Fable for the End of the World
The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in this stand-alone 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.
Indie Next PickCBC Hot off the Press PickCCBC Choices 2026NAIBA Book of the Year Finalist
- Pages
- 384
- First published
- March 4, 2025
- Language
- English
- Edition
- Ebook
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Reviews
Finished April 25, 2025
Finished April 26, 2026
Sapphic dystopian story perfect for fans of the hunger games and that era of stories. The dystopian era is back baby and I am so here for it. I didn’t know how much I missed these kinds of stories until I started reading them again. I’ve been in the biggest slump and I absolutely ate this up and couldn’t put it down until I finished it. Set in a horrific world that in some ways feels like it easily mirrors our own with people caring about content over human lives, this feels like something that truly could happen. I truly felt for both Inesa and Melinoë right from the beginning and this was a truly beautiful story. The open ended ending truly hurt but I also get why it had to end that way, the way that they are both so you too. Ugh reading heartbreaking dystopian tales about characters so young really hits harder as an adult. They were just babies 😭 I’m slowly working my way through Ava Reid’s catalog and I have zero regrets about buying every single one of her books just because it was stunning.
Finished June 10, 2026
This book is amazing - I very much enjoyed it. It is a sapphic, dystopian novel, everything about it is interesting and captivating. The writing, story line, world building, the emotions and the characters are all so good and well thought out. It also takes a look at climate change, governments, debt, cooperation's and their power over such things, online culture and loneliness. It really can relate to things happening in our lives. I also found each character was described so well and i could easily imagine them all. I really felt for Inesa and Melinoë, they were both put into awful situations they are no control over at such young ages. They both truly did what they needed to survive, even if it was extremely sad and difficult. I do like how the ending shows Inesa and her brother coming closer together and supporting each other after such an awful event.