Has anyone read the Necroscope series?
- Thread starter Minotaur
- Start date
NightCrawler
Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Uriel said:
Hell yeah this is a great series! It's a shame it's not something that most people have even heard of. I'll admit I've only read a few so far, (even though my wife and I own most of them) but there is nothing else like it! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! I was a bit worried for a while that these books would disappear into obscurity since last year not only were certain ones out of print, but were EXTREMELY difficult to get ahold of. I seem to recall looking for one in particular, and Borders could special order it, but it would run around 70 dollars! However, I've noticed that this year (most likely due to the Vampire craze with Twi(Fag)light and what not) that TOR books has been re-producing the series with new covers now for very reasonable price of 4.99!
Brian Lumley is a genius, I haven't enjoyed a book as much as I did these in a long time! This is the way vampires should be.
I always liked these European covers the best though:
Guys you REALLY should check this series out, you won't regret it.
Skull Knight said:
Well, you certainly did a better job at selling it to people than Minotaur. However I read on the author's site that the series counts 15 books? I'd like to be sure it stays good before considering getting into it.
Aazealh said:
I had a really long reply written up, only to have my internet log itself off for no reason before I could post! Anyway, I'll try to briefly recap everything I just wrote.
Yeah, there is actually more than 15 books, but he must consider some to be side stories. Brian Lumley has also written a TON of other books, some long out of print and very rare. I think he wrote some during the time he spent serving in the war. He is retired now for the most part, though he has stated he will still be doing some short stories here and there.
If you're concerned about it staying good throughout, well no one says you have to keep reading, but it's worth giving it a shot, especially at the $4.99 price it's at now. Even if you were to just read the first and second books, I'm confident you would enjoy them just by themselves.
Basically the story revolves around the idea that once a person dies, their mind does not. They can still think and have self awareness even though their bodies are rotting away 6 feet under. The main character is a man in England (Harry Keogh) who can communicate with the deceased (he's a "Necroscope") and works for the British Secret Service. Obviously he is rather valuable to them since the dead carry many secrets.
However, there is another "Necroscope" in Russia by the name of Boris Dragosani. His methods are much more extreme, while Harry can literally speak with the dead, Dragosani forces information out of them by descrating the bodies, cutting them apart until he "finds" the information he needs. He has found something in a remote part of Romania, under the ground, the is not quite alive and not quite dead...and he intends to use it to gain supremacy in his home country....
I won't elaborate any further since you'll just have to read it.
ALSO, for those interested, Brian Lumley's wife has been selling off some of his first printing books from his personal collection (signed by the man himself) from time to time in order to fund some long overdue vacations for the both of them. It's a really good opportunity to get something that is only going to become more valuable over the years, not to mention he is not exactly a young man so there might not be many opportunites left....
I bought one last year for my wife's birthday, he inscribed it and everything....she was SHOCKED!
KazigluBey
Misanthrōpos
I've read them up to the Lost years.