Good movies, novels etc. on necromancy?

[Thrawn4]

Hello everyone.

Right now I have a faible for necromancy and I was wondering whether you could recommend any good stories to me? It does not matter what kind of media as long as the story is good.

[hamishspence]

The first few Anita Blake novels by Laurell Hamilton. Book 5 or 6 is where it begins to go off the rails and deal more with other things.

[veti]

It's one of the Classic literary fantasy themes. There's at least one example in the Bible - I can find book and chapter reference if you're interested - and others in Greek mythology.

Other classic examples:

Mary Shelley: Frankenstein.
H P Lovecraft: The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward; Herbert West, Reanimator.
Ursula le Guin: The Farthest Shore

[Thrawn4]

I read a few chapters of one Anita Blake novel... book 10 or something... I found it really bad, sorry.

Frankenstein is okay, but I was looking for a more magical approach. And the bible does not make for an interesting read imho.

But anyway, thanks for your suggestions :smallsmile:

[Durkoala]

Necromancy, and The Old Kingdom isn't on the list? Shame on all of you.

It's a fantasy series by Garth Nix, set in a medieavel-ish world where the dead rise up to devour the living frequently. There's two magic systems: safer, ordered Charter Magic, and the very dangerous, chaotic Free magic. Necromancers abound, trying to gather zombies, ghosts and genies/djinn to serve their visions of power, but they are opposed by the Abhorsens, a family of anti-necromancers who serve the Charter Magic but use both magics in their own version of necromancy to lay the dead back to rest.

There's three great books: Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen, as well as a fourth, Clariel, which is ...less brilliant.

Definitely give Sabriel a read, then decide if you want to continue on. Clariel is terribly paced, with several grating characters (imo), but it shapes up a little towards the end and looks at parts of the world that haven't had much focus in the other books.

[Kitten Champion]

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Cabal_the_Necromancer) by Jonathan Howard. It's a more comedic take on Gothic horror and the Faustian archetype, although ultimately grounded in some level of seriousness.

I would say check it out, whether you like it or not depends on your sense of humour.

[hamishspence]

I read a few chapters of one Anita Blake novel... book 10 or something... I found it really bad, sorry.

From what I can tell, most people found the late Blake novels vastly worse than the early Blake novels.

[comicshorse]

From what I can tell, most people found the late Blake novels vastly worse than the early Blake novels.

Agreed, 1-5 are quite good and then it goes to hell (apart from 9 which is a strange return to form)

P.S
Peter Morwood's 'Horse Lord' novel features a Necromancer as one of the two chief villains and has a rather interesting bit where a army of mortal soldiers goes into battle against an army of undead

[Man on Fire]

Peter S. Beagle's The Inkeeper's Song touches this strongly in multiple places, there are strong elements of it in Patricia A. McKillip's Riddlemaster of Hed, especially in second and third book.

[BWR]

What exactly do you count as necromancy, and how closely must the story adhere to these elements?There are lots of good stories which can be said to be about necromancy. Do you count stories about undead? Ghost stories? Stories with some elements of necromancy but where it isn't a major issue?

Apart from Lovecraft, you should read Clark Ashton Smith. He has a lot of good stuff. (http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/) Short stories like Empire of Necromancers, Song of the Necromancer, Necromancy in Naat are right up your ally.
Robert Bloch has also written some good stuff. August Derleth always struck me as a bad imitator of Lovecraft but there may be some stuff there worth salvaging.
Tim Powers's "On stranger tides"
The Ravenloft novelt "Dance of the Dead" has some powerful necromancers and is a decent read.
Tanith Lee: "Kill the Dead" and "The secret Books of Paradys 3: The Book of the Dead" are less strictly 'manipulate the dead' kind of stories but excellently flavorful and
'Michael Shea's "In Yana, the touch of undying"
Gordon Dickson's "Necromancy" bears at best a tangential relationship to anything I would consider necromanctic.

[Thrawn4]

Necromancy, and The Old Kingdom isn't on the list? Shame on all of you.

It's a fantasy series by Garth Nix

I... didn't know it was a series. I read the first one many years ago, but it was the only one published, so I had no chance of knowing. Thanks a lot, I liked the first one.


But anyway, keep the good stuff coming.
Anyone ever heard of a series called Necroscope?

[Cheesegear]

I read a few chapters of one Anita Blake novel... book 10 or something... I found it really bad, sorry.

To be fair, he only mentioned that you should read up to Book 5. I don't know what Book 10 has to do with anything (especially if you read it on its own, before the other 9), but I'll confirm that though. After Book 5, the writing quality of Anita Blake drops considerably, granted, it's not great writing to begin with, but up to Book 5 is the first 'arc' of the series of the now-21 novel run, my friends who still read it tell me that after the first arc, the quality of books becomes spotty (like The Nightside, first five novels are fantastic, then it drops for a bit while the author is just trying to pay the bills, and picks back up towards the end of the series).

But, yeah. Anita Blake 1 through 5 I'll endorse with reservations since it does get pretty Twilight-y (even though the first book was written in 1993, which, incidentally is also years before Buffy started) and at least it started off as being for women, but marketing probably changed once the aforementioned Buffy changed the genre and said that some guys actually probably like reading about hot chicks who kick arse.

Still, after Book 5, you're on your own - that includes reading a Chapter starting from Book 10 for no apparent reason.

[Brother Oni]

Anyone ever heard of a series called Necroscope?

Yup. Series about a boy who learns how to talk to the dead, who are more incorporal spirits than physical bodies. They're more than happy to have someone to talk to and he ends up learning a whole bunch of skills from them (such as space time manipulation from August Mobius), which he ends up using to fight an otherworldly monster invasion from beings called the Wamphyri, who are like shapeshifting vampires of lore.

The first couple of books are fine, although it goes off the rails by the fifth one and I haven't read any others past the initial pentology.

[comicshorse]

Anyone ever heard of a series called Necroscope?

I love the Necroscope series. At least the first five, five was such a natural end point that I never felt the urge to read anymore.
Its everything Brother Oni said plus evil flesh warping Vampires (that pre-date White Wolf's Tszimisce) that are properly dangerous and psychic spy craft.
If you just want to dip in the best of the series is (IMHO) 'The Source'

[Killer Angel]

I would mention also the movie "Necromancy" (aka The Witching).
Just because the necromancer is Orson Welles.

[Man on Fire]

I heard of a book called Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells. Unless the title is lying it should be on topic.

[DJ Yung Crunk]

I don't know much about necromancy, but let me tell you, if half the people walking into "Sex and the City 2" weren't zombies going in they certainly were going out. Yikes. :smalleek:

[Dorath]

Does Army of Darkness count?

[Gnoman]

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward might be a good suggestion, but stating that it is an example is a spoiler in itself.