furythephoenix's review
3.0
Read this for nostalgia from my teens, and for once I wasn't disappointed with the golden glow of things remembered perhaps more fondly than they ought to be. Conceptually, this still stands up as a hyper original and interesting take on the Vampire.
The writing itself is a bit cheesy at times, which I kinda expected since that's how I remembered it even back in 2003-2004, but I can't get past those little tics because I love the story and mythology Lumley creates. If memory serves, both the writing, story and mythology get better with each volume of the original quintology.
The writing itself is a bit cheesy at times, which I kinda expected since that's how I remembered it even back in 2003-2004, but I can't get past those little tics because I love the story and mythology Lumley creates. If memory serves, both the writing, story and mythology get better with each volume of the original quintology.
smiorganbaldhead's review
4.0
This is a compelling and imaginative story with lots of interesting ideas. The vampires are cool, of course, as are the ways Harry can use his ability of talking to the dead. Later in the book, there are some science fiction elements I wasn’t expecting. Harry seemed overpowered at this point, making the final confrontation felt a bit anticlimactic in how one-sided it was. However, the very cool epilogue saved the ending for me. Overall I really enjoyed this book, and plan to continue the series.
jimmypat's review
2.0
Some interesting ideas, but a complete amateur hour in plot construction and character development. Additionally, the writing often was a slog - especially in the gory first chapter. You would think that the opening chapter's subject matter would be enthralling, but Lumley writes it in such a jumbled, oblique way that it was extremely hard to understand what the heck was happening. I should have stopped there, but alas.
mferrante83's review
3.0
This is one of the novels that I would see on the shelves at the library as a kid. A book I always thought looked cool as hell but for some reason never checked out. Seeing it available on audio was a great opportunity to give it a shot. It's conflict hasn't necessarily aged well but given current events Cold War thrillers are getting something of a new lease on life. I hadn't quite expected what amounted to a spy novel and coming of reading The War in the Dark it was an interesting experience reading this. A worthwhile read but I'm not sure it gripped me enough to delve deeper into the series.
cjdawn236's review against another edition
1.0
I really did not like this book at all. It's not that it was poorly written (though it was really slow and seriously lacking in action for a vampire novel) it's just that it was extremely dark and depressing. I had to take a 2 week break at one point and read some teen fantasy novels just to help clear my head.
rotorguy64's review against another edition
4.0
It's a Cold War thriller with vampires, and it's pretty good. Not perfect, by any means. Some of the writing was sexier than it should've been, in my humble opinion, and some was so clunky it hurt. You know this trope where two characters discuss their past relationship among each other for several pages so the reader knows what's up? The way normal, living people absolutely never do? Necroscope does that. It also does a bunch of other things I found grating. Nevertheless, at the of the day, I liked it.
The novel seemed to lack focus or any structure I can make sense of. The first two-thirds or so of the book, every character had his own agenda and there was no plot in sight, until it suddenly sprang out of the ground. Miraculously, in this instance, it worked, and it worked really well. Necroscope reads like it has the substance of a novel, but the form of a Cold War espionage account, like [b:In Search of Enemies|1150248|In Search of Enemies A CIA Story|John Stockwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1181419576l/1150248._SX50_.jpg|1137719] or perhaps [b:Poisoner in Chief|43565322|Poisoner in Chief Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control|Stephen Kinzer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1635942725l/43565322._SY75_.jpg|67780582]. It fits the Cold War-charme of this book.
The worldbuilding might be some of the finest I've seen. The vampires, or wamphyri as they're named in this book, are symbiotic lifeforms that turn their hosts into inhuman monstrosities with supernatural powers. They're recognizable as actual vampires despite the originality, and that alone is a big feat, but it's not Lumleys greatest. The greatest is making a crossover of vampires, necromancers, telepaths, MI6 and a dozen other supernatural entities and still have it appear as an organic whole and not like he threw it all into one bowl and called it a soup. Most authors would struggle populating their fictional world with vampires and werewolves without making it seem constructed.
The end was a blast.
The novel seemed to lack focus or any structure I can make sense of. The first two-thirds or so of the book, every character had his own agenda and there was no plot in sight, until it suddenly sprang out of the ground. Miraculously, in this instance, it worked, and it worked really well. Necroscope reads like it has the substance of a novel, but the form of a Cold War espionage account, like [b:In Search of Enemies|1150248|In Search of Enemies A CIA Story|John Stockwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1181419576l/1150248._SX50_.jpg|1137719] or perhaps [b:Poisoner in Chief|43565322|Poisoner in Chief Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control|Stephen Kinzer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1635942725l/43565322._SY75_.jpg|67780582]. It fits the Cold War-charme of this book.
The worldbuilding might be some of the finest I've seen. The vampires, or wamphyri as they're named in this book, are symbiotic lifeforms that turn their hosts into inhuman monstrosities with supernatural powers. They're recognizable as actual vampires despite the originality, and that alone is a big feat, but it's not Lumleys greatest. The greatest is making a crossover of vampires, necromancers, telepaths, MI6 and a dozen other supernatural entities and still have it appear as an organic whole and not like he threw it all into one bowl and called it a soup. Most authors would struggle populating their fictional world with vampires and werewolves without making it seem constructed.
The end was a blast.
Spoiler
Dragosani, now a Vampire-necromancer with the death stare and the head of the paranormal branch of the USSR intelligence community, is besieged in his castle by a dimension-traveling Harry Keogh and his undead army. It's as crazy as it sounds, tied with [b:Bethany's Sin|11559|Bethany's Sin|Robert McCammon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1605802436l/11559._SY75_.jpg|16696150] for most ridiculously explosive fun of an ending I got to enjoy this year.prettyinpapercuts's review against another edition
3.0
Well this certainly was a story! Despite being a little long winded, I liked the ideas here and will be continuing the series - at least for a book or two. This felt like a lot of setup, I'm really curious if that pays off more in the following novels.
You might enjoy this if you like
-Cold War fiction
-espionage
-spooky secret powers!
-Vampires
You might enjoy this if you like
-Cold War fiction
-espionage
-spooky secret powers!
-Vampires