Book Review: Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. HowardMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I suspect that author Jonathan L. Howard has never painted himself into a corner. Or if he has, he no doubt convinced the paint to levitate so he could walk underneath it, or talked the corner into twisting its boards into a staircase.
Johannes Cabal The Necromancer is a treat for fanciers of dark humor, witty repartee, and poking fun at bureaucracy. But what delighted me the most was how he placed his protagonist, Johannes Cabal, into frequent hopeless situations, and never once failed to astonish me with how things worked out. He’s an astoundingly clever writer that way.
The story takes Johannes Cabal to hell, where he strikes a deal with the devil. He’s got one year to collect one hundred souls, and if he succeeds, the devil will give him back his own soul, lost in a previous agreement. Brace yourself for one wild ride of a year, filled with surprising twists and turns, little stories within the bigger story, and characters unlike any you’ve ever met before.
This is brilliant stuff! I will most definitely be reading the next four books in the series. There’s a short story set in this universe too, and you can read that at Tor.com: A Long Spoon.
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Lori Alden Holuta
Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields of Mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables and herbs when she’s not writing, editing, or playing games with a cat named Chives.
