Category Archives: Necroscope

Necroscope: A (Late) Review

I actually bought it in 2006, read it several times, confused, but undoubtedly attracted. I found out that it was written in 1986 by Brian Lumley. I remember I bought it at used books market. It was like waiting for me :p because it was at the bottom of a cardboard box, hidden, not yet sorted by the seller. I hated (or was afraid of) the cover so much so I wrapped it with lime-coloured paper & plastic. I wrote the title, author, owner (me), excerpt (on the back cover) in RUNES. Right, that’s stupid, but I wanted to make it less gruesome. But my friends think it’s the real cover :D but I haven’t made anyone read it, they usually say, “I have another book to read…maybe later” or “It’s in English? Yikes…I won’t understand” or “Morbidity isn’t allowed to enter my brain cells, dear.” Okay…

And about the story…it’s a parallel between the 2 main characters (the hero & the antagonist), Dragosani & Harry Keogh.
Dragosani is a KGB’s ESP agent. His special talent is draining informations from corpses through a morbid, gory mutilation-like process. He got that skill from his ‘acquaintance.’ When he was a kid, he (sort of) befriended a vampire. This vampire is chained under the hill near Dragosani’s home. Dragosani can’t see him, but he hears the vampire’s voice that teaches him the art of necromancy. It creates tension everytime he visit his vampire friend to learn the nature of the Wamphyrii (vampire in this series, very diverse from your traditional vampire, I assure you). I love the mystery surrounding Dragosani & the Wamphyrii, it’s all new concept for me.
Harry is the hero (at least in this book). We first meet him in his elementary days as a daydreamer, hopeless kid. But the math teacher discovers his math-freak brain (through a series of questions, which is one of my fav part in the story)…but the teacher can’t understand how Harry suddenly acquires this ‘special method of math.’ He only knows that Harry’s fond of doing his homework in the graveyards. The teacher begins to suspect the truth, but consider it impossible. Then we know his suspicion is true, Harry got his jaw-dropping knowledge from his former dead headmaster! He can speak to the dead, and the dead are willing to speak with him, as he is the only one they can speak with. I guess the dead are bored…

So…the dead love Harry & loathe Dragosani. The two don’t even know each other until the (almost) end of the book. But I love the interactions between Dragosani & the vampire the most. Needless to say, Dragosani is my fav character. He’s a very complex character, you got vast of his background. Well, everyone got deep backgrounds in the book, that makes the characters believable. Everyone has their own motives. The book’s very descriptive. There are murders, schoolboys matters, vampire, espionage, history, maths, all in this book. I hope Mr. Lumley write about Dragosani in his following books, but I know that the hero is Harry (hey, not that I don’t like him. I’m planning to buy the 2nd book). Some parts must be censored :p don’t mind it, don’t mind it, I usually skip it, but not for the morbid parts. I’m used to it now that I’m also a skilled necromancer (rats & toads are my ‘patients’ for being a pharmacy student) :D

Happy trailing the Mobius contimuum!


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