Based on the description and the rec I received, I was expecting this to nearly be a comedy about a necromancer collecting souls to save his own hide. And it kinda is...but not really. I think we're only really with Cabal while he collects 5 souls and the rest is more of less off-screen. Really, this book is about a necromancer that doeabt get along with his vampire brother (or anybody else for that matter) and his eventual 'redemption'

In the meantime, there are constant cutaways to other people who traded their souls for something but the writing for those sections is such a shift from when we're with Cabal that every time you cutaway, it jars you out of the story.

In all honesty, I should have DNFd this back in the first few chapters when I realized Howard's writing wasnt working for me. ( )

I LOVED this book. Very clever, very gothic. Not many characters to really root for but you will barrel through it to see how it all turns out. ( )

this one was a great disappointment. i went in thinking all New Weird confections, you know, necromancers and such, plus hey, a horror circus thrown in, what could go wrong? but instead it just wasn't any good. the humour fell flat with me, the only interesting character (the brother) didn't seem to be of much interest to the writer, the circus was all clips and no nuance. it had all that promise, but it couldn't seem to earn the commitment of the writer to the original conception. first of a series, but i'm too disheartened to continue, see if he got the whole thing together later. ( )

Recommended to me by a friend.

I did like this book for both the horror and the humor. ( )

An Antihero crafted in a most unsuspecting manner. The first half of this book threw me off considerably. Admittedly it took me a while to warm up to Johannes. Once I caught on to what the author was up to I was quite pleased.

At first glance the book and story seem to be kind of all over the place and just does not give the reader a clear idea of what kind of character we are dealing with. We know we are to witness something unique and sinister. The line on the literary fishing rod waits a considerable amount of time to go taught. When it does…there is no escape.

The word Necromancer immediately sums up certain images for the reader as we learn eventually that Howard has created anything other than the typical character, allowing us to breathe that fetid air lingering between the pages. Cabal is an ass. He is sarcastic, assuredly unsure and at times overly cautious. The author gives him a dark sneakiness that makes him sort of unlikable. The delivery at times can be like Swiss cheese. That in itself may deter some readers. The concept of a Necromancer dealing with the devil, running a carnival and relying on his intelligence mingled with the powers of darkness and or science is ROCK SOLID.

This novel is a dark comedy and rest slightly somewhere between young adult and adult. We don’t see much of this supposed Necromancy that Cabal is capable of. At the same time we know he is capable of things we would rather not think of. The reader tends to only get the results and is not shown much of the act of.. Just maybe the author does this on purpose and when the book is over the reader will rightly see the method to Howard's madness. The ending of the book will solidify the character and his purpose pulling the hooks tighter. As I write this review I am about halfway through the second novel in the series and can rightly say that we are intended as readers to not only grow with Johannes but attach ourselves to his diabolical lawful chaotic purpose. The Characters Johannes surrounds himself with are anything other than subtle. It would have been nice to see more of his brother and learn something about that story. Could be the author did not want to detract away from current events by doing so. However by keeping things sweet and to the point Howard has allowed us to use our brains. ( )