Necroscope II: Wamphyri!

Not a bad sequel, but not as good as the first one. I rank it lower because the story lines felt much less connected and cohesive. We had the Yulian POV section, then the joint ESPer adventures, then Harry traipsing all over the place trying to connect with dead entities who know about the true nature of vampires, then we get those narratives (both from Tibor and Faethor) and then finally the left-over ESPers in both Russia and England. Eventually they all came together as one story, but I found the telling pretty choppy. Plus there was a more metaphysical aspect to things than previously which lent an aura of unreality that jarred pretty heavily against all the mundane spy-ops stuff and KGB shenanigans. I’ll probably wait a bit show more before reading the 3rd one (if I get to it at all) because I remember it coming quite unglued after this one. show less

I have already reviewed Necroscope #I so I won't repeat what is generic to the series. This second volume is no better or worse than the first but Lumley certainly likes to blow things up (castle, English country house and laboratory, the key locations of classical horror).

A psychologist might have a field day trying to work out the mind of the author but I came to the conclusion that Lumley is really exposing nothing more than his inner adolescent: monsters, a bit of sexual transgression, blondes, spies, adventure, the dead, the gruesome - and big explosions.

However, behind the boy's own transgressive adventure, the Wamphyri are a genuine addition to the vampire mythos, truly evil otherwordly callous self-centred creatures who strike show more me as progenitors of the creatures of 'The Strain' which now looks derivative in comparison.

Lumley can write when he wants to and there are moments when this book (as with Necroscope) rises above its own norm and shows an imagination that 'opens up new vistas of horror' (in 1988). Above the average for the genre but not quite a true classic. show less

Harry Keough saved the world with the help of the dead when he destroyed Boris Dragosani. Now the world is free from vampires...or is it? You see, vampires are a cunning lot. They don't survive for over a thousand years by giving up their secrets freely and, even in death, Thibor Ferenczy still has a few tricks up his sleeve. It's up to the British top-secret E-Branch and Necroscope Harry Keough to free the world once again.

Necroscope II: Vamphyri! begins where Necroscope left off and ratchets the tension up along the way. It also delves into the vampire legacy/mythology and explores the history of its vampire characters. While I've read some reviews that lament this or that it's set in the world of Cold War espionage, I relish it. In show more fact, I give it an emphatic two thumbs up! I love that they explored the vampire history. It sets up Lumley's parameters to his Necroscope mythos and is vital to the rest of the series. As for complaining about it being set in the Cold War world of espionage, did you not read the first Necroscope? That's the setting they used and how someone could be upset that the second book in the series is a continuation of the same is beyond me. In fact, call me crazy, but I'm willing to bet a week's salary that we'll see more of that in the upcoming books in the series. So, if that bothers you, my suggestion is to stop now. For the rest of you, if you liked the first Necroscope, you'll love the second. Great characters, more in depth history to the characters and answers to questions that were left open from the first. Just a great, great book. Can't wait to see what Lumley has in store for me in Part III!(less) show less

The Necroscope series is like a noose. The more you read the tighter it gets. It is around your neck and Lumley gently leads you around dark corners that you know you will be lost in forever if he lets go of the rope.

So that's how the series will continue.

Basically, we get a bit more of Harry who is now sharing bodies with his infant son (it's about that weird) and communicating with the now dead main characters from the first book.

The world building continues to be one of the stronger parts of these books. This time around, we have a fair chunk of the book from the view point of two of the old vampires (Thibor and Faethor Ferenczy), including a look at how they were turned and what they did over their centuries of life. It's an interesting take of vampires, and I continue to want to want to know more about that.

On the other hand, Harry's plotline and the moebius continuum remain weird. I think Lumley wrote himself into a bit of a whole introducing show more all of that at the end of the first book. Teleportation and time travel, essentially for free? Too powerful. Sanderson's Second Law: Limitations > Powers. It doesn't ruin the book by any means, but I think they could be stronger without.

The other present timeline follows Yulian Bodescu, another of Thibor's offspring (I thought vampires could only have one true offspring in this universe? I guess Yulian is something new). It's certainly an interesting story, if rather dark and probably could have carried the novel by itself. It didn't mesh particularly well with the flashbacks to the Ferenczys history though. They just didn't overly relate.

On the whole, an interesting read. Enough to keep me going on the series. show less

  This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.   Title: Vamphyri! Series: Necroscope Author: Brian Lumley Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Horror/Thriller Pages: 470     Synopsis: Years before the activities chronicled in Necroscope, one of the vampires set things in motion for his successor to rise should he ever be destroyed. This story alternates between modern day tale of Bodescu the descendant and the story of the rise of Ferenczy, the ancestor.   My show more Thoughts: Now this was a Cold War Espionage Thriller...with Vampires that I was expecting.   I really enjoyed the historical aspect, seeing Ferenczy through the ages and how he tired of life eventually.   There certainly were disturbing scenes that really bothered me. Bodescu forcing himself on his mother, aunt and cousin with his vampire powers while his Uncle stood by and watched was probably the worst. It wasn't graphic, thankfully, but it was more than enough to put me off.   This was definitely horror, with all the creepy disturbing'ness that goes along with that. Harry is part of the story,  but almost more like a facilitator of information than a real character. Of course, him being an incorporeal ghost might have something to do with that. I did like how things were worked out so Harry could stick around.   Not much else to say really. Not sure why the "!" was added in the title, but hey, those 80's were a bigger than big time.  Enjoyable. " show less

Excellent Sequel

I think that this second book in the Necroscope series is even better than the first! I loved getting to read about Thibor Ferenczy’s origins, especially. Yulian is an interesting character, and it is fascinating to see his transformation throughout the book. The bad guys are really bad, and the good guys are good. I highly recommend this book. So far, with the first two tackled, the Necroscope series is really becoming one of my favorites.