Rating: Summary: No Vampire Series Is Better Than This. Review: "~Of all the books I have ever read, nothing has affected me more than Brian Lumley's work. I loved the Necroscope series so much, I read everything else the guy has put out. Not everything he writes is great, but most is."~ that Lumley's vampires are none of those. Lumley treats the vampire myth as they should, as hideously evil monsters."~ older he is recruited into the special British Spy organization 'E-Branch'. They specialize in all forms of strange phenomena and extraordinary talents. Boris however, is recruited by the Russian version of E-Branch. This is when the novel starts turning into more of a spy novel. Each government trying to outdo each other. It was a little distracting (I'm not much for spy novels, actually, I've never read one!) but I made do."~ scopes of their powers. Harry masters the 'Mobius Continuum' which he learned from the late mathematician Mobius himself (according to Harry, the dead continue what they did in life...mathmaticians dream up formulae unheard of, archetects build outstanding structures, writers keep on writing)."~ on the other hand learns how to torture the dead by mutilating their bodies and still causing them pain. This turns out to be a great asset as he uses this talent to extract information from the dead. The dead dread him, but love Harry (Harry's way of communicating with the dead is kind of like telepathy, causes no pain like Boris' technique)."~ minutes for someone to get my attention away from it. They just shook their head and said that they had to read it too!
Rating: Summary: The vampire book measuring stick Review: I hadnt been reading horror for quite a while and then I happened to pick up The Necrosope in a book store. I've now read the entire series. Lumley takes the vampire theme and runs with it into another dimension. This is the best vampire book/series I've ever read.
Rating: Summary: I really tried to like it... Review: I have several friends who love this series, and being a fan of the occult, I thought I would. Being a fan of political intrigue, I thought I would like it. No...no...not really. The one character that I found to be engaging was not developed at all (Harry) and I was disappointed by that. The plot idea was very engaging, but the writer missed the followthrough in the actual production of the work. The characters seem to be undeveloped, overdramatic and stilted. The descriptions are long, drawn-out and redundant. Just about everything in these books seems to be wolf-like, monstrous, bat-like or demonic. Where's a thesaurus when you need one? And the editing left something to be desired. It has been a long time since I have seen to many typos in a book!
I gave this two stars because I was able to slog my way through to the finish...something I was not able to do with book 2--and being someone who reads everything from comic books to classic literature, I can count on one hand the number of books I have not finished in the last 20 years. Apologies to my friends who love him, and to Lumley himself--just not for me!
Rating: Summary: Necroscope, the beginning of the end of the beginning Review: Through the years I always meant to pick up and read the books of Brian Lumley, but never did. Though a big Lovecraft fan, I always felt judging by the covers that these books would be more in ancient time vampire worlds with lots of cliche's, so I passed them up.
After giving it a chance, NECROSCOPE proved to be worth my while. The ability to talk to the dead, the ESP phenom, the undead, KGB/CIA/REVENGE plots rolling in from all directions, not to mention the development of two young boys who grow up to find very different destinys in DRAGOSANI and his nemesis, Harry Keogh. This book definitley put together the springboard for the later works that will ultimately be a great series in my collection. The blood and guts lovecraft style is carefully mixed into a cold-war world that we knew where fears, hopes, dreams, and destinys all take place before our eyes. I am truly impressed with Lumleys work.
Rating: Summary: Necroscope1 Review: I am probably not qualified to write a review - I've capitulated at Chapter 2. Here's my opinion anyway.
There's so little substance in the piece I read. Author tries to substitute the substance with wordiness, but it just doesn't work. Elaborate descriptions all add up to a mess of dead fake scenery and non-sensical garbage.
It really doesn't help that I'm a Russian. If the author needed to rape a roster of dead people, why take the one with so many recognizable ones and stick them to supporting characters that die 5 minutes into the story? Why try to stick 'tz' endings to different words, _especially_ to an anti-Semite character's last name? That's just dumb.
Whole scene in Chapter one was a really bad screenplay - where the author tries to invoke repulsion by the power of association, and it fails miserably since the acts are out of character.
My verdict: Worthless.
Rating: Summary: Amazing Review: For anyone who is reading this book expecting Tolstoy or Dickens all I have to say is don't read it. While I found this book and several others in the series quite enjoyable they are what I call brain candy. These are not meant to provoke deep thought they are to be read and enjoyed for the story. They are not to be critiqued for the quality of the writing unless it is absolutely horrible, which it is not. It is written at a fairly typical reading level for books of this type. One can enjoy this book if one keeps these things in mind, and remembers it is an entertaining story no more no less. Much as with movies (e.g if you expect a classic drama instead of comedy when walking into a wayans brothers film) if you expect the wrong things from this book you will be disappointed.
Rating: Summary: A fantastic tale of...well, plenty. Review: One thing that I'd like people to keep in mind: a necroSCOPE and a necroMANCER are two ENTIRELY different people. Harry Keogh is a necroscope, and Boris Dragosani is a necromancer. They are NOT two of the same kind of talented people, so to Benjamin D and Scott Rachui, please edit your reviews so you don't mislead (potential) readers.
I have only read a few stories, as well as the novel PSYCHOMECH, from Mr. Lumley before, but I very much enjoy reading his work. This novel starts off a little slow, but only so the main characters can be introduced and the plot paced. Trust me, if you give NECROSCOPE only a *little* bit more attention than is needed for, say, a James Patterson novel, you will find yourself very engrossed. This is a gripping, action-packed, thrilling novel of greed, knowledge, power, and terror...and loads of espionage, the supernatural, and DEATH.
Now, for the plot itself...I have to warn you. While there IS a vampire involved in the hefty plot, THIS IS *NOT* A VAMPIRE NOVEL. The vampire in question, while an ominous presence that is on the verge of possible resurrection and takeover, is only one part of the multilayered plot. If anything, this book is about two men who don't even know each other: Harry Keogh, and Boris Dragosani.
Harry, as he grows up in a strict private school, begins to excel in all his work and exams, exhibiting powerful and seemingly limitless knowledge (especially in mathematics). How is this happening? Read it and find out.
Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, a Romanian (or, as he prefers to think of himself in the tradition of his long-vanquished home country, Wallachian) man named Boris Dragosani is being held in high praise by the leader of a Soviet "ESPionage" branch. Dragosani's talent, you see, is to literally rip a dead body slowly apart and determine what they knew in life. There are no limits to what he can rip from the dead...but that's not all. Meanwhile, he keeps making returns to his home country (now Romania), to a secret place beneath thick trees and by the side of a mountain...where an ancient voice speaks from the ground: "Dragosaaaniii..."
Oh, you want to know more about the book now, don't you? Well, I've got two words of advice then: READ IT. Read it and you will learn that this is not just a horror novel, not just a vampire novel...this is, without a doubt, one of the most complex and original thrillers you've ever read. Looking forward to reading NECROSCOPE II: WAMPHYRI!
Rating: Summary: Disappointing Review: I must say I am a disappointed at this first book of a 13-book series after such high regards from friends and postings. Even though the book is really mostly recounting of back stories, it is still enthralling three-quarters of the way through. I keep saying to myself this is what a first-rate pulp fiction is all about. Then the last quarter gets bogged down with time travel and fizzles out. Granted, I have never liked the notion of time travel; I find it contradictory and illogical. I have tried to go with the flow but there are just too many inconsistencies to NOT annoy the hell out of me. Not to give too much away, but I think if there is no limit to what one can do, if every event is preordained with NO possibility of change, and if nobody is really gone but exist somewhere yapping away and having a ball, then what's the point?!? There would be no tension, no lost, no regrets, no consequence.Having said that, the book is a very interesting and unique blend of supernatural, espionage, and science fictions. If you have read other time travel stories and find the notion intriguing, you'll have no complaint. On the other hand, if the problems inherent in time travel is not your cup of tea, then you might want to brace yourself before plunging in.
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