The Necromancer (Johannes Cabal, #1) by Jonathan L. Howard

The Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

A charmingly gothic, fiendishly funny Faustian tale about a brilliant scientist who makes a deal with the Devil, twice.

Johannes Cabal sold his soul years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. Now he wants it back. Amused and slightly bored, Satan proposes a little wager: Johannes has to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever. This time for real. Accepting the bargain, Jonathan is given one calendar year and a traveling carnival to complete his task. With little time to waste, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire to help him run his nefarious road show, resulting in mayhem at every turn.

My Review:

I first chose to read this because it was on the book-clubs list for June. I'm glad I read it. The concept was great, the classic battle between good and evil and the gray area in between. I enjoyed the characters, especially the Cabal brothers. I also enjoyed the ending, although I could tell fairly soon why Johannes wanted his soul back, and I'm ok with it. What made up for the fact that I could understand the outcome was that they don't confirm it until the end and the entertaining story that led us there.

When I first started the book, there were a lot of descriptive words that I did not know, almost as if the author used a thesaurus every couple of words. However, since I was reading this book on my Kindle, I was able to look up the definitions of a lot of those words and I have to say that my personal vocabulary has increased. So, something I thought would drive me nuts about the book, actually turned out to be a good thing.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am excited to start the second book in this series!

Favorite Quotes:

"With all the best will in the world, Johannes, you’re as much fun as a leper at an orgy"

"Well, if I ever suffer brain damage, I know there’s always a career waiting for me in local politics"

"Never discuss murder plans with the victim, he reminded himself. It takes all the spontaneity out of it"

Deviant Art Photos by: paisley

Read from June 05 to 30, 2013

Top 5 Genres*: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction/Steampunk, Humor

*According to Goodreads
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My ratings system:
5 stars - I absolutely loved it
4 stars - Good book and would recommend
3 stars - Decent book, but wasn't spectacular
2 stars - Not good, but was able to finish it
1 stars - Did not finish (DNF) and I don't usually rate a book I haven't finished (just to be fair to the author)

View all my reviews