Johannes Cabal the Necromancer is a 2009 supernatural fiction and black comedy novel written by Jonathan L. Howard. It is the first book of an ongoing series chronicling the ventures of Johannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy.
I bounced off this book in my first attempt to read it. This time around I did finish, though I don't expect to continue with the series. There's some fun wordplay and I liked some individual scenes (croquet and a MacGyver-style water clock in a pocket dimension was a high point), but after spending a book with Johannes Cabal I don't care what he gets into next.
Can't wait for next one
While not a perfect book by any means-- it lacked a certain weight to the action and character that made it seem like a series of scenes, rather than a fluid whole-- it was overall highly enjoyable, and I recommend it enthusiastically to anyone looking for a light read with fantasy characters and good humor.
This was a cute book. While I enjoyed it, it felt like it was a bit off-balance. Some of the humor felt forced and perhaps out of place.
An enjoyable read, but it's a book whose plot skips over huge parts of the story and whose titular protagonist is the second or third most interesting character in the book. The resolution is disappointedly contrived, but the final page or so leaves the opening for a sequel (Johannes Cabal the Detective) that has some promise.
