Necroscope: The Lost Years

Brian Lumey's Necroscope series is one of the best horror/sci-fi book series of all time. The first five novels in the series (`Necroscope', `Wamphyri', `The Source', `Deadspeak', and `Deadspawn') chronicle the life of Harry Keogh, a man whose ability to communicate with the dead has garnered him the title Necroscope. `The Lost Years', alongside its direct sequel `Resurgence', takes a close look at the eight "lost" years that occurred between `Wamphyri' and `The Source'. It's important to note that you shouldn't read this book unless you're already acquainted with the original series. `The Lost Years' not only provides spoilers, but also draws heavily on events, places, and characters from the first five novels. Unlike previous installments, it also ends with the "TO BE CONTINUED" hook. Thus, if you're a newcomer to the Necroscope universe, I'd advise you to avoid `The Lost Years' and get your hands on `Necroscope' instead. That being said, `The Lost Years' is a great addition to the original series. It expands on Keogh himself, showing his struggle to get used to his new body and his attempts to find his wife and child. It adds a lot of depth to the history of the wamphyri, further fleshes out the Ferenczy dynasty, establishes its own version of Dracula, and introduces werewolves into the setting. All these backstories and subplots serve to enhance the main story - that of the blood feud between three ancient wamphyri families. The literary style, while above average, is far from flawless. Lumley is too fond of the "there are vampires and there are vampires" word play, and uses it too often in both narration and dialogue. Dialogues sometimes sound wooden and/or cartoony. This is especially glaring when there's lots of exposition going on. Characterization is done masterfully for the most part. The wamphyri deserve a special mention as an example of complete monsters done well. By all rights, their sadistic, traitorous, baby-eating villainy should've come off as ridiculous and one-dimensional. However, Lumley spends considerable time developing their personalities and giving them in-depth histories and motivations, thus creating an entire race of extremely malevolent yet at the same time highly believable abominations. That he also uses the wamphyri leeches as symbols for the evil that lurks within a man's soul (Shaitan the Unborn - the greatest of the wamphyri and Lumley's stand-in for Satan - is himself a massive leech) only serves to add to their complexity and sheer awesomeness. `The Lost Years' is a fast paced, intelligent, and highly entertaining horror/sci-fi novel. The writing is less then stellar, but the quality of the setting and the plot more then makes up for any stylistic failings. Newcomers beware; Brian Lumley's books aren't for the faint-hearted. The entire `Necroscope' series is cynical, bloody, and chock-full of nightmare fuel. I've read hundreds of gory novels - anything from tame H. P. Lovecraft and Anne Rice stuff,

I'm N love with anything he writes,wish he would make mini series movies 2 each book he writes ,love every gory detail.He needs 2 make them come alive. Thanks, I curl up with u every night.

The whole Necroscope series has kept me on the edge of my seat just waiting for the next book to be released. The first book will get you hooked. Brian Lumley has a way of combining history and mythology to get his own very unique version of the vampire world. I have become very attached to the main character Harry Keogh, his assosiation with the E-branch, and the many colorful charaters that Lumly has painted through his masterful creation of alternate reality.

Brian Lumley masterfully spins a web of spellbinding terror and mystical places in which Harry Keogh finds himself in the middle. Keoegh gets caught up in a whirlwind of horror while trying to search for his wife and son. A brilliant masterpiece!

After reading the first seven books in this remarkable series, I thought that all that could be said was, then The Lost Years came out. This book deffinately filled in all the gaps in the life of Harry, and the various vampire lords that survived in our world. The one entry that shows how much these lords hated each other, was when a small german town was bombed during the second world war, for not other reason than the fact that a vampire lord was suspected of living in this area. There was so much information in this book, but yet it still explained the things that shaped and helped flesh out the man simply known as Harry. For those that have read this series of books, I certainly recomend that they read this book, it will explain a lot of the things that were left to speculation. This book is a must read.