Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
Ratings47
Average rating4
In this uproarious and clever debut, it's time to give the Devil his due.Johannes Cabal, a brilliant scientist and notorious snob, is single-mindedly obsessed in heart and soul with raising the dead. Well, perhaps not soul . . . He hastily sold his years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. But now, tormented by a dark secret, he travels to the fiery pits of Hell to retrieve it. Satan, who is incredibly bored these days, proposes a little wager: Johannes has one year to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever. To make the bet even more interesting, Satan throws in that diabolical engine of deceit, seduction, and corruption known as a "traveling circus" to aid in the evil bidding. What better place exists to rob poor sad saps of their souls than the traveling carnivals historically run by hucksters and legendary con men?With little time to lose, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire (an unfortunate side effect of Johannes's early experiments with necromancy), to be the carnival's barker. On the road through the pastoral English countryside, this team of reprobates wields their black magic with masterful ease, resulting in mayhem at every turn.Johannes may have the moral conscience of anthrax, but are his tricks sinful enough to beat the Devil at his own game? You'll never guess, and that's a promise!Brilliantly written and wickedly funny, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer combines the chills and thrills of old-fashioned gothic tales like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the mischievous humor of Wicked, and the sophisticated charms of Jonathan Strange &Mr. Norrell and spins the Faustian legend into a fresh, irreverent, and irresistible new adventure.
Series
Series
4 primary books10 released booksJohannes Cabal
Johannes Cabal is a 10-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2009 with contributions by Jonathan L. Howard.
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4.5 stars. This was actually more fun than I expected. It took a while to get going, but when it did I was hooked.
Right from the get-go, I was cautiously delighted by the sharp humour that characterizes Howard's writing style, particularly suitable for the atmosphere of this book. If I had to nitpick, I'd say sarcasm as a device was used perhaps just a tad bit too often and it made the book felt a little dated, but luckily it was nowhere near overused and insufferable, so I could close an eye to it.
The premise was pretty interesting too, although it took me quite a number of chapters to really get into the groove of things. Johannes Cabal is a brilliant scientist and necromancer who travels into Hell to make a bet with Satan - to get a hundred souls in the span of a year in exchange for his own soul back. To help him do it, Satan provides him with a diabolical carnival which he must run and use to tempt people to sign over their souls. Cabal enlists the help of his brother, charismatic vampire Horst Cabal, to help him run the place.
At first it felt a bit aimless, like I wasn't sure what I was waiting for and what the whole aim of everything was, but when I realised that this was going to be a somewhat episodic adventure where we follow Cabal and Horst as they meet different people and situations along the travels of the carnival, I felt like I could settle into that vibe and finally found the groove of the story.
The ragtag bunch of people/demons Cabal surrounds himself with are generally also quite memorable, if not endearing. The most outstanding of the bunch is definitely Horst Cabal, and the love-hate, push-pull relationship between Johannes and himself. I enjoyed their dynamic and the way Horst was written. Johannes himself as a character was also intriguing - we know he wants his soul back for a reason but he never quite reveals that reason until right at the end. We're given enough glimpses and hints along the way to want to continue reading though. Importantly, Johannes and Horst are also distinctive enough characters that they don't blend into each other, which forms the basis of having a believable and strong character dynamic.
Though this book wasn't without its flaws, ultimately it felt like everything worked out pretty well for me. I enjoyed the tone, the writing style, the premise, and the characters, and I'm curious to know what will happen next, so that's gonna keep me going for the next book!
This book was so funny I laughed out loud multiple times while reading. Love the story and the characters from beginning to end although there was a bit of a wobble there in between. The writing style was really fun and read fast.
Though I would have liked to see more of Horst, I am glad that many side characters were fairly worked out. Although the little women that were there were fairly one-dimensional, it is forgiven. I would definitely recommend this book to people.
A brilliant scientist and possible sociopath sells his soul to learn the secrets of necromancy, only to find out that not having a soul is quite inconvenient - his necromancy never quite works right without having one. So he gets himself into another wager with the Devil, this time to collect one hundred souls in exchange for his, using the diabolical means of...a carnival. Johannes is not especially charming, nor is he good at having fun, so he enlists his brother Horst, a vampire, and an army of the dead to help him out. Then, after that book is over, he ends up having to solve a murder on board an aeroship (while on the run from the secret police of a dictatorship), with only one frenemy by his side. So basically: awesome.
