Cabaret in Flames

I was not expecting a cyborg to appear in this little vampire novella but in the context of Pueyo’s vampiric world-building it worked surprisingly well. This is part-mystery, part-revenge tale, and a whole lot of trauma unpacking. Big trigger warning for child abuse.

For such a small book, the story touches on a lot of heavy topics. It’s a nuanced tale that discusses love after abuse, the fragmented process of healing, and the power dynamics that would inevitably emerge in a vampire/human society.

In the context of all of the above, the romance that developed felt a bit out of place, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I love novellas, I really do, but I find more often than not, many of them would benefit from being longer, including this one. There are many interesting ideas in this book that we barely scratched the surface of. The story, and the sensitive nature of the content, needed more space to untangle in the dark fever dream that built Ariadne’s life.