loved the story

liked it all, the narrator was good and also how the characters were developed

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My favourite books of all time

The story of Nathan and Nestor are so fascinating iv read them soo much but to have them read to me was brilliant

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outstanding

The many threads and sections of this book move at the right pace to keep the listener chained to the story. After spending many many hours in the company of both narrator and author, I was hooked. Eight previous books in the series, generations of characters developed, genuine relationships created using believable fully rounded characters gave this book the huge job of closing this gripping, exciting, sad terrifying world. I will truly miss these characters, their strengths, weaknesses, decision making and emotions. The narrators ability to bring the various characters personalities to life through accents, pace and pauses is nothing short of genius. Very entertaining, highly recommended.

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A Fitting Way to End The Series

In Bloodwars Brian Lumley manages to pull together all of the various strands, in the Necroscope story to date, and tie them up neatly.

Joshua Saxon has firmly placed himself as the voice of this audiobook series. His performance brings to life Brian’s characters making them jump into “reality”.

I have really enjoyed all of the audiobooks to date.

So it will be interesting to see if Brian can continue the story without it feeling like a story for stories sake. Only time, and Necroscope The Lost Years will tell.

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A Triumphant Finale

The most truly Epic of the Necroscope series, Bloodwars is a climactic showdown between multiple factions in a high fantasy but well grounded setting. There are giant monsters, a final war for dominance between distinct and memorable vampire characters, brother pitted against brother, romance, family legacy, betrayal, portals in time and space and a psychically endowed british spy group. There is memorable horror and gore aplenty but there is a lot more here.

Brian Lumley is on peak form and has a total grasp of his style, his world, it's lore and what he wants to do. It's an enormous story with almost 4 decades of plot behind it at this point, but it's never unwieldy or rambling. No space is wasted, Lumley just patiently lays out these incredible events and walks you through them.

I've heard Lumley do something similar in the conclusion to his Titus Crow series. An epic battle with multiple supernatural armies and a huge ensemble cast. But for my money this is where Lumley sounds more like himself and less like an imitation of writers who's style he clearly loves. There is a real sense of a master genre writer in full command of his craft flexing his own unique authorial voice.

Add to that the fact that it's all delivered to you by the velvet tones of Joshua Saxon? And what you have is an extremely satisfying experience.

I work at home and spend long hours staring at screens doing repetetive tasks so during lockdown in particular Audiobooks have been a godsend for me. And the one thing that can make or break my ability to get immersed is the narrator. A bad narrator can kill a good book. A great narrator can perform a bad book well. But give a great novel to a great narrator and it's something truly special.

I've made no secret that I'm a huge fan of Saxon. He has the quality you normally only get from a narrator who is also a trained theatre actor: a sense that performing the characters is as important as simply relaying the events without ever overplaying his hand or intruding upon the experience. Since he took over reading the Necroscope series my enjoyment of is has increased %200 and I'll be following him onto whatever he lends his voice to next.

All in all this is a 10 out of 10 for me. Heartily recommend to fans of the series.

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2 people found this helpful

A Masterful Epic Fantasy Horror Superbly Told

Bloodwars is the final book in Brian Lumley's epic Vampire World trilogy. Following on from the excellent Necroscope books, this series uses the characters and concepts previously established and takes them to a whole new level of imagination.
I'm a big fan of Lumley and I believe that this trilogy is his crowning achievement. Each book is excellent.
Joshua Saxon once again provides a faultless narration. It's beyond doubt that he's a natural storyteller, and his performance here is further proof that he has quickly become the definitive Lumley narrator. Though his work is consistently excellent no matter the author, there is something truly special about his collaborations with Lumley.
Another absolute essential from Crossroad Press.
Recommended without hesitation.

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