Book Review: The Detective

Book: The Detective (Johannes Cabal book #2) by Jonathan L. Howard

Source: Library

Rating: 2 stars (Did Not Finish)

Review:

The Detective wasn't as good as the first book, Johannes Cabal The Necromancer. Where the first book was a fast-moving, witty, funny and gothic supernatural adventure, The Detective was a slow moving generic steam punk detective book. I loved the first book, it was sarcastic, cynical, smart, dark and unique. However, there was nothing unique or interesting about the second book.

The first few chapters were pretty good with Johannes being forced by this deranged count to revive the ruler of this small European nation. And after having to escape after dueling the crazy count since the ruler turned into brain eating zombie. Johannes took the identity of a civil servant about to travel on a floating ship but after that it turned into a stale and boring story.

I thought the sequel would show how different Johannes Cabal would be once he got his soul back, but the only change I saw was that he seems to have lost his edge. He's still as snobby as ever but he doesn't seem as interesting. He's quite dull. I was also hoping to see if there would be any mention of his brother Horst, but he was barely mentioned which was more as an after thought. That was disappointing since Horst was such an inviting character.

Another character that appeared from the first book was Leonie Barrow and even she wasn't interesting. So, with a boring story and a boring main character I decided to stop reading. At some later time, I may go back and re-check this out but for now I'm finished.