Fable For the End of the World

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Having loved A Study in Drowning and Lady Macbeth, I was so excited to get approved for this on Netgalley and it did not disappoint! I finished it in a couple lf days because I was completely hooked on the story. It was very different from Ava Reid's other work that I've read, but I enjoyed it just as much.

I haven’t read much YA dystopian since The Hunger Games and Divergent and everything tht came out then but this reminded me of everything I love about the genre. Its also sapphic enemies-to-lovers, which I loved!

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fast-paced read with romance and high stakes.

WOW. Ava Reid is one of my favorite authors, and this did not disappoint.

A fantastic dystopian novel reminiscent of classics like The Hunger Games. I loved the world-building, and the characters were well-written and complex. I’m completely captivated by her writing style and was hooked from the very first page!

The exploration of debt was fascinating, and the way the main character ends up participating in the Gauntlet is both cruel and heartbreaking.

The ending was absolutely perfect for me. It definitely had *Black Mirror* vibes, and overall, I just loved this book!

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing this arc!

I’ll preface this review by saying I am not into sapphic romances; but if you like stories about lesbian encounters during assassination games then we might have just the book for you!

The author (Ava Reid) does a pretty good job of making you want to root for the protagonist(s), given how natural it is to want to hate the antagonist, which largely comes in the form of the generically evil corporation, Caerus and its iron cold leaders. Although, in truth, Inesa is as contemptible as a simpering weakling much of the time, and the way the characters are constantly apologising to each other almost becomes agonising--- but, I suppose I get it, when characters are shy and fancy each other, they apologise for the slightest wrongs they commit—I suppose.

Also the author seems at pains to tell us why the story didn’t go in another direction when a character’s death could’ve alleviated a threat, by telling us how they couldn’t bring themselves to kill a brutal assassin who wants them dead—it’s just a tad unbelievable as everyone in Esopus Creek (the town Inesa-- one of the main characters-- is from) seems so heartless and affected with an inhuman quality.

That is one of my biggest gripes with the book, that no character really reflects or strives for a transcendental quality, beauty, truth, goodness, and in fact I don’t think I really liked any of the characters in the book, though I probably sympathised with the female assassin, Mel, the most, not that she was likable, far from it in fact.

Still, the plot makes for something of a riveting one: some (light) spoilers (but basic to the plot) in the city people who rack up debt may be selected for a gauntlet in which an ‘Angel,’ a beautiful female killing machine, something more bionic than human, or so we’re apparently led to believe, tracks them down and kills them in the wilderness outside the city (if they get that far anyway), all the while the show is live streamed on the internet for the callous enjoyment of modern spectatorship. I must say I never figured out where all the cameras were in the wild, perhaps I missed something somewhere, but it seemed rather fantastical that everything could’ve been filmed.

The book is largely well written, and I do think if you like YA you would probably like this book; but reading it reminds me of why I dislike so much of contemporary fiction: grim, Godless, and gay. Definitely a book aimed at entertaining rather than edifying; but I will end by saying it is not a sort of book I would recommend, as I think if one is going to read futuristic escapism, whatever the genre, it should offer spiritual nourishment, this one certainly didn’t offer much in that department, but ends with the feeling of misery consistent with a dystopian novel, and with the sense that hope is about as effective as a thimble full of water in a sweltering desert.

What an absolute banger of a book.
Fable For the End of the World has ignited a passion in reading that I have not felt in a very long time. The narrative felt unique and the plot advanced in a way that made me really believe the development of the romance between the two love interests. I could feel an almost tangible shift in emotions and myself experienced many emotions through my reading experience. I couldn't put the book down, it was too addictive. While the world building could have been slightly expanded on I appreciate that we see the story from two characters who don't know a lot about the world around them and that it is only a standalone novel.
The ending was satisfying in a way I couldn't predict and it has permeated my brain for the past few days as I soak in the reality that was this book.

I had to sit in silence for a few minutes after I finished reading this book, Ava Reid's dystopia was both hopeful and heartbreaking. I both want a sequel immediately and I don't because this was a love letter to dystopia in all its forms. In my head I'll forever picture Mel and Nesa at that cabin and in the words of Hadestown, maybe it'll turn out this time.

This book completely took me by surprise. It does have plenty of similarities with Ava Reid's previous works, but also very distinct. This is a dystopian book, with a fascinating take on "debt" - not just financial debts, but also of how a society that refuses to be indebted to anyone (for example, not saying thank you, refusing help from neighbours) would look like.

The trademarks of Ava Reid are here though: water, and the stomach gripping anxiety that won't leave you (to be clear, I love that about Ava Reid's book).

Fable for the End of the World is Ava Reid channeling the dystopian heartache of the 2010s, and I am thriving. It’s sapphic Hunger Games with a brutal, corporate dystopia steeped in climate catastrophe and bloodsport livestreams, and honestly? I ate it up. The prose, as always with Reid, is lush and haunting, but even if it wasn’t, I’d still be hooked on the raw, messy tension between Inesa and Melinoë.
 
Melinoë, a stoic bio-enhanced assassin , and Inesa, a desperate contender in the deadly Lamb’s Gauntlet, are tossed together in a way that’s grim, gripping, and a little heartbreaking. Their dynamic is tangled in violence and vulnerability, and it left me kicking my feet and grinning like an idiot. The worldbuilding is biting and evocative—corrupted ecosystems, voyeuristic violence, and the commodification of bodies all feel chillingly close to reality.
 
Is it perfect? No. The pacing wobbles a bit, and the supporting cast feels very underexplored. But the vibes? Immaculate.

Reid’s crafted something that feels nostalgic yet fiercely original that serves up the perfect mix of dystopian drama and sapphic yearning, and I am already hoping for a sequel. Fans of morally complex characters and YA dystopian angst will absolutely eat this up.

A big thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Umm WHAT THE F***.
I honestly can't describe @avasreid writing. My friends know that I love the dark and twisty (Call me Meredith Grey) so Ava's writing was written FOR ME. No one else! You can't have her!

No, in all reality I love her books so much and I want everyone else to read and be enamored by her as well. I love reading stories that make you go "ew what?!" or just take you on a complete psychological trip. Ava is fantastic at both. Boy does #fablefortheendoftheworld take you on a wild ride! The opening scene alone is enough to make you go 🤢 gimme more!!!

If I had to sum up this story in one sentence it would be a darker, creepier Hunger Games but instead of a random choosing, the parents put up their own kids in exchange for their debt. Like I said, WHAT THE F***.

I loved this story's prose and the way that Ava's writing makes you feel things deep in your gut. She will always be an auto-buy author for me.

The greed, the hatred, the dehumanization, the family love, the sapphic love. It was just overall a really good read!

Make sure to pick up your copy on March 4th!!

Thank you so much to @delreyuk for creating this absolutely STUNNING arc. My gosh it's beautiful!

#hygge #hyggeaesthetic #hyggebookstyle #bookhygge #avasreid #avareid #delrey #delreyuk

- Enemies to lovers
- Sapphic
- Dystopian
- Dual pov

With claims of being inspired by The Hunger games, this absolutely did it justice! I also felt this gave Westworld vibes and a little bit of The Last of Us too, which I loved!
I found the first 10% quite confusing with the credit system but this all gets explained later on in such a clear way that I quickly forgot about feeling lost at the beginning.

I did feel like the romance was a bit empty to begin with but by the last 20% and especially the last few chapters I was totally enthralled and loved them together - I’m also glad it wasn’t a typically happy ending as I finished the book absolutely wanting more and I’m praying there is a second book!

As always, I found Ava Reid’s writing very atmospheric and immersive and ultimately this was a very binge-able book. The only reason it wasn’t a 5 star for me is it does read quite YA at times which isn’t my general thing and also I did want more - not necessarily a bad thing as it just means I loved the story and I just craved even more depth to everything!

This had some beautiful quotes throughout the book and I will be going back through when I have a physical copy to tab them!

Ava Reid has done it again. Fable For the End of the World is a beautifully dark dystopia set in a world that is grappling with the aftermath of climate change and societal evolution.

Inesa is a strong, believable protagonist who is responsible while her mother is not. It is her mother’s actions and neglect that lead to Inesa being forced to face the gauntlet as a (sacrificial) Lamb.

While Melinoë is a ruthless Angel, sent to kill Inesa in the gauntlet in order to restore her own reputation. However the simple murder does not go to plan when the pair are forced to rely on each other to survive the treacherous world riddled with irradiated species, and the consequences of their consumption.

This book was a stunning original novel, set in a world reminiscent of The Hunger Games, but set apart by the depth of the characters dealing with the consequences of climate change (as opposed to war). Fable for the End of the World is a dystopia of a calibre I have not read since the 2010s.

Wow, not sure where to start. It took me until about 15% of the way in to get into it but once I was in, I was IN. This is a beautiful, well written dystopian that had everything I love about the genre. As a person who grew up reading the hunger games (Peeta ily forever), this has been the only other dystopian book that’s given me the same level of panic. It’s good because you can BELIEVE it almost could happen. This is my favourite book I’ve read by Ava Reid. It’s nothing like the other books I’ve read by her. You ripped my heart out Ava but I want more. There is more isn’t there Ava?? Ava????

This was my favourite AR book so far! I adore dystopian fiction so was incredibly excited when the synopsis of this book was announced, and it did not disappoint. The two MCs are flawed and real and pulled me in right from the start. The ending was harsh but also hopeful

Reid’s writing is encompassing and immersive. I can tell that it’s inspired by the author’s own interest in dystopian stories like The Hunger Games, but Fable for the End of the World has its own spin. The characters are compelling and the love story that develops throughout is beautiful.

Dystopia is so back, baby!

Anything Ava Reid writes is an auto-buy for me, and when she announced Fable for the End of the World, I was champing at the bit. I had incredibly high expectations, and I was not disappointed. As a teen, I was a fanatic reader—but my attention span is absolute trash these days. I reaaaally struggle to sit down and mindfully enjoy a book. Let me tell you, I inhaled Fable for the End of the World. This book transported me back to the period of my life where I'd rush home from school to read (okay, okay, I wasn't very popular). I've seen this novel compared to The Hunger Games, and I definitely felt those vibes while reading - not just in the thematic similarities, but in the way I could. not. get. enough.

The book follows Inesa and Melinoë, two girls on opposite sides of the capitalist hellscape Reid has crafted. Despite all her hardships, Inesa is kind and compassionate—a ray of light in a world which values individualistic survival. Melinoë, on the other end of the spectrum, is cold and calculated. She’s built to kill, and to look beautiful doing it. They have both been traumatised by the regime they live under, and process the horrors they’ve lived through together. I LOVED seeing both characters develop over the course of the book, and their romance was an achingly tender contrast to the otherwise gritty themes.

The plot is a riveting and sometimes horrifying vehicle for Reid to explore deeper societal issues: corporate-driven consumerism, the parasocial relationships promoted by media consumption, and climate change wrought by the hands of industry (which made my little conservationist heart sing). It also touches on issues I’ve always wanted to see explored in books, like the disparity between how men and women are treated in online spaces, and the thirst for “acceptable” male-on-female violence.

Reid's signature lush, fairytale-esque prose absolutely sings in this book. It created a striking contrast against the book's dystopian setting, which was particularly apt in the case of Inesa who still manages to find beauty in the desolate landscape. I've highlighted so many passages where I had to put the book down and bask in Reid's words. She's an incredibly talented author, and seeing her talent applied to a new genre was a real pleasure.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cornerstone for this ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

This book is for anyone who has ever wanted to read a queer, hunger games, divergent, dystopian…so basically this was written for me!

The world building was immaculate and the concept, that I was instantly drawn in by upon hearing it, was well crafted.

I thought that the characters were complex and so incredibly well written. The only thing that stopped this from becoming a 5 star read for me, was the switch between enemies to lovers happened very quickly…I wish it had been drawn out just a little bit more and a with a clearer distinction in the switching of feelings.

This was my first Ava Reid but definitely not my last! How do I continue on with normal life after that cliff hanger?!

This book was utterly heartbreaking! I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and publisher.

This book takes some of the worst fears in society today and subtly realises them. It takes these real, tangible problems and imagines them just a few years in the future. It’s so close to reality that it’s absolutely terrifying.

Our main character lives with her brother and mother. She works as a taxidermist and her brother hunts animals. However many animals are infected and mutated and healthy ones are hard to find. They are barely managing to stay afloat and their mother is cruel to her daughter and continually spends money they don’t have on expensive health and medical treatments.

They live against a backdrop of a mega corporation that when people rack up too much debt, allow them to sell a family member to run a gauntlet in which they are stalked and largely killed by ‘angels’. These are modified girls who have cybernetic augmentation and training to make them elite assassins. They slaughter people in the gauntlet live for people’s entertainment.

Our MC finds herself involved in the gauntlet in a way I found just so utterly cruel and heart wrenching. My heart broke for the main character here. We see two worlds colliding and people overcoming their differences to find out more about who they are and they desires and dreams. This book is both tragic and beautiful. It’s often so hard to read but it’s so incredibly clever, thoughtful and insightful. It’s also utterly scary, just far too close to reality! What a talented author to create a book with a solid, thought-provoking story that also evokes such a huge range of emotions.

Some big ending spoilers ahead so don’t read if you don’t want this book spoiled :)

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙐𝙆 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚-𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚.

3.5 ★

Fable For The End of The World is a standalone dystopian, sapphic, YA romance set in an almost climate change on steroids induced post-apocalyptic world. Its society is ruled by Caerus - a single corporation that encourages accumulations of debt and drives classism to the max.

I found this book to be so interesting and flew through the first half of it! Reid touches on so many important political themes throughout this book ranging from classism, capitalism, sexism and many more. I feel like it also touches on a degree of childhood trauma and ongoing narcissistic abuse (from a parent) so as always - check TW & CW before reading! 🙂‍↕️

The downside - I felt that even for a YA romance, this really lacked the romance. I wouldn’t even go as far as calling this enemies x lovers because they weren’t really lovers at all and since this is a standalone - there is no “happy” ending for the romance either so that felt slightly disappointing. Overall just slightly underwhelmed on the ending of the book, from about 80% in it dragged for me. I really rooted for them to escape and live happily ever after but I guess this only shows the brutal reality of the world in the setting of the book.

Overall, an interesting concept & definitely a star reminder of the threats of climate change & capitalism. I would definitely recommend this if you love Hunger Games and other similar dystopian novels or are a fan of Black Mirror - very similar vibes!

Fable for the End of the World is a sapphic dystopian love story highly inspired by The Hunger Games and I was so worried that it would be too silmliar to one of my favourite series but it is rightly it’s own story and I couldn’t put it down!

It’s not like Ava Reid’s other books and where those are full of darkness and atmospheric moments, Fable is very much a YA book with two fmcs that show that there is beauty in love, hope and defiance in a world that can be very cruel and scary. The worldbuilding is creative, vivid and descriptive and is easy to understand and follow along everything moved at a good pace and I just loved how different it is from the authors other works.

I never found myself lost or confused and I absolutely loved that the plot was so intriguing that I wasn’t sure how it would end until I got there and while I believe this is a standalone it does leave it very open ended for the potential for a sequel.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 ⭐️

“Survival is the most natural thing in the world, as natural as breathing. Stripped down to its essence, any creature will choose to save itself. Even if it means stealing the breath from another”

FftEotW is a story that follows two ‘sides’ of a not so distant dystopian future. A society that feeds on the desperation of those living without basic necessities. Inesa is struggling to make ends meet, living in a world where getting into debt could lead you to be hunted for the entertainment of the masses. Melinoe is a tool used by the capital, manipulated and physically enhanced to be the ultimate killer. The only chance of survival for either of them is the destruction of the other. The ‘Angel’ vs the ‘Lamb’.

This is a little different to the other work I’ve read of Ava Reid’s. The atmospheric dark gothic vibes of her other work was replaced with a thought provoking sapphic dystopian story about love, family and hope. This was a lot less whimsical, it was gripping, gruesome and I was hooked. Like many The Hunger Games series is one of my all time favourites and it holds the torch for the champion of dystopian literature. This felt like such a fantastic homage to that series, I had such nostalgia reading Ava’s take on the issues facing the world today - climate change, capitalism, women’s body autonomy and the perception and expectation of women in society.

This was a quick read, the duel perspective worked fantastically and I loved seeing both the Angel and the Lamb’s perspective of both the world around them and the Gauntlet they were forced into. I think what stopped it from being 5 stars was that the romantic relationship felt a little rushed and underdeveloped, I can understand from a YA perspective why it played out this way but I just wanted a little more time and progression spent of their relationship. I did however really love the prose and the internal monologue about how each character felt about the other.

I wasn’t sure how the story would be resolved, I was anxious if there was any chance for a happy ending for anyone, the ending left me both heartbroken but also full of hope - which I guess is the ultimate message.

Thank you Ava for writing this story. It was everything I needed and wanted and like all of her other works it stayed with me long after turning the last page.

Thank you Netgalley, Del Rey and Ava Reid for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

There’s always something so beautiful and so tragic about Ava Reid’s books that leaves me hooked.

Melinoe and Inesa are from completely different worlds in this very dystopian story. Melinoe is a young teenage girl transformed by her handler, Azreal. Melinoe is an assassin who hunts down those entered into the gauntlet, anyone entered into the gauntlet usually by a loved one to clear a debt is called a “Lamb”, essentially they are being led to the slaughter and Melinoe is the wolf hunting them in this case.

Inesa is a young woman of a similar age to her predator, her mother enters her into the gauntlet and this betrayal cuts deep, though it is not surprising. Inesa is courageous and kind, she is really tested throughout.

If you like elements of the hunger games with its theatrical murder and game like scenario then you’ll love this.