Brilliant

A fantastic collection of short stories, completely captivating both as stories from the masterful hand of Brian Lumley and how they have been narrated by the very talented Joshua Saxson.

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What a read

There is nothing in this book that I didn't enjoy. Narrated beautifully the voice tone and inflections were perfect. The mind of the author is just wow.

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Finally Saxon gets his Teeth into Necroscope!

I've recently become a big fan of Brian Lumley's work and as a professional illustrator Audiobooks are my main way of absorbing it. There's a lot to enjoy, especially in his beautifully macabre and horrific Necroscope series. As any regular audiobook listener will know; your narrator can make or break the experience.

Whilst I love the Necroscope series I've had trouble garnering as much enthusiasm for them since the narration duties were passed from James Langton (Necroscope Books 1 and 2) to Michael Troughton (Books 3, 4 and 5).

There's nothing massively wrong with Troughton's reading, apart from an unwillingness to even attempt accents which turns growling sinister brooding eastern european vampires into thin piping prep school english teachers between books. The main problem is Tone. His voice is light and his accent is immovable, which would be fine if I'd been introduced to the series with his voice. But sadly after Langton's deeply dramatic reading of the characters, his excellent grasp of different accents and his breadth of character delivery Troughton's readings sound anaemic and lacking in depth.

I've watched and listened with great pleasure as Joshua Saxon's deep earthy tones took us through a selection of Lumley short stories and novellas, (his reading of the short story Haggopian in particular is stunning) and through the recent Kai Of Khem and I've been wondering for a while now why he wasn't narrating the long overdue audiobook chronicles of the main necroscope series. And FINALLY the Audible Gods have worked out that this is the guy we need as our guide and interpreter for the adventures of Harry Keogh. Here once more is the depth, the delivery and the breath of character needed to properly delivery a Necroscope story and it made a huge difference to my own personal enjoyment. The scottish accent wobbles a little bit, but in the story the character is putting it on so that's far from a game ruiner. Overall his character, style and tone are the perfect fit for the multinational (sometimes multidimensional) cast of Harry Keogh's frankly insane adventures.

If this was Saxon's "Test Run" to see how he handled the Necroscope series? Consider the test passed with flying colours. Give this man the reins of the main Necroscope audiobooks and let him go at them.

Story wise it's a mixed bag like any anthology. But the main tale of The Plague Bringer was worth the cover price alone for my money. I'm looking forward to more.

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Strong Collection of Necroscope Stories

The Last of the Lost Years: Vol. 1 is a collection of stories that take place in-between Necroscope II: Wampyri! and Necroscope III: The Source. The stories are enjoyable on their own, though a knowledge of the Necroscope series (particularly I & II) will help you get the most out of them.
The stories are quite varied, featuring ghosts, vampires, pirates, aliens and Vikings, but they're still quintessentially Necroscope adventures.
Joshua Saxon has quickly become one of my favourite audiobook narrators. His work on previous Lumley collections like The Taint and Haggopian is outstanding. He doesn't disappoint this time either, handling the British, American and Eastern European accents with ease. Saxon is the perfect fit for Lumley's writing.
Necroscope is one of the best horror series of all time and these stories retain the high standard Lumley has already set.
Highly recommended.

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3 people found this helpful