Friday, January 3, 2014

Book Review: Johannes Cabal the Detective

Time for another book review and it's the second in the Cabal series.


The title isn't as good as the first book in the series, but that cover, just look at it. It's beautiful. Anyway let's get to the real book and not just what's on the outside.

The book starts out with Cabal in prison in the fictional country of Mirkarvia after being caught stealing a powerful book filled with necromantic secrets. Luckily for him the Emperor has died recently and one of his underlings needs the Emperor to appear alive to deliver a speech and Cabal has just the skills he needs. Cabal outwits his captor and escapes during the speech and gets on an airship. The cover has the airship looking like a dirigible, but inside the book there is a drawing of the ship and it looks nothing like that so don't let that confuse you. Anyway he's on the airship and there is a murder that looks like a suicide. He also runs into Leonie Barrow, one of the innocent souls he got to sign over their soul in the last book. Luckily Cabal destroyed that contract and Leonie isn't doomed to hell and she's studying to be a forensic investigator and is stuck working with Cabal to figure out the person behind the murder.

Cabal is stuck on the airship trying to stay incognito and interact with actual people in a way that doesn't reveal who he is and it's a good time watching him do that and seeing how Barrow reacts to him seeming more like a real person instead of the monster he was to her in the first book. There's an interesting supporting cast on the airship and there is plenty of intrigue in this book to keep you reading to find out how well Cabal will do in a career as a detective.

I really enjoy this book and I'd recommend picking it up if you enjoyed the first book in the series. It has a serious story at the heart, but Howard tells it with a light hearted spirit that makes it fun to read throughout.