Necroscope 2: Vamphyri! (Necroscope Trilogy, Volume 2)

Rating:
Summary: AVERAGE AT BEST
Review: This book had some interesting moments. And I love the idea behind the necroscope series. The problem is that Lumley does not do a good job at developing characters. They are all 2 dimensional. And there are no surprises, very straight forward and boring. The book is not fun, I do not reccommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Another winner in the Necroscope series
Review: This book is more of all the great stuff we were introduced to in the first book. Harry Keogh continues to fight for good with the aid of all his dead followers and the live esper friends. The background of Thibor and Faethor is absolutely facinating with the castle and gypsys. We learn about the nature of the Vamphyri in depth. Harrys son turns out to be quite a wonderful little tyke. I can't decide which book was better, I know they were both the greatest and I can't wait to get The Source (#3). These are definately books that I could not put down until they sadly ended, but thats why having a series to read is so great.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Necroscope (original)
Review: this book is the stuff! it is so easy to follow, with many unexpected twists and turns, the plot flows very nicely, and it is hands down the best book i have ever read in my life. Brian Lumley = the man!

Rating:
Summary: Necroscope II: Vamphyri!
Review: This is the first but not the last of Lumley's books, that I hope to enjoy for years to come. Brian drew me into the vampire world with such force and savagery that I had to come back for more. Brian is very graphic in every detail. Yulian Bodescu was a fetus corrupted before he was even born. You just have to love cunning of Thibor Ferenczy. Thanks Brian, you have a fan for life.

Rating:
Summary: The best in the series
Review: This one has all the best elements of the Wamphyri legend. If you read only one of the Necroscope books, choose this one. (See my other reviews, not so gloryfying)

Rating:
Summary: LUMLEY IS THE KING OF ORIGINALITY
Review: When I read the first NECROSCOPE book a couple of years ago, I commented to a friend that it was unlike anything I had ever read before. Brian Lumley has a rich and fertile imagination populated by vampires, telepaths, and secret government organizations.

In N2: VAMPHYRI, Harry Keogh returns. Harry talks to dead people. Anyone he wants to. It seems the dead are restless and trapped in their singular worlds, like a person locked in a box with no one to pass the time with, they want to talk.

The first 80 pages or so of this novel are narrated by Faethor Ferenczy, an age old vampire pinned in his grave. It's all very dull, and the first time I tried to read this book I gave up after 80 pages of nothing happening. A few pages later, Faethor explains how Gorgina Budescu falls unconscious following an accident that claims the life of her husband. In her unconscious state, Faethor takes the opportunity to plan his seed in her womb, on her unborn son, Yulian. Years pass and Yulian develops into quite a creep. Unfortunately, he is also a vampire.

Brian Lumley is a genius. He doesn't just build on vampire lore he creates thousands of years of history that reinvents the legend from the seeds of it Rumanian roots. His creatures live to be over a thousand years old and find their origins well beyond a simple bite to the neck.

In N2, vampires are symbiotic creatures, cohabiting inside the bodies of their human hosts, with the result of enhancing both entities. The protoplasmic creatures give humans longevity, healing abilities, and enhancements in all endeavors. The host gives the creature mobility and purpose -- a vessel for accomplishment.

More interesting to me than the vampire story-line are the ESPers making up British INTESP and Soviet E-Branch. Teams of telepaths and psychics with various degrees of ability play politics on the fringe of the vampire menace. The more I read, the more I wanted Lumley to deviate from Bodescu and flesh out Alec Kyle, Carl Quint, and Zek Foener.

By the time Yulian is killed near the end of the novel, that story-line was taking a back-seat to the explanation of E-Branch and INTESP and their members. As a result of Zek's "husking" of Kyle, Keogh was able to adopt his body and teleport using the Mobius dimension.

An awesome read. Thoroughly enthralling.