Reliquary
Ratings65
Average rating3.7
As taken from the author website (www.prestonchild.com):
How to write a sequel that could follow Relic, one of the most successful techno-thrillers ever written? That was the problem facing Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child when they agreed to write Reliquary. What setting could top the New York Museum of Natural History?
That was when Preston and Child realized there was only one solution. And that was to follow the Museum Beast itself. And that way led underground. Deep underground...
Hidden beneath Manhattan is a warren of tunnels, sewers, and galleries, mostly forgotten by those who walk the streets above. There lies the ultimate secret of the Museum Beast...
When two grotesquely deformed skeletons are found deep in the mud off the Manhattan shoreline, museum curator Margo Green is called in to aid the investigation. Margo must once again team up with police lieutenant D'Agosta and FBI agent Pendergast, as well as the brilliant Dr. Frock, to try and solve the puzzle. The trail soon leads deep underground, where they will face the awakening of a slumbering nightmare.
Series
Featured Series
22 primary books23 released books#2 in Aloysius Pendergast
Aloysius Pendergast is a 23-book series with 22 released primary works first released in 1995 with contributions by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
The ending felt a little silly, but it was a fun creature feature romp nevertheless.
I wanted something pulpy and easy - a book that tells its story in a straightforward fashion and draws the reader on with an interesting plot. To some extent, this satisfied that need. But I found it a little ham-fisted. Characters are generally either all-good or all-bad, and the obnoxious ones we're meant to hate are introduced through physical descriptions that loudly, emphatically shout, “YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO HATE THIS CHARACTER!”
Meanwhile, the plot developments to come are pretty obvious, especially if you keep in mind the law of conservation of characters. Still, it's not terrible - you get to feel smart for picking up the clues, and there are enough unanswered questions that I wanted to keep reading.
But the denouement is just plain silly, and really took me out of the story. From the bizarre plan of the heroes (which is far less believable than bloodthirsty monsters terrorizing NYC) to the explanation of how everything got started, nothing makes sense.
Add in the fact that the authors completely misunderstand what evolution is, and make other dumb science mistakes like confusing scurvy and rickets, and I just can't say I “liked” this. I didn't hate it, but surely there's better easy-reading fun out there!
This sequel takes place 18 months after the event that took place in the first of the series [bc:Relic 67035 Relic (Pendergast, #1) Douglas Preston https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389576748s/67035.jpg 23046]. The same charaters are all there: Pendagast, d'Agosta, Margo Green and Bill Smithback.Two skeletons are found without their heads attached in Manhattan. d'Agosta is on the case and bring Margo Green help with the investigation. Since its a Pendagast series, he does show up but later on during the book.This book is a great follow up to the first one. In my opinion, you cannot read this one without starting at the beginning. All the characters were great but I felt that in this one Bill Smithback was lacking something, he was better written in the first and his story for this book was not that great. My negative point: there was too many new characters that didnt belong in the book, and it felt like they were added just to fill the story when it wasn`t necessary.The suspense was good, the twist near the end I didn't see that coming which is a good thing!A solid 4 stars for this one!
