a humorous and gothic tale of a necromancer

johannes cabal marches into hell, and makes a (second) wager with satan. he will win 100 souls, and will sign them over to the devil, and in exchange he will get his own soul back. he is given a demon carnival, and recruits the assistance of his vampire brother horst to aid him in the task.  

at first, the souls that cabal that is able to sign over seem already to be headed to hell anyways, but as the tale progresses, the reader wonders if cabal is willing to consign only those that are already evil to the devil, or if he might be tempted to trick an innocent person into doing bad, simply to save his own soul from eternal torment. cabal travels on his carnival train from town to town, working towards the goal of saving himself, and along the way interacts with a variety of interesting characters, both doomed and otherwise. 

this book is a great and comedic read, entertaining, and with a fantastic vocabulary, taking the standard gothic 'necromancer and a vampire' novel, and turning it into a wonderful read with words that will hopefully make you smarter :)