The Ballad of Lost Hollow: Act 3; The Grand Cyberpunk Gala of Gabriela Gadfly By Paul Shapera A Review

Act 1: Miss Helen’s weird west Cabaret: A fun little album filled with interesting characters and plots with a heavy hitting and confusing ending.
Act 2: Uncle Raven’s Super Happy Funtime Carnival: Answers the questions from the first act, containing dark and sometimes scary imagery with a somewhat abrupt ending.
The Grand Cyberpunk Gala of Gabriella Gadfly…. Dear god, where do I even begin? Well, I can start by saying that I am going to keep the review as spoiler free as possible.

The story begins almost immediately after act two. Hellen is being questioned by the queen AI Mary, many of us would know her from The Atompunk Opera. She came with willing with a husband and three children, after the monsters killed her family she carried a double barrel and wore the bones around her neck.
The majority of the opera goes into explaining the war, the AI’s plans, how the AI learned to travel through time (Which seriously goes on to explain Alice from The Room Beneath New Albion. Seriously though, that’s the only question that ever actually bugged me), as well as more information on the characters of Han Mi, Hellen and Hank.
As the story continues I began to feel more for the AI and their struggle to win the unwinnable war. The reasoning for why they put Han, Hellen and Henry in the cabaret and potentially many other scenarios.
I’m not going to lie to you though, later on in the act the story gets sad, damn near heartbreaking. Seriously, I almost fucking cried.
But, I may be giving too much away with that.
The ending is probably the best ending of any of the acts. It can be argued that it’s a bit of a happy ending, despite certain acts. It leaves a lot open for a sequel, which I desperately hope we get. I want to know what happens with Hellen’s sister most of all.

All in all, this is one hell of an act. It’s the ending The Ballad of Lost Hollow deserved. This was not the sort of story that would warrant a full on happy ending, though a tragic ending would have been a little much as well.
If you have yet to check out The Grand Cyberpunk Gala of Gabriella Gadfly, or the first two acts of The Ballad of Lost Hollow, I recommend it. It is one hell of an emotional rollercoaster that will leave you morose, though satisfied.