Customer Reviews

Maze of Worlds

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a big fan of Mr. Lumley's Necroscope series, so I eagerly purchased The House Of Doors, and it's follow-up Maze Of Worlds. I found The House of Doors to be a moderately entertaining book; the literary equivalant of a summer popcorn movie: a group of disparate people, trapped in an alien testing ground, must prove The Earth and her denizens worthy of continued survival by facing (and beating) their worst fears. Not Lumley's best work, but entertaining nonetheless. Maze of Worlds, however, offers nothing more than a virtually blow-for-blow remake of the original. Aside from the fact that the bad guy (Bad Jellyfish?) escaped in first book, what need was there for this sequel? The ending is incredibly rushed, too....it's as if Lumley was given a page limit, and had to wrap things up fast. On the plus side, some of the stuff in this book is truly original, such as the world that is a giant Brain Tumor. Fans of Brian Lumley will undoubtedly find something to like in this book, as I did. The uninitiated, however, will probably want to steer clear. The book also contains a preview of Necroscope: Invaders, which is vastly superior.

Sith, the renegade Thone is back and he wants to kick our butt! (Especially those whom he tested during his last visit).

Just like the House Of Doors, this novel takes us through to the different nightmare worlds of our adventurers. A few of the characters return from the first novel, and there are new characters as well. Some of the nightmare worlds are familiar, and some are new.

Pretty good read. I am an avid Lumley fan so sometimes I tend to be biased. All I will say is that while it isn't as fresh an idea as House Of Doors (it is a sequel after all) it still grips you. Some of the worlds scare the heck outta you, and a couple of the new characters are interesting to follow. I was only upset about the death toll of the main characters in the book. I won't go any further (don't wanna ruin the fun!)

I have always loved Lumley's work, but a common foible in all of those which are later books in a series is that they they falter and are a laborious read if you missed the first installment. I read this book halfway before putting it down in despair because I hadn't read "House of Doors." After reading it, though, I came back to Maze of Worlds and thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot is awesome and Lumley's incredible imagery isn't lacking in the slightest. I give it 4 stars because the Necroscope saga is so much more, and there's only one more step up for that series to be placed.A must read, but only after reading "House of Doors."

I'm surprised by the comments of people that didn't read the first that things made no sense. I read the 1st book when it was first published and LOVED it then again right before I read this one (and still LOVED it). But then when I was reading this book I feel a lot of the parts were exact repeats of the first! In some places I could almost point to places where cut and paste must have occurred between the two books!

While I did enjoy the ending, this book was bogged down with so many repeats of the 1st that I feel I should have read one or the other and been satisfied.

Lumley at his best.
You never know what will happen next.
"Maze of Worlds" is a page turner that will keep you wanting more.

If you're a fan of the original book, "House of Doors" then you're guaranteed to enjoy this one. Although the plot is pretty close to being an out and out rehash, enough new content has been added and some of the more interesting concepts from the first book have been expanded upon to keep things moving along fast.

If you try to read this book without first acquiring its predecessor, prepare for a frustrating experience - there is no way you could get anything out of this book without the background provided by "House of Doors".

The characters are still a little thin, but they're likable and that's all that matters for a book of this kind. I certainly experienced a warm fuzzy feeling revisiting the characters from the first book. The imagery is brilliantly vivid and the action comes fast and thick. The ending could have been beefed up slightly to make this book a classic.

I picked Maze of Worlds up at an airport bookstand. I was amazed at the lack of character development, even though I knew this was a sequel to a book I hadn't read. Although I can understand why Lumley didn't want to bore his fans with a rehash of Gill and Turnbull, I wish he would have dedicated a couple of pages at the beginning to explain what happened in House of Doors. The way the characters were introduced in Maze of Worlds seemed contrived--especially when the dog showed up.

I hate to rip on an author, but I wasn't overly impressed with the dialog, either. Every other page, I found myself trying to understand why Lumley would word a sentence so strangely. It was a laborious read, and the only reason I stuck around after page 50 is that I was on an airplane and my only alternative was Sky magazine.

I thought Lumley had an interesting premise with this one, and that's why I bought the book. My complaint is not with the story, but with the way it was written.

It is evident that Lumley has a fan base and that his other books have done well, so I can only assume that his other books were better reads.

This is a story that takes you to the outer rim of hard science fiction into the might-bes of untapped human potential & lets us momentarily dwell on the hidden terrors that exist in our imagination. Science fiction with a shiver, well done! Do check out my full review at [my website]