The Hutt Recommends: The Brothers Cabal

The Brothers Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard.

Remember when I rather bluntly hinted that this book would hit the Swedish market? I got it for Christmas last year and devoured it rapidly shortly after.

   Last time we got to read about Johannes and Horst one brother was slipping into unconsciousness and certain death by garden demon, and the other was, quite frankly, in a pile of ashes.
   What I really missed after moving on to the second and third parts of this series, and Horst's untimely demise, was the kind of quick-witted banter that passed between the two brothers. Nothing quite compares to brotherly love as shown through sarcastic insults.
   Here, I finally get my wish.

   In a satanic ritual, Horst Cabal is risen from the dead. Well, he's still a vampire so... still dead. But at least not in ashes. Anyway! Horst lives! (Kind of.) Resurrected (-ish) by an occult conspiracy he is to lead an army of the undead in the forthcoming war to create a land of horrors - a nation of supernatural beings. The more Horst is told of this nefarious plan the less enthused he is by the idea of it all. Not even the fact that he would actually be the ruler of the vampiric race of this new nation of supernaturals can rouse what little fighting spirit he ever had. He just wants his old way of life back - a little recreational drinking, respectfully seducing women into romantic yet strangely morally appropriate encounters. It doesn't take a genius to see that it would be impossible for him to fight the whole cult on his own though. He needs help. Perhaps the kind of help you can expect from a heavily armed sarcastic necromancer with a searing hatred for evil wizards with unfashionable trousers...
   Johannes.

   Demons from alternate dimensions. Soup. Rebels. Airplanes. The moans of the undead. Tentacles.
   No zebras this time. But there is a werebadger.

   I know some people have made this book out to be the weakest of the series because of the lack of Johannes in the first half of the story, but since I adore Horst I was entirely blind to the problem. Having felt for the entirety of the third book that Johannes had lost sight of the core of his initial life mission, the return of Horst to remind Johannes of his past promises gave me new hope to see progress. Well. I didn't quite recieve all that but there'll be more books. (The Fall of the House of Cabal just came out. A title not at all ominous. No, not at all. I need it.)
   I prefer this book over both the second and third parts of the series but the previous parts are vital to follow along. It's just so much more entertaining to shove someone so blantantly different from Johannes into the spotlight and make them cooperate. Force them to interact and fight for a common goal.
   Now shoo, go read it.