Bloodwars

From Publishers WeeklyConcluding the darkly hypnotic Vampire World trilogy (Blood Brothers; The Last Aerie), this red-blooded offering from British Fantasy Award-winner Lumley also brings to a close the epic narrative begun in Vampire World's prequel, the five-book Necroscope series. This installment relates the adventures of Nathan Keogh, a cross-dimensional traveler and telepath who speaks with the dead (hence his title of "Necroscope"). On orders from his vampiric twin brother, Nestor, Nathan is thrown to Earth through an interworld "Gate" out of the parallel world of Sunside/Starside, a planet inhabited by gypsies (Szgany) and desert-dwelling mystics (Thyre), as well as by a fascinating assemblage of shape-changing vampires (Wamphyri), thralls and hideous living/undead "constructs" formed in vile vats of percolating human and vampire fluids. Enter top-secret British and Russian psychic agents. The British psychic "E-Branch" sends Nathan and colleagues to join the Szgany to fight the vampires, who are embroiled in territorial wars ("bloodwars"). Meanwhile, Russia is concerned because its rogue E-Branch head has gone through the Gate with plans to seize control of all of Sunside/Starside-and then Earth. As climax piles on climax, Nathan, in addition to being the linchpin in the plans of the E-Branchers, the Szgany and the Thyre, becomes the prime target of the Wamphyri. Though this is the last of the trilogy, readers must hope that Lumley isn't really putting a stake through the heart of his vampire universe-which is so vivid, with characters to real, that even the undead seem alive. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review"Darkly hypnotic...so vivid that even the undead seem alive."--Publishers Weekly"Brian Lumley's skillful mix of epic fantasy and vampire muthology offers wide-angle horror of a scope too rarely seen in modern fiction. His Wamphri are vicious, savage, ruthless, and unrepentedntly evil--a feast for the horror fan."--F. Paul Wilson