Cabaret in Flames is a horror novella written by Hache Pueyo and published by Titan Books. A short piece that shows how you can efficiently pack so much into a few pages, a horror-filled tale that not only gives us an original spin on such underutilized creatures as guls, but also delights us with a story about forgiveness, a bit of romance and mostly about healing from the past.

A novella that revolves around Ariadne, a girl living in an alternate Brazil set in chaos, ravaged by death squads under the president's control and also guls, human-flesh eating monsters. She lost half of her body to their appetites, but was given prosthetics by genius Erik Yurkov, who rescued her and trained her to heal those of the race that attacked her before disappearing. When Erik's old friend, Quaint, knocks on the door seeking Eric, it starts a quest that will take our duo to the heart of the conspiracy and will allow them to also start healing their own internal wounds.

Pueyo puts the complex relationship between Quaint and Ariadne at the center of the novella, using it as the piece that articulates the rest of the piece. Not only we have an extraordinary person in the figure of Ariadne, somebody that lost most of herself (literally) to the guls until Erik saved her, but also somebody who still needs to heal, and here's where Quaint enters. Quaint is certainly a strange character, but I feel part of it comes from how the gul concept is understood: not only due to how their food habits are understood, but their perception of time is twisted in comparison with human one. However, Quaint was exactly what Ariadne needed to finally start healing after Erik's disappearing, even if Quaint represents the same creature that hurt her.

Despite this being a short novella, Pueyo also manages to delight the reader with an impressive worldbuilding, which not only feels refreshing as it shifts away from the usual places, Brazil, but also weaving the conspiracy with the political system and the own guls, so similar yet so different to vampires.

Cabaret in Flames is a marvelous novella; it might not be for all readers, especially with how raw some themes feel, but which I particularly enjoyed. Hache Pueyo is a name to watch in the horror genre!