(no subject)

[yagathai]

Finished up Johannes Cabal the Necromancer just last night (or as incandescens would put it, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer ;) ). An easy B+. Funny, morbid, imaginative, engaging. Lost points because at times the prose style was a bit too clever for its own good, the protagonists suffer from some glaring plot-mandated stupidity, some of the jokes were cribbed from Python, Blackadder, Pratchett et al, and there were some minor pacing issues. Also the climax wasn't quite as satisfying as one might hope, perhaps because the climactic "twist" and the reveal at the end were both easily spotted and painfully predictable. Still, overall, very entertaining and reasonably well-written, and I look forward to acquiring and consuming the sequel.

Comments

[vegan-vulcan.livejournal.com]

I personally think Johannes Cabal the Detective is vastly superior in terms of plotting, character, and the rest of your concerns! It's probably one of my favorite books ever. I liked Necromancer very much but found it uneven, whereas Detective is like Ka-KOW! right out of the gate and keeps getting better.

In case you didn't know, I was part of a team of inquisitors who got their hands on Herr Cabal last year, around the time Detective was published. My contribution has no spoilers, so I'll link that one (I don't think the rest do, but I can't recall). It was super-fun, JLH is fun to work with and super-nice.

http://mollytanzer.com/2010/08/23/in-which-i-utterly-fail-to-inquisit-johannes-cabal/

[babyraven.livejournal.com]

I, on the other hand, found the sequel much less fun. Each to their own, I suppose.