Reliquary
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Community Reviews
The sequel to Relic, also by Preston and Child, does a pretty fair job of handling the rest of the storyline. As far as sequels go, this isn't half bad. There is a recurrence of characters, a continuing complexity to the story, and a series of enjoyable twists. If there's one thing that Preston and Child do very well it's their twists.
The story picks up a little over a year since the incident with Mbwun, the Museum Beast, which wrecked havoc in the New York Museum of Natural History, killing several people. Margo Green, the main scientist involved in the Museum Beat killings, has settled into an uneasy new life where she exercises like a mad woman and keeps a stupidly large gun tucked away in her frumpy-professor carryall. Lieutenant D'Agosta is having a tough time at work, being saddled with incompetent bosses. And their lives are boring, until a police diver uncovers two headless skeletons, one of which is horribly deformed. Lieutenant D'Agosta enlists the help of Margo in figuring out who these people are and how they died. When things take a turn for the Mbwun, Agent Pendergast once again reappears, with flamboyance and finesse, to help them with the mystery.
The plot is more complicated, I think, than the first. There are more loose threads to tie together, and it takes a while for everything to begin to coalesce. Even then, it feels a bit jumpy and disconnected at times, as the book winds to a close. Wish there had been more Pendergast. He's obviously the most entertaining character. However, I wanted him to be further ahead of everyone. Instead, Margo kept getting their first, and I didn't feel like she got there as fast as she could have. Of course, others may have been banking on that, but que cera cera. Like mentioned earlier, a saving grace of this novel was the numerous cliffhanger chapter endings or the frequent plot twists. There was one in particular I just did not see coming and I gasped loudly enough for my husband in the next room to ask me what was up.
As with all sequels, though, it seems it can't quite live up to the original. (Except Empire Strikes Back. Everyone knows that sequel was AWESOME.) It was an enjoyable thriller, but I might now call it quits with the Pendergast storyline and seek out other thrill-writers and test those waters. Happy reading!
The story picks up a little over a year since the incident with Mbwun, the Museum Beast, which wrecked havoc in the New York Museum of Natural History, killing several people. Margo Green, the main scientist involved in the Museum Beat killings, has settled into an uneasy new life where she exercises like a mad woman and keeps a stupidly large gun tucked away in her frumpy-professor carryall. Lieutenant D'Agosta is having a tough time at work, being saddled with incompetent bosses. And their lives are boring, until a police diver uncovers two headless skeletons, one of which is horribly deformed. Lieutenant D'Agosta enlists the help of Margo in figuring out who these people are and how they died. When things take a turn for the Mbwun, Agent Pendergast once again reappears, with flamboyance and finesse, to help them with the mystery.
The plot is more complicated, I think, than the first. There are more loose threads to tie together, and it takes a while for everything to begin to coalesce. Even then, it feels a bit jumpy and disconnected at times, as the book winds to a close. Wish there had been more Pendergast. He's obviously the most entertaining character. However, I wanted him to be further ahead of everyone. Instead, Margo kept getting their first, and I didn't feel like she got there as fast as she could have. Of course, others may have been banking on that, but que cera cera. Like mentioned earlier, a saving grace of this novel was the numerous cliffhanger chapter endings or the frequent plot twists. There was one in particular I just did not see coming and I gasped loudly enough for my husband in the next room to ask me what was up.
As with all sequels, though, it seems it can't quite live up to the original. (Except Empire Strikes Back. Everyone knows that sequel was AWESOME.) It was an enjoyable thriller, but I might now call it quits with the Pendergast storyline and seek out other thrill-writers and test those waters. Happy reading!
Pendergast #2
The first in this series is Relic (reviewed back in February 2013), which I liked. Reliquary takes the Museum Beast from the first book and goes deep underground to the tunnels of Manhattan. The sequel held my attention and was ok but definitely not as good as the first book.
We meet up with all the regulars from the first book: Margo, D'Agosta, Pendergast, Frock and Smithback. A few new faces are thrown in but don't bother with some of the names, their heads come off pretty quick. Something is out there killing folks again and taking the heads of the victims. No one really cares when the homeless are being preyed on but when a debutante loses her head, well, now we need to do something about this!
The authors claim that the Astor Tunnels (aka Devil's Attic) are real. A google search comes up inconclusive (but does point to this book as a source). Supposedly, thousands of homeless live in the abandoned tunnel system under NYC and since the Museum Beast abhors light, he goes underground. He...she....all of them. Because now there are many, many Museum Beasts.
Kawakita, a scientist from the first book, thinks it's a good idea to isolate the virus that manifests people into Museum Beast and sell it as a drug. I don't even know what to say about this one.
The ending, with the leader of the beasts unveiled and all the chaos that happens, was, at best, eh. It was a twist that wasn't completely unexpected.
I would say, this is a readable book, but stick with the first one and just enjoy that.
The first in this series is Relic (reviewed back in February 2013), which I liked. Reliquary takes the Museum Beast from the first book and goes deep underground to the tunnels of Manhattan. The sequel held my attention and was ok but definitely not as good as the first book.
We meet up with all the regulars from the first book: Margo, D'Agosta, Pendergast, Frock and Smithback. A few new faces are thrown in but don't bother with some of the names, their heads come off pretty quick. Something is out there killing folks again and taking the heads of the victims. No one really cares when the homeless are being preyed on but when a debutante loses her head, well, now we need to do something about this!
The authors claim that the Astor Tunnels (aka Devil's Attic) are real. A google search comes up inconclusive (but does point to this book as a source). Supposedly, thousands of homeless live in the abandoned tunnel system under NYC and since the Museum Beast abhors light, he goes underground. He...she....all of them. Because now there are many, many Museum Beasts.
Kawakita, a scientist from the first book, thinks it's a good idea to isolate the virus that manifests people into Museum Beast and sell it as a drug. I don't even know what to say about this one.
The ending, with the leader of the beasts unveiled and all the chaos that happens, was, at best, eh. It was a twist that wasn't completely unexpected.
I would say, this is a readable book, but stick with the first one and just enjoy that.
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