And Other Tales from the Lost Years (Necroscope - Harry and the Pirates

I remember reading this many years ago. Probably middle School and I'm now 42 so it's been a while. I remember liking it a lot and have been tempted many times over the years to re read it. I assumed that it wouldn't be as good as I remembered it.
It was as good. I re read it oddly enough for the human interactions. For some reason I recalled finding them genuine and I wanted to read them again. They held up, Harry and Brenda, his teachers and their feelings towards him. It was everything I remembered.
This is one of those books that I couldn't even begin to relate to someone why they should read it. If you are reading reviews of The Necroscope, then clearly you are interested in a book of this kind. Read it, you won't regret it.

This is going to be a little difficult, because I really love this series. I read the 8 books in the series in the 90's, one after the other. This is a necessary beginning novel, but not necessarily the best in the series, by far. But this should not deter anyone who loves good horror, vampire tales, and a really unique take on vampirism and its origins,the best since Anne Rice. As the series progresses it gets more seriously weird and wonderful, as one would expect from reading any other of Lumley's works. I say pick up some of the series and give it a try, but don't judge the whole by this first part.

My only complaint: I hate protagonists who are the specialest persons in the history of ever. That's Harry Keogh. No weaknesses, no real drawbacks. He easily overcomes any obstacles, even centuries-old alien vampires. That sucked all conflict out. I liked all the spy stuff, Cold War themes, talking to the dead famous people, and the supporting characters though. I won't read the rest of this series, since it's just more Harry Keogh being more awesome than everyone.

This was a surprisingly good horror novel. Although it may be slow for some, the story of Harry Keogh and Boris Dragosani is engrossing from the start. We follow each of these men through Britain and Russia, leaving trails of death, deceit, and strange going-ons over the course of years. Definitely a buy for any discerning fan of horror who buys into it not for gore and spectacle, but for reasonably intelligent narrative and discourse of the paranatural and myth.

The book does not appear as pictured, the cover is far poorer in design and quality and for that I rated it 4 stars. Buy this book though, it's pretty sweet.

although the story isn't bad, it suffers from what I like to call "The Superman Syndrome". In other words, every time a new challenge arises, a new power to meet it comes with it. It starts fairly straightforward, with Keogh as a medium, but he quickly turns in to a Corpse animating, time traveling teleporter capable of serial immortality. It's just a bit much.

I have heard of Necroscope as a vampire story, but it is so much more. The e-book had some grammatical errors, but the story was so good that it was easy to overlook. Can't wait to keep reading the series.