Tomes of Shadowstalking

Welcome to the land of shadows, where evil is the greatest power, where nightfall marks the birth of terror, where your very soul is at risk. Join me as I investigate worlds filled with black magic and dark souls and encounter the monsters rule these wicked places.

This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the book.

That said, on to the review!

Harry Keogh has fought Wamphyri and died, fought vampires and been reborn, travelled to another universe and fought more Wamphyri, returned to his homeworld and fought more vampires, and returned to that other world and died fighting Wamphyri, all with virtually no down time to rest and recuperate from his many battles. But there was a time after his rebirth when he did have time to himself, a time when his infant son and his mentally troubled wife disappeared without a trace. What happened during those intervening years? Well, it is Harry Keogh we're talking about, and one of the things he's really good at is destroying Wamphyri wherever they are. But up until that point, he'd only faced one side of the Wamphyri legend. There was another, equally dark and deadly, and as well-rooted as that of the vampire: werewolf! And now it's time to deal with this other side of the Wamphyri coin, before a blood war between a werewolf pack, an pair of never-aging Dons of dons, and a blood-drinking religious sect tear the world apart!

To be honest, I hadn't expected this book to delve into the werewolf legend. After all, Harry Keogh was always going up against vampires and Wamphyri. Werewolves and their connection to the Wamphyri were mentioned before, of course, but I didn't think that Harry would ever run afoul of them. But this book, in taking a look at the legend, also draws in the other legend, made famous by Bram Stoker: namely, Dracula. I like the way Mr. Lumley weaves these ideas together, and so plausibly too! The only thing I might take issue with is how Daham Drakesh has managed to remain invisible for so long, and raised an entire aerie's worth of vampires and thralls without turning the Himalayas red with blood.

Well, I might take issue with something else. It never crossed my mind before when I read the original books, but reading this one prompted a new thought: if Harry knew that vampires had red "life-lines" in the Mobius Continuum, why didn't he and E-Branch use this knowledge to hunt down all the remaining Wamphyri and vampires--and, since they'd show up as red lines, or so I assume--werewolves when they had the chance? Surely the advent of Yulian Bodescu warned them that there were other vampires in the world besides those Harry had successfully defeated, right? But that's neither here nor there. If they had done that, then this book wouldn't have been possible, and in Harry's defense, he was trying to put his life back together in a new body. And of course, someone like Janos Ferenczy wouldn't have shown up in the Mobius Continuum, would he? Nor would Faethor, for that matter, and look where he got Harry!

Necroscope: The Lost Years is an excellent book, and an excellent way to bring Harry Keogh, dead in Deadspawn, back to life once more, albeit at an earlier day and time. And while having foreknowledge of his ultimate fate might be depressing to some, rest assured: the components of this book are sure to arouse your attention and interest once more! Enjoy! Warning: contains some graphic/sexual content.

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