Review: The Brothers Cabal (and giveaway)

Book four of the Johannes Cabal series
By Jonathon L. Howard
Available now from Thomas Dunne Books (Macmillan)
Review copy
Read my review of The Fear Institute

THE FEAR INSTITUTE ended with the surprising revelation that Horst Cabal was once again alive.  (In a sense, given that he is once again risen as a vampire, and technically he's just undead again.)  For the first two thirds of THE BROTHERS CABAL, the focus is on Horst's resurrection and his adventures before reuniting with Johannes.

While I missed Johannes' dry impatience, I did relish getting the chance to see this world through a different point of view.  Horst is more social and affable, if inhuman in his own way.  He certainly makes friends and allies easier, including monster hunters and a barnstormer circus.  Once more Leonie Barrow doesn't make an appearance, but a wide range of female characters are introduced.  It's an aspect I appreciated.

The plot starts simply, with a supernatural society that wants to take over the world.  There is a long chase, and a big battle, but it's just big set pieces illuminating that Johannes Cabal's enemies are starting to work together for a bit of revenge.  I liked that there turned out to be a personal motive behind everything and that the bad guys were much smarter than they first appeared.

Some of the action was a bit hard to follow.  There are a lot of people with different powers on the scene, which means sometimes there are giant, fierce bugs with little explanation of how that happened.  The humor, however, is more than intact.  I can turn to almost any page and find a gem that made me laugh.  Let me try it right now.

"Does my little brother have a crush?"
Cabal started to deny it, but then instead blushed a little, and a small, perhaps even shy smile appeared on his own face.  He leaned towards Horst and said in a lowered voice, "She told me where to find the fifth volume of Darian's Ocusculus." - ARC, pg. 58-9

The humor is best whenever Horst and Johannes banter with each other, but really, many of Jonathon L. Howard's characters give good banter.  Thanks to the multitude of new characters and POV change, THE BROTHERS CABAL is fairly welcoming to new comers.  The climax slightly less so, although the old connections between the characters are explained.

This is one of my favorite series, and I dread the wait for the next book. 
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Review: Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute

Book Three in the Johannes Cabal series
By Jonathan L. Howard
Available now from Thomas Dunne (Macmillan)
Review copy

I was first introduced to the Johannes Cabal series through a book swap a couple of years.  I wanted something genre, funny, with interesting female characters.  Johannes Cabal was a name that my swapper threw out, although she eventually chose to send me another couple of books.  But I enjoyed the ones she sent me so much that I kept the name in the back of my head, right up until I was able to pick up copies at the secondhand bookstore.  Then, I was dismayed to find out that there was a third book out in the UK, but not yet available in the US.

Finally, JOHANNES CABAL: THE FEAR INSTITUTE has made it to our* shores.

*I'm using our loosely, since my analytics make it clear that people from all over the world read this blog.

The first reason I love this series is the humor.  It's very dry, very morbid, very sarcastic.  The whole narrative style is very arch, sort of faux old timey, but quite sly.  I didn't read JOHANNES CABAL: THE FEAR INSTITUTE as quickly as I usually do because the words kept playing in my head.

The second reason I love this series is Johannes Cabal himself.  He's a necromancer who recently regained his soul and is still getting a grip on such concepts as conscience and empathy.  He's quite the villainous protagonist.  The third reason I love this series, Leonie Barrow, sadly doesn't appear in JOHANNES CABAL: THE FEAR INSTITUTE.  I can only hope she returns to be Cabal's moral foe in the fourth book.

In JOHANNES CABAL: THE FEAR INSTITUTE, three men belonging to a society known as The Fear Institute hire Cabal to guide them through the Dreamlands.  Their goal is to kill the spirit of fear, which is only corporeal in that land of poets and opium addicts.  The first book took on Goethe, the second Christie, and this one Lovecraft.  Eldritch horror is a good fit for a story about a necromancer.  Plus, the dream logic setting kept Cabal on his toes, and it's nice to see him not fully in control.  The climax was a tad over long, but did tie everything together neatly.

JOHANNES CABAL: THE FEAR INSTITUTE was worth the wait.  Luckily, book four comes out late 2014.  We'll only have to wait a year this time.  (Meanwhile, the UK is having to wait for years between books!  Ha!)  Give this series a try if you're looking for something genre, funny, with a real twisted bent.