Reliquary (Pendergast, Book 2) | Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Reliquary (Pendergast, Book 2) | Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child | Less exciting than the original, and also a much better book

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Reliquary (Penderg...

	Reliquary (Pendergast, Book 2) Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child Tor Books, 1998 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 184 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Second part of a great ride!

Who would have thought that they could keep the story so seamless and exciting! All my guesses of who was behind the story were all wrong! Can you figure it out?

Less exciting than the original, and also a much better book

I picked up Reliquary some months after its lead-in, Relic, and having formerly read Riptide, another of the authors' joint collaborations. From Riptide, I had gotten a good idea of their modus operandi: Semi-scientific background, a perilous dungeon of a scene of action, a somewhat interesting cast derived but also evolved from their natural stereotypes, and also a thumping good story that was worth reading.

Relic steeped back into the B-movie man-versus-monster premise, but salvaged itself towards the end by purely being exciting, for all its predictablity and your generally being able to see from the start who was slanted for survival. Riptide was a story, and a good story, and thus a worthy read even if not being as exciting as Relic. Relic was, by comparison, a faceless member of the horror genre.

Reliquary is therefore an ascension. And fortunately for all, it tips heavily away from its roots towards Riptide's lead attraction, towards being a real story (although Riptide of course came later). The remnants of the cast from the original return, and with the obvious exception of the more interesting characters, they retain their clichéd personas, and whatever changes there have been are mostly annoying ones. But, for whatever reason, their return versions seem far less boring and static here, while some of the new arrivals fall far short of expectations.

And for much the same reason, the plot overall emits much less of the sense of "this is all just a prelude to the disaster on the back of the book" atmosphere of Relic. Ironically, while the first half of Relic was slow-moving and dull and picked up in excitement, while also achieving complete predictability, only from then on, Reliquary largely reverses the position. There is, of course, the same cast of scientists and cops, the zombie-esque enemy with no need for conscience or morals, the final key to the mystery which the characters realize only at the last moment. But Reliquary is genuinely interesting for the better part of its text. Some of its characters are less promising than the authors might think, and really should have gotten the axe between storylines to free up more time to spend with their betters. And one whole direction the storyline takes, while it does eventually find its unlikely purpose among all the rest, is extremely tedious. But what remains pushes the story along and makes it fun. That's why you should read Reliquary right there, because it is truly fun, and it manages to be adventurous and exciting and all those well-trodden buzzwords as well.

It's for this reason that it's unfortunate that the ending lapses into predictability, the same fault associated with Relic. Towards the end they do try to return to what another reviewer here describes excellently as the "taut narrative" of the first book, but by then the addition feels old and tired and unnecessary and, largely for having spent less pent-up and time for immersion, ends up being less exciting than the action passages of its predecessor. While, having said that, I can't commend Relic's ending, which had the sense of "we've read so far and it's been exciting, but now the final encounter will be a quick descent," and so it proved. With Reliquary, take the same sentence and transpose "exciting" for "exciting and enjoyable," but keep the rest as well. Having read so far and knowing what was going to happen, I skipped much of the trivial action right to the final moments, which also didn't live up to the promise of the rest of the book.

But if you're willing to forgive a let down towards the end, and some irritating passages and a few unfortunate cast additions within, Reliquary is undoubtedly a good read that gives hope that the future brings plots not only exciting and well-casted, but unpredictable while retaining a finale that does not undercut what you've come to expect. Reliquary comes close. Riptide also. Literature, they are not. But for fun weekend reading, they excel. I recommend them.

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Monsters or Madness

The best thing the authors could have done to pique my interest in this book was exactly what they did......... On the inside front flap of the dust cover they inscribe the following: REL-I-QUARY relic-wary (n): A shrine or coffer for displaying an object, bone, or body part from a saint or deity. PERFECT, otherwise who knew that reliquary actually had a significant meaning?

So, we dive in, literally! Events are set in motion when Snow, a NY Dive Team member working a detail headed by Lt. D'Agosta, dives the Humboldt Kill looking for a brick of cocaine but instead dredges up two decapitated bodies. The first body is identified as Pamela Wisher, a high profile debutante. Investigations take us under New York City. Pendergast and D'Agosta go undercover and underground to locate Mephisto and find out what they can about the "Wrinklers" and "The Devils Attic." We spend a lot of time under NYC, which was fascinating. And I especially loved the author's note explaining that much of the fiction about this community lies in truth.

I really liked the Sgt. Hayward character. She was a pistol and had integrity. I love it when Pendergast does something which he knows is callous and then says "It's an annoying habit, but very hard to break." That always makes me chuckle out loud. I liked the development of Margo's character.

I'm a dedicated reader not a writer; however once in a while I have an idea about a book that just might have worked. With this one at the end when they tie up loose ends on Smithback; rather then saying he received a book deal telling about this horrible adventure I would have revealed that the book we just finished reading was in fact Smithback's narrative.

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It's ok.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, Relic so I was anxious to read this one. It was not a bad book but I felt that the writers were simply anxious to put out another book to capitalize on the popularity of Relic. Reliquary brings back the same main characters along with the same characteristics of characters from the first book but with different names. I found myself having to refrain from rolling my eyes when Pendergast seemlessly infiltrated the 'mole' people and the concept of the 'mole' people in itself I had difficulty with (although there is a note in the book that these type of people really DO exist under the city of New York). I also wished that the authors had gone into Dr. Green's post traumatic stress and made her new physical fitness routine an instrument of success at the end of the book. But they brought up her new fitness and then dropped it just as quickly. The other part I disliked was the monlogue given by the bad guy at the end of the book. I really hate it when bad guys monologue. Other than having to suspend my disbelief a few times, it wasn't all bad.

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