Book Review: Fable for the End of the World

               welcome to my blog •••

      hey there wattpad amino! welcome back! ive

      recently decided to delve into the world of

      book reviews, to share with you my favourite

      (and least favourite) books as i read them

      please note that i am not a professional

      reviewer, nor am i experienced at writing

      them. this is actually my first one ever.

               the book •••

       the first book ill be reviewing is Fable for

       the End of the World by Ava Reid. This

        book is a YA dystopian with a queer romance.

        it was recently released (march 2025) and

        took me about 6 hours to read, cover to cover.

               trigger warnings for this book •••

       while i consider this book very mild for

       triggering content, i have included some

       trigger warnings in case readers are highly

       sensitive. most things mentioned in these

       warnings are only referenced, or talked

        about without a lot of detail. please heed

        them regardless.

       • violence

       • corpses

       • body modification

       • closed door relations

       • very minor non-con

               my review •••

        First and foremost I want to start off by

        saying I was not prepared in the slightest for

        this book. I picked it up on a whim based on

        the pretty edges and the fact that it was a

        lesbian story. It’s so hard to find well-written

        lesbian stories where being lesbian isn’t the

        only thing that matters, but this book

        managed to do just that. I went into this book

        with the notion that this was an urban

        fantasy-dystopian hybrid, based purely on

        my own assumptions that Ava Reid was not

        going to stray from fantasy after the success

        of A Study in Drowning. I was entirely

        incorrect— there is absolutely 0 fantasy

        elements to this book, it is purely dystopian.

        So let’s talk about that.

        The dystopian world this story takes place in

        is unlike any others I have read. It’s a very

        modern-day take on the dystopian genre,

        where the impoverished people still have

        access to TV’s and tablets, and microwaves.

        Our main character, Inesa lives in a run-down

        house with her mother and younger brother,

        and struggling to pay for heat and light is

        something that is mentioned many times.

        This itself really hits home hard because the

        everyday struggle to pay for these things is a

        very real modern day issue, one I myself

        have encountered before. The world they live

        in is a very real possibility in the future,

        destroyed by climate change and nuclear

        war, and controlled entirely by a tech

        company that slowly ousted the government

        after the fall-out of economic collapse.

        Beyond the dystopian world our character

        lives in, her life itself is more reflective of a

        real-world family than what is often

        portrayed in media now. Her mother is a

        hypochondriac who relies on her children to

        her lifestyle, and her father left when

        times got too hard. Inesa and her brother

        both work hard to their family and

        are always left feeling like they haven’t done

        enough.

          Inesa herself is a very relatable character;

         her looks are plain, her day-to-day life is

         spent just trying to survive, and she doesn’t

         possess any special survival skills that’ll

         make her more likely to live through the

         situations she ends up in. Her greatest

         strength is simply empathy— understanding

         people and not wanting to hurt them.

         Throughout the book we’re shown on more

         then one occasion that Inesa’s empathy for

         others and unwillingness to hurt people

         makes her a lot stronger then she seems.

         On the other side of this story is Mel— Mel is

         an assassin working for the tech company

         that owns the world. We learn very early on

         that unlike most of the company’s

         employees she doesn’t really have a choice.

         Her options are to be the assassin they’ve

         made her into, or be forcibly retired, and

         practically sold to the highest bidder as

         nothing more than a trophy bride with no

         control. Mel’s story starts out with her

         struggling to let go of her latest kill, and the

         lengths the company will go to force her to.

         The reviews I originally read about this book

         often compare it to the hunger games, so it

         would certainly be in disservice to the story

         to not acknowledge it. And while I certainly

         can see the similarities some people

         mention, I really don’t think it’s similar

         enough to warrant that. The constant

         comparisons to the hunger games left me

         with the impression that the Gauntlet event

         that is the basis for this story would be an

         arena style competition. This cannot be

         further from the truth. What is referred to as

         the Gauntlet is nothing short of a cold

         blooded murder— a single person

         nominated (usually by their direct relatives)

         as repayment for their sponsors debts is

         named a sacrificial “lamb” and given 1 days

         notice to prepare. After that, the hunt is on.

         One of the assassins (known as angels) is

         assigned to hunt the nominee down and kill

         them on live stream for sport. It’s gruesome

         and barbaric, and the nominee practically

         doesn’t stand a chance from the beginning

         — thus why they are called lambs. This book

         really does do modern-dystopian a special

         kind of justice, with its present-day

         struggles, realistic future possibilities and

         the constant references to streaming culture

         and internet addictions. Most of

         this society live in poverty, and yet spend

         hours and days watching the live stream of

         these brutal “gauntlets” and rewatching the

         playbacks.

          The writing style in this book is fundamental

         in building the characters world, and the

         duel-pov really does the story justice. It

         continuously switches between the two

         characters, one chapter each at a time

         without faltering. Most multi-pov stories

         tend to focus on one character over the

         others, or at least give them more then one

         chapter in a row, which this book manages

         not to do. The chapters are exactly 1 for 1

         without taking away from the story which I

         think is quite the accomplishment.

          “We all do what we have to in order to

         survive.” This quote is fundamental in

         explaining the basis for the story— why

         Inesa is the way she is. Why Mel is the way

         she is. The story is all about survival, and the

         blurred lines between surviving, and truly

         living.

          Now, let’s talk about the ending.

         This book is not a happily ever after— the

         book ends much the same way it starts, with

         Mel under the companies control, sold off as

         a trophy bride to a high level employee, and

         Inesa back living in her same house,

         surrounded by the same people. And that’s

         sort of the point. The story here isn’t that

         the power of love can solve everything— we

         see clearly that it does not. Instead it’s that

         even when things seem impossible love

         prospers. The story ends with Inesa still

         loving Mel, despite everything thats

         happened. I personally think it’s refreshing

         to see a story end without any world

         changing rebellions or life altering secrets.

         Just two girls in love, despite everything

         being against them.

          Overall I give this story a solid 4 stars. I

         thoroughly enjoyed reading it, the

         characters were compelling and the plot was

         fast paced and daring. I do wish there had

         been more time spent on the relationship

         itself, I felt like it wasn’t a true dystopian

         romance, rather a dystopian featuring a

         romance; the characters didn’t get together

         until the last 100 pages and were almost

         immediately torn apart. Had this book been

         marketed as a dystopian fiction rather than a

         dystopian romance I likely would have given

         it 4.5-5 stars. I do highly recommend

         reading this book, and I think it’s a fantastic

         read where the characters are queer but

         that’s never addressed as strange or wrong.

         A great YA book for queer readers looking to

         see themselves in their books without it

         being a queer coming of age/realization

         style story.

               conclusion •••

        thank you for taking the time to read my

        post! i highly recommend checking out

        this book! if you have any suggestions for

        fantasy and/or dystopian novels please

         comment them below!

         byeeee!