I'm so excited to be part of the book tour for Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid run by TBR and Beyond Tours! This sapphic dystopian was released on March 4.
Check out the rest of the tour stops here, and scroll down for my top 5 reasons to read Fable for the End of the World!
Check out the rest of the tour stops here, and scroll down for my top 5 reasons to read Fable for the End of the World!
Top 5 Reasons to Read Fable for the End of the World
1. To rekindle your love of the YA dystopian novel.
The dystopian book is so infamous its very existence has become a trope, a set of plot points that can easily become too predictable to be engaging. Fable for the End of the World isn't afraid of these tropes, and I think that's why it pulls them off so well: rather than trying too hard to come up with something completely different from genre conventions, Reid allows herself to explore a completely new story within their bounds. It makes Fable for the End of the World at once a love letter to the dystopian stories you fell in love with when you were younger - and an entirely new book that never feels as though it's trying too hard while reminding the reader why they loved this genre in the first place.
2. Because you loved Katniss and Peeta in The Hunger Games, and have been longing for a lesbian twist ever since.
Reid calls out The Hunger Games as one of her biggest influences in the acknowledgements for this book, and in some ways it absolutely feels like a homage to the series that shaped so much of the YA genre. Perhaps the biggest shout-out, though, lies in Inesa and Melinoë's relationship, with the blend of hatred and survival that made Katniss and Peeta such an infamous couple. If you loved that series but wished for some queer rep...this is the book for you to check out!
3. To consider the implications of environmental degradation.
Fable for the End of the World is set in the future - one where climate change has gotten out of control, genetically modified creatures have driven out natural animal life, seeing a sunrise is unheard of through the air pollution, and Inesa's town exists around a layer of ungovernable water. Although presented as a background element to the story itself, there is something fascinating about seeing a world that has gone so far in the wrong direction - which leaves the reader wondering how to prevent that same future for themselves.
4. To lose yourself in a story.
The most incredible books feel as though they swallow you completely, erasing the world around you for the duration of their absorbing narratives. Fable for the End of the World does this flawlessly. On every page I felt as though I was walking alongside Inesa and Melinoë, experiencing and second-guessing their choices along with them, creating an atmospheric and fierce reading experience that made me immediately want to go back to the beginning.
5. To be surprised!
In the most spoiler-free way possible, having read dozens of YA dystopian novels myself, there are certain beats that one expects the story to hit, particularly as one nears the ending. Reid dances around many of these in a way so deft I can't recall ever seeing it before, and as every beat of the story unfolded I couldn't help but feel as though the characters were driving the tale in the most unexpected directions.
The dystopian book is so infamous its very existence has become a trope, a set of plot points that can easily become too predictable to be engaging. Fable for the End of the World isn't afraid of these tropes, and I think that's why it pulls them off so well: rather than trying too hard to come up with something completely different from genre conventions, Reid allows herself to explore a completely new story within their bounds. It makes Fable for the End of the World at once a love letter to the dystopian stories you fell in love with when you were younger - and an entirely new book that never feels as though it's trying too hard while reminding the reader why they loved this genre in the first place.
2. Because you loved Katniss and Peeta in The Hunger Games, and have been longing for a lesbian twist ever since.
Reid calls out The Hunger Games as one of her biggest influences in the acknowledgements for this book, and in some ways it absolutely feels like a homage to the series that shaped so much of the YA genre. Perhaps the biggest shout-out, though, lies in Inesa and Melinoë's relationship, with the blend of hatred and survival that made Katniss and Peeta such an infamous couple. If you loved that series but wished for some queer rep...this is the book for you to check out!
3. To consider the implications of environmental degradation.
Fable for the End of the World is set in the future - one where climate change has gotten out of control, genetically modified creatures have driven out natural animal life, seeing a sunrise is unheard of through the air pollution, and Inesa's town exists around a layer of ungovernable water. Although presented as a background element to the story itself, there is something fascinating about seeing a world that has gone so far in the wrong direction - which leaves the reader wondering how to prevent that same future for themselves.
4. To lose yourself in a story.
The most incredible books feel as though they swallow you completely, erasing the world around you for the duration of their absorbing narratives. Fable for the End of the World does this flawlessly. On every page I felt as though I was walking alongside Inesa and Melinoë, experiencing and second-guessing their choices along with them, creating an atmospheric and fierce reading experience that made me immediately want to go back to the beginning.
5. To be surprised!
In the most spoiler-free way possible, having read dozens of YA dystopian novels myself, there are certain beats that one expects the story to hit, particularly as one nears the ending. Reid dances around many of these in a way so deft I can't recall ever seeing it before, and as every beat of the story unfolded I couldn't help but feel as though the characters were driving the tale in the most unexpected directions.
About Fable for the End of the World
The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in this standalone dystopian romance about survival, sacrifice, and love that risks everything.
By encouraging massive accumulations of debt from its underclass, a single corporation, Caerus, controls all aspects of society.
Inesa lives with her brother in a half-sunken town where they scrape by running a taxidermy shop. Unbeknownst to Inesa, their cruel and indolent mother has accrued an enormous debt—enough to qualify one of her children for Caerus’s livestreamed assassination spectacle: the Lamb’s Gauntlet.
Melinoë is a Caerus assassin, trained to track and kill the sacrificial Lambs. The product of neural reconditioning and physiological alteration, she is a living weapon, known for her cold brutality and deadly beauty. She has never failed to assassinate one of her marks.
When Inesa learns that her mother has offered her as a sacrifice, at first she despairs—the Gauntlet is always a bloodbath for the impoverished debtors. But she’s had years of practice surviving in the apocalyptic wastes, and with the help of her hunter brother, she might stand a chance of staying alive.
For Melinoë, this is a game she can’t afford to lose. Despite her reputation for mercilessness, she is haunted by painful flashbacks. After her last Gauntlet, where she broke down on livestream, she desperately needs redemption.
As Mel pursues Inesa across the wasteland, both girls begin to question everything: Inesa wonders if there’s more to life than survival, while Mel wonders if she’s capable of more than killing.
And both wonder if, against all odds, they might be falling in love.
Content Warning: class inequality, child abuse, assassination, trauma, violence, animal death, death of child, adult/minor relationship, sexual harassment, blood & gore, injury detail, dead body, medical content, gun violence, fire/fire injury, drug use, alcoholism (past), emesis
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