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Reliquary
Reliquary
Reliquary
Audiobook10 hours

Reliquary

Written by Sarah Fine

Narrated by Carly Robins

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

Mattie Carver’s engagement party should have marked the start of her own personal fairy tale. But when her fiancé, Ben, is violently abducted the next morning, her desperate quest to find him rips her away from small-town life and reveals a shattering truth: magic is real—and Ben is hooked. It’s not the stuff of storybooks. It’s wildly addictive, capable of producing everything from hellish anguish to sensual ecstasy almost beyond human endurance.

Determined to find out who took Ben and why, Mattie immerses herself in a shadowy underworld and comes face-to-face with the darkly alluring Asa Ward, a rogue magic dealer, infamous hustler…and her missing fiancé’s estranged brother. Asa has the power to sense magic, and he realizes Mattie is a reliquary, someone with the rare ability to carry magic within her own body, undetected. Asa agrees to help find Ben on one condition: Mattie must use her uncommon talent to assist his smuggling operations. Now, from magic-laced Vegas casinos to the netherworld clubs of Bangkok, Mattie is on a rescue mission. With Asa by her side, she’ll face not only the supernatural forces arrayed against her but the all-too-human temptation that she fears she can’t resist.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 14, 2016
ISBN9781511391351
Reliquary
Author

Sarah Fine

Sarah Fine is the author of several popular series, including The Impostor Queen and the Guards of the Shadowlands. And while she promises she is not psychoanalyzing those around her, she manages to use both her talent as a writer and her experience as a psychologist to great effect. Sarah's stories blur lines, challenge convention, and press boundaries. Her mash-up of seemingly disparate genres yields stories that not only are engaging but will keep readers guessing. Sarah has lived on the West Coast and in the Midwest, but she currently calls the East Coast home. She confesses to having the music tastes of an adolescent boy and an adventurous spirit when it comes to food (especially if it's fried). But if her many books are any indication, writing clearly trumps both her musical and culinary loves.

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Reviews for Reliquary

Rating: 3.7902762659675884 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,049 ratings40 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The concept for this book and the beautiful cover is what drew me to want to check this book out. This book did start out good. I especially liked the darkness of the story. It really did feel like Mattie and Asa were chasing after Ben in the underbelly of the magical world. Although, I have to say that I was neutral when it came to Mattie and Ben. I wanted a little more backstory about their relationship before Ben disappeared. For me it was Asa that I liked better in regards to the two brothers. Yet, part of this did have to do with the fact that Asa was a stronger presence in this book. The abilities that Mattie had with taking magic and controlling it was cool. However even with the darkness of the story, Asa, and Mattie I did find myself struggling to stay connected in the moment while reading the book. Despite this factor I would try this author again.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Mattie's fiance is kidnapped and she's determined to get him back. In doing so she finds herself in a world where magic-infused items are sold as a drug, and magic itself is addictive.

    I liked the magic-as-drug thing. It made for a much grittier book when the stakes for doing magic--and using magic--are so high. I also liked how the addiction was clearly portrayed because it made people's motivations that much more understandable. The book also refreshingly did not concentrate on romance, despite the erotic scenes.

    [I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.]
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked this one better than the first in the Pendergast series (Relic) and was very happy it continued the story where that one left off.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The second Pendergast novel. This one is a sequel to the first and will definitely make more sense if you read Relic first. I enjoy the characters and getting to know them better, but the blood and gore is sometimes a bit much. The story is worth reading those sections quickly, however.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the second book in the Special Agent Pendergast series and begins 18 months after the main events in the novel 'Relic'. I'll note that the epilogue in the first book which took place 6 months after the main events turns out to be quite a clue and material to this story. Although there are some new characters, several of the surviving main characters from the prior book are here again. The fact that I already knew some of the people here made this book easy to dive into, and overall I consider this a better book than the first and despite what I say next I enjoyed reading this story. Parts of this are a hard to put the book down page turner, especially the latter part of the book where the action is almost non-stop.Like I said about the prior book, much of this one could also be an X-Files episode of monster of the week, although maybe a two-parter would be needed. I learned more about New York City as well. There is something slightly tiresome about these two books. The bosses of various things in these two books generally fall into the bureaucratic idjit class wanting things swept under the rug, don't rattle the cage, look for someone else to blame, get it solved yesterday, etc etc. Only our peeps on the front line have the smarts to take care of things. In the first book the Mayor of New York City takes a small but important place in the events and proves himself to be a smart leader. In this book, 18 months later, the good mayor is out of office.There are many surprises here and the ending of this really took me by surprise. It almost jumped the shark. Well, they are the storytellers, and I'm just the reader. I need to catch my breath now.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Too much of a good thing is just too much.

    This book is a direct sequel to the “Relic”. It ups the science, the danger, the beast and everything else that was in the relic to the point that it lost the tension and became a hot mess. If you have read any of my reviews, I also have issue what I call the “Murphy’s Law” syndrome in books. This is where everything goes wrong for the good guys except for one small thing to defeat the bad guys. The book was full of this and even continued with the Murphy’s Law stuff after the bad guy was defeated. It was almost comical.

    I did like having all the characters back and I love the hints of continued relationships after the first book and before this one. I loved Margo and D’Agosta’s relationship. It seemed a natural development from the first book to this friendship built upon their mutual experiences. Hayward was a great new character and I enjoyed her additions to the book immensely.

    The book lost my interest about 2/3 of the way through because foreshadowing was very obvious so it took a lot for me to continue the book all the way through. I also got very tired of any one above D’Agosta’s rank being portrayed as an incompetent politician versus a seasoned cop who promoted.

    I hope the next book in the series gets back to the basics of what made the Relic great. This book was okay but just wasn’t what I was wanting.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was a decent follow up to Relic. I enjoyed the writing style and the characters, but at times, the story felt interminable. I think a hundred pages could have been culled without losing anything. Also, there was a moment that was supposed to be a shocking reveal, but I’m almost positive the fact was revealed at the end of Relic. I know it’s been awhile since I read Relic, so perhaps I only figured it out myself and remembered, but I don’t think so. Anyway, this was good, but I’d hoped for a little more edge-of-my-seat tension. Hopefully the next one will be a bit better.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another great read in the Pendergast series. While some of these books aren't always a 5-star read, they're still incredibly enjoyable and I always find myself looking to grab the next one of the series at Barnes & Noble when it gets released each year. Hats off to Pendergast and all of his investigations.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not as good as Relic, but makes me interested in reading more Pendergast novels...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This second Pendergast outing is even better than the first. Fans of the classic THE X-FILES or the current FRINGE will find a lot to love in this one, as well as its predecessor, RELIC.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I think the first thing I said about [book:Reliquary] was "Well, crap, this one's got the echo–y sound effects too." I complained about that in my review of [book:Relic] – they're quite annoying and unnecessary. And I've never heard anything like them in any other audiobook. Happily.The same strange not-quite–sexism continues. The female member of the main cast of characters, now Dr. Margot Green, is still always called Margot, while the female cop is "Hayward". Although the society lady is referred to as Mrs. Wisher. It's all just odd; there's no consistency. I was glad to see the cast of characters return. I liked them – which was the main reason I continued on to listen to this second book, and while I'll probably one day pick the series up again. I do like Agent Pendergast, and whatever else I have to say about the narrator and the production of the narration I do like the delivery of Agent Pendergast and his accent. (The SEAL team leader sounds like Jack Nicholson, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.) I appreciated that, while this was a continuation of the story begun in the previous book, the setting and circumstances are completely different. Instead of one enclosed (albeit labyrinthine) space like a museum, this takes place around – and under, especially under – the city of Manhattan. And it explores the waterways as divers begin by discovering mysterious corpses and then later SEAL divers get in on the action. I learned the difference between wet suits and dry suits, and how intensely terrifying diving in bad (or no) visibility can be. It was not only different from the previous book, but from pretty much anything I've read before – so that was good. And while the experts are diving, some of the characters we know from the first book are taking their investigation underground, infiltrating the bizarre community of the homeless and disenfranchised that shelters in all the places most would never dare to go. Of course, being me, I kept thinking about the tv show Beauty and the Beast from the 80's, which was my introduction to the idea of a whole world of tunnels below the City of New York. They're not nearly as nice in this book. I liked the storytelling better this go 'round, for the most part. Except … Exploring the depths of the tunnels, the party comes upon a sort of a shrine, and on it is an object that is so significant that I immediately knew what was about to happen, so I won't mention it here. In a way the next half hour or so were just … boring as the characters caught up to where I'd leaped. ( – And then Margot has the gall to say "just so you can walk?" Really, honey? "Just"? Let me give your spinal cord a good hard tweak and see how content you are in a wheelchair.)Once again this wasn't wall-to-wall good stuff – but there was more good stuff in this one than in the first one. I've picked up a few books in this series over the years, so I hope the ratio of good to not keeps going up.Quotable quote: "I have also found that the louder a person speaks, the less they have to say." Amen.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Like it's predecessor, Relic, the setting of this novel played a major role. I found myself as intrigued with the underground tunnels of NYC as much as I did the plot (so much so that I requested the book Mole People from my library system). I was excited to have the gang back together of Pendergast, D'Agosta, Smithback, Dr. Frock and Margo Green. I completely approve of the changes that Margo Green went through since the last book. Of, Dr. Frock's? Not so much. So many other great characters in this one that I hope to see again in the future books as well. The plot was just as terrifying as the last with lots of thrilling action. Lastly, let me just say how much I love the vocabulary of these books. Always learning something. And the word Scriblerian is one I'm going to have to figure out how to use somewhere.Already downloading the next in the series. I may be late to the party but this is such a great find.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This would make a great movie, couldn't put it down.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The sequel to Relic.
    The dangerous substance that caused the killer man-dinosaur in the Natural History Museum has been synthesized and has spead as a drug through underground NYC. The homeless are being killed at a frightening rate, and rumors of freakish mutants in the lowest levels are spreading, but it takes a debutante's death to catch the attention of the media and the police department.
    Will Our Heroes figure out the dastardly plot and succeed in the drastic measures they must take to save the Earth's ecosystem? (What do you think?)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Preston and Child are the Rogers and Hammerstein of literature, their writing combines to create a symphony of words. The main characters D'Agosta and Pendergast are just as compatible, and come together to present an interesting and engrossing story. I look forward to each and every time I sit to enjoy the pairing of these men! They never disappoint!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Yes, the book still reads at a blistering pace and you're still going to get some enjoyment out of it, if you're coming to the book for Pendergast completeness... but I can't really say that you're going to find anything as organically enjoyable as that first book. The most fascinating thing to come out of the text is the tantalizing (and only lightly fictionalized) look into the world that exists beneath Manhattan's streets and subway lines, populated only barely and yet by more homeless than anyone really grasps. Perhaps there are still places to be explored - and where there may be monsters. Scarier to think that those places are under my feet, but exciting nonetheless. In the meantime, I look forward to picking up with Pendergast outside of the shadow of Mbwun...

    More to come at RB:
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Synopsis: Months after the Monster of the Museum has been killed, two headless skeletons are found, one is deformed in the same manner as the monster. Shortly it comes to light that more people have been murdered and by what seems to be groups of deformed attackers. Museum staff and a member of the FBI, who worked on the previous case, work on this one. Finally they discover the truth of the original monster and what has spawned this group of new ones.Review: This one will make me think twice before riding in the subway. A nice, tight story, there are only a few unanswered questions at the end of this eerie tale.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I will capture brief thoughts regarding my 5-star rating, even though life is full at the moment. As a thriller, the plot and characters captured my imagination. As a novel, it included historical and literary references (e.g., 7th Infantry Division in the Iron Triangle) that sparked my curiosity. Lastly, I wish to remark that this novel also used 'tousled' in the text. Enjoy!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Alas, Reliquary did not live up to the first book, Relic, but for different reasons than most reviewers have mentioned.

    The book is good. I liked it. But there was a constant amount of pop-ups in the book. My enjoyment of the book suffered because of this, as I was constantly wondering how the hell someone was able to reach a certain location in a certain amount of time. We have the same five characters from Relic; Margo, D'Agosta, Pendergast, Smithback and Dr. Frock, and that's all well and good, but through insane coincidence, all their paths cross. I won't spoil the book for you, but when Smithback pops up toward the end, I almost threw the book. Here we have a warren of tunnels under New York City that's supposed to go on for thousands of miles in all directions, overlapping on one another, snaking through the underground to endless depths, but somehow, people keep bumping into each other. Grrrr... why? Oh well, that's just my POV.

    On a positive note, Chapter 53 of this novel is one of the most tense I've ever read in a thriller. I applaud the authors for making my mouth go dry and my palms sweaty. Bravo!

    One last thing. This is purely subjective, but at the beginning of the book, a character uses "Christ's sake," and all was right with the world, as in the last book, everyone and their mother spoke the phrase as "Chrissakes." Then, as I progressed further into the book, people inexplicably started saying "Chrissakes" again. Make up your mind, or at least don't have everyone in the book pronounce the word the same weird way. It wouldn't have stood out, either in this book or the first one, if it wasn't for the fact that I'd never heard, nor had I ever seen that phrase spoken that way. Minor nitpick I know, but it still took me out of the moment. See also the lack F-words in this novel. I could almost feel the pressure from the publishing company to tone down the language from the previous book. New Yorkers that call each other "mother" and "mothers" instead of the full MF just comes off as fake and forced.

    On to Cabinet of Curiosities, book three in the Pendergast series.

    E.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This second book in the series was a drastic improvement from the first novel for me. Te characters were less stereotypical and seemed to take on lives of their own. If you weren't. Big fan of the first one, I'd say give this one a chance.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the second book in the Pendergast series and it takes awhile for Pendergast to get involved but this allows the author to set up of the storyline for the listener/reader. This story starts out with the discovery of two skeletal remains found when the NYPD dive team searches for a bundle of heroin in a sewer runoff. The ghastly discovery ends up with DR Green and her former advisor DR Frock's Forensic Lab at the museum. Margo is still having haunting memories and dreams from the Museum Beast episode 18 months before this book starts.We are introduced to several characters to name a few- Mephisto-the mole people king, Capt. Waxie-Lazy PD Officer, SGT Hayward-A gunho female NYPD officer. Each character is used to perfection to help the story continue along a twisting and turning dramatic conclusion.If you enjoy mystery-thriller serials this book will be right up your alley. I loved it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A little Michael Crichton-esque. I really liked the information on the sewers/tunnels underneath NYC.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When two skeletons are found without skulls underwater in New York City, Agents D'Agosto and Pendergast are back on the case. This is book two in the Agent Pendergast series, and many of the characters have returned and there is a connection to the museum murders from book one to the events in this book. It was ok, but I was disappointed in this one in comparison to the first book. Might be due to the audio, as I lost interest way too many times. However, the narrator, when I was paying attention, I thought did a good job – there were some good “effects” and such. But, it just wasn't enough to hold my attention, whether that was the fault of the story, of the narrator, of just my mindset, I don't know. I will likely give the third book in the series a chance, as well, but will try to remember not to listen to the audio!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The second instalment of the Pendergast series is as good as the first one. In the first one, "Relic", agent Pendergast is one of the minor main characters whilst in this novel he takes on a more important role.

    It's a fast read. Characters that were introduced in the first novel of the series are quickly reintroduced for readers who haven't read "Relic". New characters are also introduced, some in more detail than others but even the minor character feel realistic.

    Pendergast himself stays as much of a mystery as before. His behaviour is still odd and not like so many other detectives, agents, private investigators in current fiction. I find it rather refreshing that he isn't constantly explaining everything to the other characters and let the reader discover things for themselves.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ohhh, more guilty pleasures! So many things about these books should make me cringe and give up. The characters are not particularly deep, and poor Pendergast is a bit too perfect to be believed. The science seems sort of dubious and quite a few events happen a bit too coincidentally, but... Aster Tunnels! The atmospheres of lost history that these authors are able to create keep sucking me back again and again. And I do confess a certain guilty glee when Pendergast makes everyone else look like a fool. These are great books to listen to on audio while doing tedious tasks (driving, laundry, file processing...) I've read them horrible out of sequence, and that also doesn't seem to matter much.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I really tried getting into this book. I pushed myself to get even halfway through it. But, it never reeled me in like other Preston/Child books have. They usually snag me from the very beginning but not this one. I liked how all the characters from The Relic have stayed the same, but the mystery, the intrigue, and the adventure was missing... or at least sparse. As a sequel to The Relic it would have been nice to have semblance of similarity, but there was nothing similar whatsoever. Moving on.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I like the Pendergast series generally, but this has the feel of a bad action movie sequel - lots of running around, and not so much thinking. If you enjoyed the pace of the first novel, and wanted more of it, this is te book for you.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Six-word review: Gross but fun monster chase underground.Extended review: Like the first book in the Agent Pendergast series, this isn't glorious writing. Authors who would use phrases such as "gurgling silently" (when "gurgle" is a word of sound) and "lambent darkness" ("lambent" means "glowing") have a command of the language that fails to excite admiration. But it is adequate to the purpose, which is to entertain with fast-moving narrative, vivid description, and page-turning suspense, throwing in enough social relevance to add some ballast. Several characters are both likeable and interesting, and I hope to see one or more of them in another installment.So three and a half stars for this one are a good mark, not half-hearted at all but fully appreciative of the value of setting a goal that's within one's reach.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In the harrowing sequel to Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's debut suspense novel, "Relic", FBI agent Pendergast and the other players from the first novel are dealing with a series of macabre murders that have apparently been committed by strange denizens of the lowest underground lairs beneath the surface of Manhattan. This book also introduces a new character who recurs in later books, the formidable Sergeant Susan Hayward. Pendergast and company face danger from human dwellers of the underground of Manhattan, and not so human, to learn the true story of the Museum Beast from "Relic" and his strangely mutated progeny.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I thought this was on par with the first book, Relic, and even a bit better in parts. There’s a lot here about the New York Underground, which is a much more interesting location than the Museum. The cast of characters is much the same, including Lieutenant D’Agosta and Agent Pendergast, but there are some colorful additions, such as Mephisto, the underground leader. I even felt like I came out of this book with a better understanding of the first one. Overall, this was enjoyable and I suspect I’ll read more in the series.