The Last Aerie

Following Blood Brothers , the second volume of the Vampire World series revisits the twin sons of Harry Keogh, a British ESP agent who became a Wamphyri (vampire Lord) in the parallel vampire world of Sunside/Starside. Now one twin, Nestor, himself a Wamphyri of Starside, plots to destroy his brother Nathan, who still lives with their native tribe on Sunside. When one of Nestor's vampire lieutenants throws Nathan into the gate to hell, Nathan discovers that it's really a gate to Earth. On Earth, Nathan finds himself pursued by an evil Russian psychic, who needs Nathan's knowledge in order to invade the Vampire world. Once more the agents of British E-Branch, a top-secret parapsychological agency, step in, teaching Nathan to tap the awesome powers he inherited from his father. Lumley uses language deftly to conjure his alien universe, and both setting and characters are vivid and engaging. The encyclopedic scope of the saga stretches this seemingly transitional phase to the limits of interest, however. Since little compelling action occurs in the present, most of the novel reads like a summing up of the previous volume and a precursor to the great confrontation to come in the next. Still, fans of the Necroscope series and this Vampire World series will undoubtedly enjoy this adventure. (Aug.)