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A review by stepriot
The Fall of the House of Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard
5.0
I really enjoyed the ending. I found it very sweet. Yes, Johannes may have lost the thing he thought he was spending his life working for, but he is starting to realize he's enriched the lives of several others along the way. While he may have to grieve for a loss, he'll find he is no longer alone and he's far from a failure. And who knows, maybe in time he'll even realize he's had a crush on a living lady for years, though he'll likely be at least 40 before that revelation occurs.
For a series that started out glib and amusing I've found the ending endearing and powerful. I appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed the transition. If the series truly ends here I will be satisfied, but if it continues I'll be eager to see how Johannes grows.
Also, given the massive amount of Lovecraft references throughout the first book, and Johannes being a necromancer, his connection to Nyarlathotep should have been obvious. The fact that it wasn't, at least to me, makes me love and respect Howard even more as an author. This is one of the best representations of The Crawling Chaos I've ever come across. Howard tells us repeatedly that Necromancers must sell their souls to Satan to get anywhere, while reminding us that Cthulhu is a thing. And yet somehow I missed him screaming, "Every necromancer in Lovecraft is tied to who? Class? Anyone?!" Resulting in my "ooooooh! Duh!" moment. Very well done.
For a series that started out glib and amusing I've found the ending endearing and powerful. I appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed the transition. If the series truly ends here I will be satisfied, but if it continues I'll be eager to see how Johannes grows.
Also, given the massive amount of Lovecraft references throughout the first book, and Johannes being a necromancer, his connection to Nyarlathotep should have been obvious. The fact that it wasn't, at least to me, makes me love and respect Howard even more as an author. This is one of the best representations of The Crawling Chaos I've ever come across. Howard tells us repeatedly that Necromancers must sell their souls to Satan to get anywhere, while reminding us that Cthulhu is a thing. And yet somehow I missed him screaming, "Every necromancer in Lovecraft is tied to who? Class? Anyone?!" Resulting in my "ooooooh! Duh!" moment. Very well done.