Fable for the End of the World

A trained mercenary falls in love with her mark in this grim dystopia from Reid (A Study in Drowning). After undergoing intense physical and psychological reconditioning, teenage Melinoë becomes an assassin for Caerus, the corporation that controls New Amsterdam through civilian debt. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Inesa has spent her life trying to keep her family afloat. Then Inesa’s mother stakes her for the Gauntlet—a livestreamed, 13-day hunt—to wipe out significant debt. Seeking redemption following a previous traumatic Gauntlet, Mel determines to kill Inesa, who enlists her brother Luka’s help in shaking off would-be killers. Though each girl desperately needs the other to fail, their attraction threatens to upend the Gauntlet and Caerus’s hold on New Amsterdam. An immersive setting rendered via descriptive prose ferries this invigorating story, which questions the nature of humanity, survival, and memory. Though plot points anchored on genre influences such as the Hunger Games series sometimes feel limiting, Reid deviates from the expected through the leisurely unspooling of Mel and Inesa’s dueling POVs and their heart-pounding sapphic romance. Characters are described with varying skin tones. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sarah Landis, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Mar.)