Fable for the End of the World By Ava Reid is tragic and beautiful despite minor hiccups in the narrative that I personally disliked. There were a number of releases this year that were along the lines of a hunter and the hunted falling in love but I doubt any were as bleak. Its ending reminds me a lot of the ending of parasite, where we are left with a fantasy that will never happen. The theme that this book hits you over the head with is survival, what it takes to survive and whether you can blame someone for doing what they must. But there is a more insidious theme that becomes more and more apparent as the book reaches its conclusion. This book is not as other commentators call it "the lesbian hunger games" because there is no subverting of the system, no moment where the mc, like Katness, forces the system to accommodate her. No, everything they do is reincorporated, adjusted for. And so the title of this novel is apt, for as a fable it exceeds in selling its message; hope can get you to survive but it won't let you succeed. Also white haired cyborg assassins are kinda hot. 8:10