Ever dance with the devil

Author : Jonathan L. Howard
Title : Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
Published : 04/02/2010
Pages : 352
Genre : Comedy Horror
Publisher : Headline







     Johannes Cabal has never pretended to be a hero of any kind. There is, after all, little heroic about robbing graves, stealing occult volumes, and being on nodding terms with demons. His purpose, however, is noble. His researches are all directed to raising the dead. For such a prize, some sacrifices are necessary. One such sacrifice was his own soul, but he now sees that was a mistake - it's not just that he needs it for his research to have validity, but now he realizes he needs it to be himself. Unfortunately, his soul now rests within the festering bureaucracy of Hell. Satan may be cruel and capricious but, most dangerously, he is bored. It is Cabal's unhappy lot to provide him with amusement. In short, a wager: in return for his own soul, Cabal must gather one hundred others - in one year.

     Its good every once in a while to step away from the usual types of genres I read and find something a little different. And it doesn't get much further than a story of a necromancer trying to win back his soul from the devil. The plot sounded like it could hold my attention but also add some laughs along the way. with a story that sounded like it did always take its self to seriously.

     In the writing of Cabal, we have been given a character you will love to hate. As leading men go he is deceitful, unpleasant and pretty much without morals. If written any other way he would easily be the villain of the peace with some plucky hero trying to outsmart him and keep his soul intact. But he is none the less the lead we have been given, And it totally works within the boundaries of this story. There comes a point when I found my self actively rooting for him to win his bet. I suppose though when your adversary is the devil himself we can always make a few allowances for who we chose to back. He is also joined in his efforts by denizens from the underworld, This is where a lot of the light relief comes from within the book.  None of them are exactly competent at there jobs and seem to spend most of there time on earth making Cabal's life more difficult than anything else.

     The plot of this book is a relatively simple one at heart, our hero must collect and a hundred souls for the devil and in return, he can gain his back. It is however in the way Howard executes his story that he brings it all to life. There is a level of wit and darkly twisted comedy that permeates through this book to keep me smiling the whole way through. Our cast of rouges will stop at nothing to achieve there goal even if there are a just a few hiccups along the way. This only really adds to the farcical nature of things. He also managed to bring a magical and otherworldly nature the England he gives us. Bring a certain dark beauty to the world he shows us, Even down to the way he describes old swaps and rotting towns. There are many things to enjoy about this book, From it's style to the characters we get me through this story. The author has managed to create an anti-hero in a very pure form, someone you should truly despise yet can't help rooting for. The book came across as just the right length, we get to spend the right amount of time with Cabal as he trades barbs with the devil and tries to win his freedom.