Title: Conquistador de la Noche
Author: Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville #0.4
In: Kitty’s Greatest Hits (Carrie Vaughn) & Vampires: The Recent Undead (Paula Guran)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal fantasy, Urban fantasy, Werewolves
Dates read: 8th November 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Tor
Year: 20
5th sentence, 74th page: When will Ruiz return?

Ruiz has been made into something he never dreamt existed. Never wanted to be and would rather didn’t exist at all. But he might be able to find a new beginning for himself, and just a small spot of revenge.

I don’t know much about the Spanish settlement of the Americas. Actually, Zorro is my only exposure to such a time period and theme. Which of course meant that this short story fascinated me from the outset. Especially since Ricardo was a particularly noble and honourable lead. One who was thrown into the world of the paranormal incredibly unwillingly.

Most stories I read about vampires feature a character who is turned against their will. And this paranormal rape is frequently overlooked or glossed over. Yet, that doesn’t happen in this short story. Actually, the main focuses of this is on the horrors and atrociousness of being turned against your will. It makes you feel incredibly sympathetic towards Ricardo and make you question all of the vampires you’ve read about in books so far.

There is a bit of a Christian overture to this story. One which seriously begs the question – how do you live when your life is a sin? But suicide is also a sin? How can you balance your belief against such a horror and intensity?

<- A Princess of Spain Review

The Temptation of Robin Green Review ->

Image source: Amazon