinely feels like it could be our near future. Reid also has a way of writing flawed and imperfect characters that truly embody feminine rage. One of the things I like most about her books is that they don’t have perfectly happy endings. Everything is not okay by the ending, the world has not been irrevocably changed, but the characters definitely have been. And as a reader, you will be too.

Wow wow wow!! I have been missing YA dystopia in my life and Ava Reid delivers in this fantastic sapphic romance. This love letter to The Hunger Games is one fans won’t want to miss!

#FablefortheEndoftheWorld takes place in there future when the world as we know it is very different. The rich drink clean water, eat food provided by Caerus the company that owns pretty much everything including a program called The Angels.

Inesa lives in a town full of Outliers people who aren't as rich as those that live in the gilded city above them. instead they live in a town that is almost underwater, having to use pole boats to get themselves to and from their homes. In their world you live by Caerus's rule accruing constant debt and once that debt reaches a certain point Caerus comes calling for a Lamb for The Gauntlet.

The Gauntlet exits for entertainment and is used to erase debt. the Debtor can put up themselves or a family member to be used as The Lamb while the Angel hunts them down and kills them all while it is being veiwed live.

Inesa's mother has accrued massive debt and has put her up for The Gauntlet. Now with her brothers help she has to survive 13 days to the end of The Gauntlet.

Melinoe is one of the best Angels that has been created brutal in her efficiency but sometimes these kills can be too much and permanently damage an Angel. After a mind wipe she is sent on another Gauntlet to redeem herself.. However this one also is different, this Lamb is different. She brings something to life inside Melinoe.

#AvaReid brings to life a dystopian world where you never know if you are safe. #FablefortheEndoftheWorld is an interesting story that makes you wonder what our future will look like.


I would like to thank #Netgalley for the chance to erad an eArc of #FablefortheendoftheWorld in return for a fair and honest review.

Ava Reid is a auto buy author for me. This is another beautifully written story that makes you delve down and really FEEL. I cannot wait to see what she comes out with next

A bleak and unforgiving wasteland sets the stage for Fable for the End of the World. It's a dystopia that will be familiar and wholly captivating, following two girls as they find their way to survive and question all they've been led to believe.

This is my first Ava Reid book and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT! I really enjoyed this world as I found it to be eerily timely to current state of affairs and it had my brain thinking, which led to annotating. And I LOVE when books can offer a space for conversation along the margins.

Throughout the book, Mel x Inesa challenge ideas wrought by the world they have grown up in. Their softness, particularly for one another, is courageous and brave, especially when individualism is valued vs community. Their queer love is truly beautiful and it sends a message to queer teens who may read this and find strength in it.

This may have been my first Ava Reid read, but it definitely won't be my last!

The novel leans more into romance than I usually prefer, but the comp titles persuaded me to give it a try. And what a stunning cover!

Inesa's world is bleak and dangerous as she and her brother struggle to stay afloat financially and literally (her town is half sunken). It's exactly what I'd hoped for in this dystopian novel. Animals as we know them are dying, and in their place are mutations more equipped to survive in this world. Eating them isn't advisable - unless you want to turn into a zombie-like creature.

Inesa's despicable, hypochondriac mother offers her up as a lamb for the Gauntlet to pay their debts. Debt that Inesa and her brother Luka aren't responsible for - it's their mother's selfish needs for luxuries and meds to treat her nonexistent conditions. I hoped Inesa and Luka would tie her up and offer her life instead. The people who tune in to the Gauntlet aren't much better. Watching innocent people be hunted and killed is their entertainment.

The Gauntlet is very Hunger Games-ish. From the moment it begins, Inesa is trekked by a highly trained assassin who will in all likelihood kill her sooner rather than later in a very painful way. Inesa and Luka share a strong sibling bond, and he risks his own life to go on the run with her. As a trained hunter, he's much more familiar with weapons. When circumstances separate them during the Gauntlet Inesa is distressed, but I thought it seemed like his safety fell to the wayside for quite a while.

If you're a fan of the enemies to lovers trope, this novel is for you. Mel is sent to murder Inesa - and she tries - but you can guess from the description that things happen, and the two of them take a different path.

The ending makes me wonder if a sequel is coming. If so, I'll be on the lookout for it. Recommended for fans of gritty dystopian worlds, dual POVs, and deadly games.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I love this author and everything about this book. The book itself is stunning and i absolutely adore the story inside

4.5 Stars

This sapphic story is very reminiscent of The Last of Us meets The Hunger Games meets The Walking Dead. I couldn’t put it down and was fully immersed in the dystopian world from the very first page.

In a world wrecked by consumerism, debt and nuclear fallout, the world Ava Reid built is one we can truly imagine. When Inesa’s mother racks up an ungodly amount of debt, Inesa is put into a televised Hunger Game-esqe hunt as a way to absolute the debt. She has 2 weeks to try and survive an angel of death whose sole mission is to kill her and make it an amazing show for all watching.

The problem is this angel is starting to malfunction and didn’t expect to have to be saved by the humanity of her target. Now the show being presented is waking up others to the grim reality of their world and it’s hard to stop that momentum, even if it costs your life (and those you love).

Deeply atmospheric and haunting, A Fable for the End of the World is a book that will not be forgotten easily and one that is perfect for the times we currently find ourselves in.

I desperately wanted to love this story. I loved A Study in Drowning, and I have a few of Ava's other works on my physical TBR that I am so excited to get to. This one sounded like it would be right up my alley - a mix between Hunger Games and The Last of Us?? That's my dream pairing!!

Unfortunately, this one just didn't hit the mark like I wanted it to. I believe what made Hunger Games great and believable was that we are given a perfect amount of backstory that is just crazy enough to make sense. People having to send 2 tributes per district each year because there was a rebellion 75+ years ago and the corrupt government wants to keep that from happening again? Yes! Makes total sense! Parents/family members sending their children/loved ones to be gunned down by physically altered hot semi-cyborg women because they are in too much debt? Why would enough other people find that interesting to watch and why wouldn't everyone refuse to watch it??

The romance also felt a little bit too insta-lovey for me. I didn't mind it, but I think the story would have been better to show them becoming friends first, and then have a second book where that deepens.

Not a bad read by any means! I just wanted better.

I devoured Fable for the End of the World. In a dystopian setting—where people have become slaves to debt and one corporation, Caerus, controls everything—people tune in to a livestream called The Lamb’s Gauntlet, where who accumulate too much debt are hunted by beautiful and technologically-enhanced assassins. Our main character Inesa finds out that her mom has put her up in her place as the next lamb after falling into too much debt—but with her years of surviving in the lower classes and with her brother by her side, she might have a small chance of surviving. Melinoë, a notoriously cold and efficient assassin, has to kill Inesa to make up for a big mistake in her last Gauntlet or she’ll be “decommissioned” and have her brain wiped of all memories. The stakes are high and both girls start to question whether surviving is the same as being alive. Ava Reid’s ode to The Hunger Games (but make it sapphic) hits hard—it is fast-paced, captivating, devastating, and full of gripping suspense. From the characters to the setting, Reid draws you in and keeps you wondering what will happen next.

This is an easy buy for my school library, and I know many students will enjoy this somewhat more mature and dark take on a competition dystopia. Just be prepared for this one to break your heart!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4.5-5)

Acknowledgments & Disclaimers
✨ Thank you to NetGalley, Ava Reid, and HarperCollins, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book. ✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. ✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

A dystopian Sapphic romance that's perfect for fans of the Hunger games series and sees two opponents (the hunter and the hunted) stuck in a battle for their lives and forced to work together in order to survive. The world building in this was fantastic and I really loved the way the author uses technology as both a boost and a crutch for one of the FMCs. Good on audio and definitely worth a read if you like queer sci-fi romance with depth. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchagne for my honest review!