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A review by mcgbreads
Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.5
ARC review; thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children's Books, and HarperCollins for the access to this ebook.
This is a YA dystopia that will feel familiar to anyone who loves 2000s YA dystopia and I enjoyed it a lot because of it. It feels modern and adds enough new elements to make it different from the stories it takes inspiration from. 3.5 stars.
Fable for the End of the World is set in a world where a corporation, Caerus, controls every aspect of society and has built a credit system that encourages the lower classes to rack up massive amounts of debt. When the debt gets to its limit, the person is nominated to the Gauntlet, a live-streamed event where they get hunted and killed by an Angel. Angels are girls that the corporation modifies and trains as assassins from a very young age; they're made beautiful, lethal, and emotionless through a bunch of means. Here's the kicker, though: if the person who racked up the debt has family, they can nominate someone to replace them, essentially sacrificing them.
That's what happens to Inesa, a 17-year-old girl whose mother has gone into debt behind her and her brother Luka's backs despite their best efforts to avoid using the system to get by. Fortunately for her, the Angel sent to Inesa's Gauntlet, Melinoë, has had a lot of trouble recovering from her last kill. The trauma of it is fighting memory deletion and it's essentially rewiring her brain; she's having feelings, primarily guilt, and killing is no longer as easy as it used to be.
Like I said, I really enjoyed this and virtually read it in one sitting. The writing is nice and descriptive, the world is interesting, the dynamics between the characters are engaging, and though it's quite predictable for most of it, it still managed to excite me. This post-apocalyptic world felt very creative to me and the commentary on climate change, oppression, the vilification of needing/relying on one another in society, capitalism, and the commodification of violence/trauma is done quite well and makes the story compelling.
The issue for me is that the execution falls a little short and some things in the story are unsatisfying, like Inesa's confrontation with her mother, [spoiler]the way that Luka reappears after he's separated from Inesa during the Gauntlet, Melinoë's confrontation of her maker/handler[/spoiler], among other things. Characterization also felt surface-level overall. While we learn a lot about Inesa and Melinoë's lives through their POVs, I wanted to learn more about *them* as individuals. Secondary characters felt like cardboard cutouts when they shouldn't have because they had influence in the story.
I also felt that the relationship between Inesa and Melinoë moved a little too quickly. I wanted more development, more getting to know one another, more tension. And, omg, there are so many questions left unanswered. The last 20% of the book moved incredibly quickly, the climax felt rushed, and the ending was a little too open for my taste. Worst of all, I suspect it was done that way to leave room for a sequel if this does well. I hate that if that's the case. If you're going to make a duology, make a duology, have that be the plan from the get-go, and make sure the first book feels whole on its own. But I digress...
Overall, I liked quite a few things about this book, but it doesn't quite hit that threshold of greatness for me.
Lastly, I want to comment on this comparison the book description provides: "The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes." The Last of Us is maybe my favorite piece of media of all time, and I didn't find any of it here. Just cause two people reluctantly go on a journey together and end up caring for each other doesn't make it comparable. Terminator would've worked a lot better. I do agree with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, though. There are way more elements here that can be compared to that book and The Hunger Games in general.
This is a YA dystopia that will feel familiar to anyone who loves 2000s YA dystopia and I enjoyed it a lot because of it. It feels modern and adds enough new elements to make it different from the stories it takes inspiration from. 3.5 stars.
Fable for the End of the World is set in a world where a corporation, Caerus, controls every aspect of society and has built a credit system that encourages the lower classes to rack up massive amounts of debt. When the debt gets to its limit, the person is nominated to the Gauntlet, a live-streamed event where they get hunted and killed by an Angel. Angels are girls that the corporation modifies and trains as assassins from a very young age; they're made beautiful, lethal, and emotionless through a bunch of means. Here's the kicker, though: if the person who racked up the debt has family, they can nominate someone to replace them, essentially sacrificing them.
That's what happens to Inesa, a 17-year-old girl whose mother has gone into debt behind her and her brother Luka's backs despite their best efforts to avoid using the system to get by. Fortunately for her, the Angel sent to Inesa's Gauntlet, Melinoë, has had a lot of trouble recovering from her last kill. The trauma of it is fighting memory deletion and it's essentially rewiring her brain; she's having feelings, primarily guilt, and killing is no longer as easy as it used to be.
Like I said, I really enjoyed this and virtually read it in one sitting. The writing is nice and descriptive, the world is interesting, the dynamics between the characters are engaging, and though it's quite predictable for most of it, it still managed to excite me. This post-apocalyptic world felt very creative to me and the commentary on climate change, oppression, the vilification of needing/relying on one another in society, capitalism, and the commodification of violence/trauma is done quite well and makes the story compelling.
The issue for me is that the execution falls a little short and some things in the story are unsatisfying, like Inesa's confrontation with her mother, [spoiler]the way that Luka reappears after he's separated from Inesa during the Gauntlet, Melinoë's confrontation of her maker/handler[/spoiler], among other things. Characterization also felt surface-level overall. While we learn a lot about Inesa and Melinoë's lives through their POVs, I wanted to learn more about *them* as individuals. Secondary characters felt like cardboard cutouts when they shouldn't have because they had influence in the story.
I also felt that the relationship between Inesa and Melinoë moved a little too quickly. I wanted more development, more getting to know one another, more tension. And, omg, there are so many questions left unanswered. The last 20% of the book moved incredibly quickly, the climax felt rushed, and the ending was a little too open for my taste. Worst of all, I suspect it was done that way to leave room for a sequel if this does well. I hate that if that's the case. If you're going to make a duology, make a duology, have that be the plan from the get-go, and make sure the first book feels whole on its own. But I digress...
Overall, I liked quite a few things about this book, but it doesn't quite hit that threshold of greatness for me.
Lastly, I want to comment on this comparison the book description provides: "The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes." The Last of Us is maybe my favorite piece of media of all time, and I didn't find any of it here. Just cause two people reluctantly go on a journey together and end up caring for each other doesn't make it comparable. Terminator would've worked a lot better. I do agree with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, though. There are way more elements here that can be compared to that book and The Hunger Games in general.