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A review by chemwitch
The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard
2.0
Alright, folks! I have finished the series and I guess I can no longer put off explaining myself to you, my non-existent audience. I know what you're thinking. After the glowing review of the last book, how could you rate this one so poorly? You signed off last time calling yourself a newly minted Jonathan L. Howard fan, and then this? Well, my friends, I agree with you.
I desperately wanted to like this book, but fate had other plans.
THE PLOT
In this book, we see everyone's favorite anti-hero facing off against the Dreamlands. We're introduced to three new side characters who will accompany him on this journey. These side characters do not matter, and I've forgotten their names entirely. They belong to The Fear Institute, a secret society that wants to enter the Dreamlands and destroy what they refer to as the Phobic Animus - that is, the embodiment of fear.
At this point, I was tracking. I was ready. I'm not always a fan of Lovecraftian works, but after that second book I was up for anything.
But this book was BORING. Most of the time is spent trudging around from place to place, doing... nothing? Ostensibly they're tracking the Phobic Animus. But at the end of the book you find out that this was just a fun game courtesy of Nyarlathotep, and the whole thing was essentially a waste of time. Both Cabal's time and mine. So, that was pointless.
And, as I've already admitted, the whole "Old Gods" thing never really works for me. So that was a drawback.
Also, after Cabal discovers that Nyarlathotep was behind it, there's this weird ghoul sub-plot? The book essentially ends, and then there's another plot after that. It was a weird set-up. The ghoul plot was probably my favorite part of the book, so I'm not complaining, but also I'm complaining because what? I get that it set up the next book, but it made the ending feel weirdly disjointed from the rest of the book.
THE CHARACTERS
Here's the thing about the characters: they were the best part of the second novel and the worst part of this one. We have Cabal and his three traveling companions. We briefly meet Miss Smith, a different necromancer who is trapped in the Dreamlands. We meet ghouls. None of these side characters matter in the slightest. A few of them die, some don't have enough page time to matter, the only interesting ghoul turns out to be Cabal himself, and most of them are bumbling idiots who are constantly getting roasted by Cabal. It gets old quick.
TL;DR: this book might work if you tend to get into the "Old Gods" Lovecraftian thing and if you don't care about having the one memorable character be a dick to the other not memorable characters for 300 pages. These are not things I enjoy?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well THAT was a massive disappointment.
Rtc when I can stop screeching out of white-hot fury that this book was such a letdown in comparison to Johannes Cabal the Detective. It might be a while.
I desperately wanted to like this book, but fate had other plans.
THE PLOT
In this book, we see everyone's favorite anti-hero facing off against the Dreamlands. We're introduced to three new side characters who will accompany him on this journey. These side characters do not matter, and I've forgotten their names entirely. They belong to The Fear Institute, a secret society that wants to enter the Dreamlands and destroy what they refer to as the Phobic Animus - that is, the embodiment of fear.
At this point, I was tracking. I was ready. I'm not always a fan of Lovecraftian works, but after that second book I was up for anything.
But this book was BORING. Most of the time is spent trudging around from place to place, doing... nothing? Ostensibly they're tracking the Phobic Animus. But at the end of the book you find out that this was just a fun game courtesy of Nyarlathotep, and the whole thing was essentially a waste of time. Both Cabal's time and mine. So, that was pointless.
And, as I've already admitted, the whole "Old Gods" thing never really works for me. So that was a drawback.
Also, after Cabal discovers that Nyarlathotep was behind it, there's this weird ghoul sub-plot? The book essentially ends, and then there's another plot after that. It was a weird set-up. The ghoul plot was probably my favorite part of the book, so I'm not complaining, but also I'm complaining because what? I get that it set up the next book, but it made the ending feel weirdly disjointed from the rest of the book.
THE CHARACTERS
Here's the thing about the characters: they were the best part of the second novel and the worst part of this one. We have Cabal and his three traveling companions. We briefly meet Miss Smith, a different necromancer who is trapped in the Dreamlands. We meet ghouls. None of these side characters matter in the slightest. A few of them die, some don't have enough page time to matter, the only interesting ghoul turns out to be Cabal himself, and most of them are bumbling idiots who are constantly getting roasted by Cabal. It gets old quick.
TL;DR: this book might work if you tend to get into the "Old Gods" Lovecraftian thing and if you don't care about having the one memorable character be a dick to the other not memorable characters for 300 pages. These are not things I enjoy?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well THAT was a massive disappointment.
Rtc when I can stop screeching out of white-hot fury that this book was such a letdown in comparison to Johannes Cabal the Detective. It might be a while.