Brian Lumley: Vamphyri!

Brian Lumley’s Vamphyri! is the second in his Necroscope series. In it he describes more fully the terrible powers of the Whampiri and the awesome powers of the Necroscope.

Throughout the world vampires exist in myths and legends. Each one is a little bit different than the others. In some areas of the world Vampires can turn into bats or wolves, in other areas they can become mist and some where they can’t change at all. Some regions have intelligent vampires that can think and reason like humans, while others have only mindless revenants incapable of any but the most animalistic thought processes. Brian explains much of this process by talking about the three types of vampires created by the Whampiri in this book. The primary type of course is the full fledged vampire. They are capable of independent movement and thought able to control their own actions and the actions of the lesser vampires. The second type of vampire is the lesser vampire. Able to think and reason, but completely subservient to the vampire master. Far less powerful they are able to create other vampires of their type or of the mindless type. Though they possess many of the same powers as the full vampire, it is much weaker. The third type of vampire is the mindless revenant. Created from the body of one who is already dead, the vampiric entity can control the body but has no mind to work with. This type of vampire can be controlled by the other two, but does not last very long as the vampiric parasite devours the body from the inside out.

This description makes for a fascinating explanation as to the many types of vampires seen across the world as well as creating an antagonist for the characters to combat.

Another thing that is more fully described in this book is the powers of the Necroscope. Harry Keoghs ability to travel through and view not only space, but time as well, shows the true versatility of his powers. It is almost comical how even with all of his power he is still unable to break free of his son’s mind. For all of his vaunted powers, his son is far greater than he. I look forward to reading the third book and learning just how powerful his son will become.

Overall, I thought it was a good book. It drew some fascinating conclusions and set the protagonist stage for an awesomely powerful character in the form of Harry Keogh Jr. Unfortunately they have killed off all of the antagonists, so Lumley is going to have to reach a bit I think for enemies powerful enough to challenge both Harrys in the next book.