By Jonathan L. Howard
Being a big fan I’m always wary when a book turns up from a new author that trumpets itself as the next Pratchett. Let’s face it he’s an impossible act to follow and I think it’s a reasonable assumption that any author would cringe at the thought of being placed under that spotlight, especially for a first novel. So it’s a marketing thing, an easy way to label a new talent, but having read Johannes Cabal The Necromancer, I can see what they’re getting at.
We meet our (anti)hero in chapter one, pursuing an audience with Satan. After the hilarious exchange with Arthur Trubshaw, Keeper of the Gates of Hell, which sets up the humour of the book nicely we learn that Johannes has sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the secrets of necromancy. Unfortunately it hasn’t turned out quite the way he planned so he’s used this knowledge to walk into hell and ask for his soul back. Of course Satan refuses and thus Cabal is forced to make a wager with him in order to win his soul back. Satan decides to accept the wager and sets the terms – 100 souls in 1 year, signed, sealed and delivered to him – and, being a helpful sort, he also provides Cabal with use of the Carnival of Discord and some helpful side shows to attract unsuspecting folk into situations where they will gladly put pen to paper, and thus the quest begins.
This is good fantasy, witty, smart and slightly satirical but at it’s heart a story about one man, in a very sticky situation, and his attempts to get himself out of it. Along the way Johannes recruits his brother, Horst, a vampire to help him run things and while they don’t sound like the warmest of protagonists they are both likeable characters and you do find yourself routing for them along the way. Of course Johannes, despite his ‘craft’ is not all bad, there’s a reason for his actions that goes deeper than we at first are led to believe and while I won’t give it away here, it is telegraphed pretty early on. But reason’s aside, there are a couple times when he steps over the hazy moral line in order to gather a particular soul and we’re left wondering if he can really be as cold and calculating as he appears, or is redemption, however strange, just around corner.
It’s not all beer and skittles, the story is uneven in patches and there are huge chunks of the backstory such as the relationship between Horst & Johannes, the story of how Johannes became a Necromancer and the events that precipitated that choice that would have made fascinating reading and I can only hope get covered in subsequent books because they are mentioned more than once during the course of this book which is terribly frustrating.
But all that aside this is a thoroughly entertaining and hugely fun book populated by great characters that is intelligently written and very funny. Not quite up there with Pratchett, but a very promising start and a strong indication that there are good things to come from Mr. Howard.
Johannes Cabal The Necromancer is published by Headline and is available from Play.com, Blackwell and all good book stores.