Lost Souls | 
| Author: Poppy Z. Brite
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: $16.50
Buy Used: $8.70
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Rating:  230 reviews
Sales Rank: 1764801
Media: Paperback
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0140173927
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780140173925
ASIN: 0140173927
Publication Date: February 24, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the French Quarter of New Orleans the Mardi Gras celebrations conceal a different group of pleasure-seekers. For Zillah, Molochai and Twig, the party has been going on for centuries, fuelled by sexual frenzy, green Chartreuse and innocent blood. Born in horror and brought up in suburban Maryland, Nothing has always suspected he's different from other teenagers - and when he has his first taste of human blood, he knows he is right. Ghost is the singer of the band Lost Souls. When Nothing is drawn into Zillah's fatal circle, Ghost has to decide whether to save the boy - or abandon him to his bloody birthright. "Lost Souls" is a dark, decadent and delicious work of fantasy from the mistress of modern horror.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 225 more reviews...
 A Gothic Grim Tale of Gypsy Vampires, Steve and Ghost. December 3, 2008
SpacegrassMan (Insane Land of Words & Music)
The Vampires in Lost Souls are like none you have ever encountered anywhere else, in any other written form. Zillah and his clan live like wandering gypsy vampires on a quest to do nothing but party, have sex and kill. They're like a dangerous rock band made up of murderers and thieves.
A kid named Nothing comes in to the picture, and also later on in the novel, in a big way. He has a crappy home life. His parents don't understand his strange ways, which are to basically live in his own world, read rebellious books, and wear dark clothes. He takes off and winds up a kid on the hard roads, but eventually meets and then hangs out with Zillah and his gang of marauding bloodsuckers.
The two most memorable character in this book are, Steve and Ghost. They're the guys you would have hung out with in school, a little wild, but not enough that they're inhuman, absent of a soul.
Steve and Ghost are like brothers, and in the course of the book they befriend Nothing, and seeing that the kid is on the path to certain death with Zillah and his pals, try to step in and save the kid from the pack of vicious vampires out on the road.
Poppy Z. Brite makes sure to give you and intense ending, and you'll find her prose is creepy and elegant, and that it will take your mind to other worlds, other dark roads shadowed with fears and evils more real than you've read.
Lost Souls should be required reading for anyone who likes dark, surreal, intense horror, well written, that reads smooth as silk.
And after you get this one in the mail, don't throw it on the pile of books to be read later, get right to it and experience the magic of a well-crafted story.
A great book. November 6, 2008
Kody Boye (Idaho)
LOST SOULS was Poppy Z. Brite's first novel.
Sixteen years later, it is STILL a powerhouse novel.
Beginning during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, we are introduced to a few vampires. Christian is our main focus at this time, along with a young girl named Jesse. It isn't long after Jesse wants to `give herself' to a vampire that she is impregnated by another, which is as much of a death sentence as loving one. When a baby is born to one of the other vampires, Christian departs and leaves little `Nothing' on the doorstep of a human family, where he hopes the child will have a normal life.
Fast forward, about fifteen years later. Nothing is a teenager now, obsessed with the darkness of certain music and the taste of alcohol and cigarettes. He's like most angst teenagers; obsessed with find SOME sort of way out of his life. He's always known that he wasn't his parents' child, because some deep part of him just KNOWS that. It isn't until he finds a note that says `His name is Nothing' that he decides to run away, toward where his heart is calling him. His heart is calling him to Missing Mile, a place where two young musicians live and play their dark stories.
In Missing Mile, we meet Ghost and Steve, who created the band Lost Souls? With the two of them trying to launch their music career in bigger and better ways, they play at a local club called the Sacred Yew until they find something better to do.
But one particular night, Ghost has a vision, a vision of two decrepit twins, calling to him from whatever world they exist in. They warn of the darkness that is heading to his life.
It isn't long after that the vampires come to Missing Mile.
And behind them is Nothing, who yearns to be with more of `his' kind.
Poppy Z. Brite's style of storytelling is nothing short of amazing. Her style isn't like most writer's. While we normally see books through some kind of prism that lets us know we're just in a book, her writing engulfs us and draws us into her dark world. As we follow Steve, Ghost's and Nothing's journeys, we're drawn into the dark side of life (and unlife, since vampires aren't really of the living world.)
This is another Poppy Z. Brite book that I'll forever cherish. If I were suggesting someone to read Brite, I'd tell them to try LOST SOULS first. It'll set up DRAWING BLOOD, her next book, much, much better. I've found that people either love or hate her work, but thankfully, I'm of the variety that loves her writing and will continue to read whatever she puts out.
Five stars for LOST SOULS.
 Gratuitous, indulgent, and wholly enjoyable to the right kind of reader. Strongly recommended September 1, 2008
Juushika (Oregon, United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Fifteen-year-old Nothing runs away from his adoptive home and falls in with three vampires, one of whom is his unwitting father. In a haze of drugs, sex, and blood drinking, Nothing is drawn closer to New Orleans and the climactic events that will reveal his past and determine his future. Lost Souls is indulgent and gratuitous to the extreme, which will either delight or disgust the reader. Personally, I loved it--and though I preferred the concept to the actual plot, I found Lost Souls visceral, darkly intriguing, and difficult to put down. It's a bit over the top and perhaps not a piece of "great" literature, but I heartily recommend it.
To be quite honest, Lost Souls feels like a combination of the self-indulgent, gratuitous content of fan fiction and the skill and editing of a published book. It is an playground of sin: lush sexuality and frequent homosexual relationships, incest, teenage sexuality, unapologetic amorality, angst, plentiful violence and blood drinking, drug use, goth kids, punk kids, rock bands, vampires, and New Orleans, all of it so gratuitous that it nearly become an art form. It's over the top and hardly subtle, yet Brite writes well. Her prose is sometimes florid, but it is evocative, visceral, and as lush as the content. She creates a cast of vivid, intriguing characters and weaves their disparate lives into a single story. Sadly, the plot veers away at the end of the book, doing a disservice to one character and straying too far from Nothing and his family--but the story is often intriguing and always competent, and it will keep the reader interested and engaged until the end.
Brite is not the most subtle or most gifted author, but she writes rich prose and a strong story. As a result, her book revels in gratuitous content rather than being dragged down by it. That may not appeal to everyone, and perhaps it prevents the book from being truly "great," but the reader who enjoys it will find Lost Souls a gleefully indulgent bit of wish fulfillment. Personally, I loved the combination of content and style, and I throughly enjoyed the book. I fell in love with the characters (especially Zillah), enjoyed the glut of blood and sex and angst, and found the prose so visceral that it triggered physical reactions. I did enjoy the premise more than the actual plot, and so I preferred the first half of the book. Nonetheless: Lost Souls is a wholly immoderate, indulgent vampire story, and my inner hedonist adored it. I recommend it to anyone attracted to the premise--pick it up and read the first couple of pages, and it will soon be apparent if this is the sort of book you'll love or hate.
My favorite book July 26, 2008
Hillary A. Langolf (san francisco, ca)
I first came upon this book at the library when I was 15. I am now 32. It is still my favorite book. Excellent inspiration for burgeoning writers. Poppy is the Diva to end all Divas (in literature, that is)... In my Top 5 favorite persons on Earth that I haven't met yet. LOVE HER.
 Totally gay, but the story is good March 31, 2008
Otto (San Antonio, TX)
0 out of 9 found this review helpful
The story hooks you in, and then gets into detailed homosexual sections. Sadly, when it got to the male female sex "scenes," aside from a detailed rape scene, it doesn't give you any of the details at all. Just "they had sex" (basically).
All that aside, I had to finish the book, I had to find out what happened. The ending was good, and complete as well. Nothing where you're left with, "yeah, but what happened to ..."
I support gay rights, gay marriage, etc, but I can do without details that paint a picture in my mind, or actually seeing it happen. If someone told me Poppy Z Brite wrote a book and the gay stuff isn't in it, I'd be interested in reading it. Otherwise, I doubt I'll pick up another book of hers.
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