Helpful Score: 3
Excellent story - not quite what I expected (I thought it was all about evil vampires - they're only a tiny part of the story) but so excellent!
This book is a genre bender. I would warn you that there is graphic violent and sexual content. The book mixes cold-war, espionage, esp, and vampires. This works and is very cool.
Helpful Score: 2
not so much a vampire book, really enjoyed it! The others in the series will have more to do with vampires I am sure and I am looking forward to them, this is just a good kind of creepy read...with an ending I should have seen coming but I didn't.
Helpful Score: 2
This is my first Lumley book. Very good take on the vampire. He adds in Cold War espionage from a supernatural perspective. I'll be reading more in this series! Good Characters!
The premise of the book is fascinating, but the writing isn't all that great. I felt like there were a lot of cliche expressions and near the end I felt the author pulled a Deus ex machina. The main character (Harry) just seems to rely on answers landing in his lap that I didn't ever feel that he was ever in serious jeopardy.
I'm really not sure I want to plod through the next title of the series if it is going to be as mediocre this one was.
I'm really not sure I want to plod through the next title of the series if it is going to be as mediocre this one was.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book. It is a wonderful adaptation of the vampire mythology along with several other supernatural powers weaved in. It is a thrilling story that kept me interested all the way through.
Helpful Score: 1
A story with a character that can talk to the dead, one that can extract the dead's secrets, one that can give the "evil eye", a vampire, zombies, British and Russian secret agencies that employ agents with all sorts of ESP talents, and a sci-fi space/time continuum all set in the middle of the Cold War. How can Lumley pack so much goodness in 500 pages?
Necroscope is the book that started a horror series franchise before horror series were considered the norm. Lumley crafts a tale that was revolutionary for its time. Shades of Lovecraft permeate through the story as we get to know the protagonist, Harry Keough and antagonist, Boris Dragosani. Harry is a teenager in Great Britain who is learning to use his newfound ability, talking to the dead, and we get to watch the young necroscope learn and grow through the first two-thirds of the book. At the same time, we're introduced to Dragosani, a Romainian who works for the secret Soviet ESP agency. Boris is a necromancer and has the ability to extract secrets from the dead through gruesome mutilations. He also returns to his homeland in Wallachia every year to talk to the mysterious corpse buried in the mountains that gave him his unique ability. The story unfolds as we watch the two learn to harness their abilities and leads towards their eventual showdown.
The setting is the 1970s and it's in the middle of the Cold War and for anyone that grew up during this time, it adds an extra dose of suspicious unease throughout the story. Lumley does a wonderful job setting up the characters in a way that demands you to keep turning the pages. There are so many interesting ideas explored in Necroscope that only scratch the surface. I only hope that the rest of the books in the series delves into each and every one of them much, much further.
Necroscope is the book that started a horror series franchise before horror series were considered the norm. Lumley crafts a tale that was revolutionary for its time. Shades of Lovecraft permeate through the story as we get to know the protagonist, Harry Keough and antagonist, Boris Dragosani. Harry is a teenager in Great Britain who is learning to use his newfound ability, talking to the dead, and we get to watch the young necroscope learn and grow through the first two-thirds of the book. At the same time, we're introduced to Dragosani, a Romainian who works for the secret Soviet ESP agency. Boris is a necromancer and has the ability to extract secrets from the dead through gruesome mutilations. He also returns to his homeland in Wallachia every year to talk to the mysterious corpse buried in the mountains that gave him his unique ability. The story unfolds as we watch the two learn to harness their abilities and leads towards their eventual showdown.
The setting is the 1970s and it's in the middle of the Cold War and for anyone that grew up during this time, it adds an extra dose of suspicious unease throughout the story. Lumley does a wonderful job setting up the characters in a way that demands you to keep turning the pages. There are so many interesting ideas explored in Necroscope that only scratch the surface. I only hope that the rest of the books in the series delves into each and every one of them much, much further.
my favorite vampires since anne rice, though these are of a completely more ghastly and terrible nature. Harry Keogh is a great brooding, sci-fi hero who can speak to the dead. After we get his life story, the real plot begins and we get to see some nasty evil beings, USSR vs UK action, and wolf-headed wamhyri! lumley made me love gory creatures, otherworldly monsters and ultimately HP Lovecraft.
This is the first book i have read by this author.
will be reading many more. Awesome read.
will be reading many more. Awesome read.
I didn't feel that the book was written all that well.It seemed a little too fantastical to me. As much as I adore vampire novels, like Forests of the Night, this one wasn't one of my personal favorites.
A very different take on vampires and the supernatural. Very well written and a fun read overall. I especially liked the "science" behind everything.
somewhat tedious in spots but necessary in laying history for rest of series.
A story with a character that can talk to the dead, one that can extract the dead's secrets, one that can give the "evil eye", a vampire, zombies, British and Russian secret agencies that employ agents with all sorts of ESP talents, and a sci-fi space/time continuum all set in the middle of the Cold War. How can Lumley pack so much goodness in 500 pages?
Necroscope is the book that started a horror series franchise before horror series were considered the norm. Lumley crafts a tale that was revolutionary for its time. Shades of Lovecraft permeate through the story as we get to know the protagonist, Harry Keough and antagonist, Boris Dragosani. Harry is a teenager in Great Britain who is learning to use his newfound ability, talking to the dead, and we get to watch the young necroscope learn and grow through the first two-thirds of the book. At the same time, we're introduced to Dragosani, a Romainian who works for the secret Soviet ESP agency. Boris is a necromancer and has the ability to extract secrets from the dead through gruesome mutilations. He also returns to his homeland in Wallachia every year to talk to the mysterious corpse buried in the mountains that gave him his unique ability. The story unfolds as we watch the two learn to harness their abilities and leads towards their eventual showdown.
The setting is the 1970s and it's in the middle of the Cold War and for anyone that grew up during this time, it adds an extra dose of suspicious unease throughout the story. Lumley does a wonderful job setting up the characters in a way that demands you to keep turning the pages. There are so many interesting ideas explored in Necroscope that only scratch the surface. I only hope that the rest of the books in the series delves into each and every one of them much, much further.
Necroscope is the book that started a horror series franchise before horror series were considered the norm. Lumley crafts a tale that was revolutionary for its time. Shades of Lovecraft permeate through the story as we get to know the protagonist, Harry Keough and antagonist, Boris Dragosani. Harry is a teenager in Great Britain who is learning to use his newfound ability, talking to the dead, and we get to watch the young necroscope learn and grow through the first two-thirds of the book. At the same time, we're introduced to Dragosani, a Romainian who works for the secret Soviet ESP agency. Boris is a necromancer and has the ability to extract secrets from the dead through gruesome mutilations. He also returns to his homeland in Wallachia every year to talk to the mysterious corpse buried in the mountains that gave him his unique ability. The story unfolds as we watch the two learn to harness their abilities and leads towards their eventual showdown.
The setting is the 1970s and it's in the middle of the Cold War and for anyone that grew up during this time, it adds an extra dose of suspicious unease throughout the story. Lumley does a wonderful job setting up the characters in a way that demands you to keep turning the pages. There are so many interesting ideas explored in Necroscope that only scratch the surface. I only hope that the rest of the books in the series delves into each and every one of them much, much further.
