I was sent an early review copy in exchange for my honest review! Thanks to NetGalley & HarperCollins for the ARC. This doesn’t affect my thoughts about the book in any way. Out on the shelves on March 4, 2025! 

I truly love lesbians in fiction. Unfortunately, this didn’t deliver the way I expected it to. Essentially a Hunger Games fanfic, anyone could see the love Ava Reid has for the dystopian trilogy that has shaped at least two generations of readers. The world-building was quite unique and she was able to write a post-apocalyptic society that also reflects our current world. Reid incorporated a variety of social issues in this book which made it a tad richer plot-wise. She also added some elements of popular horror video games such as TLOU and Until Dawn, but it made the world-building slightly messier than intended. It wasn’t well-laid out enough for me to work with. I kept asking for more thrill, more build-up to possible conflicts that the main characters will face but the story doesn’t pick up until the 70% mark. Inesa and Melinöe had amazing tension and chemistry, I absolutely love women, and I expected them to have a worthwhile ending. But I didn’t get anything an exciting enough conclusion, or at the very least hopeful. I’m trying to justify the point of having a cliffhanger ending if there isn’t any possibility for a sequel. Is this a duology? Trilogy?