Rating: 
Summary: A Worthy sequel
Review: Relic was one of the best "horror" books I have ever read due to its synthesis of a good plot line, characters and fantastic action (much better than the movie). This followup is almost as good though the novelty of the story is missing. The underground world of the Mole People and the way in which the supposedly upright researcher becomes entangled with the story makes for an excellent read. I only wish there could have been another one to follow.
Rating:
Summary: terrific thriller with memorable characters and settings
Review: One imagines there are inherent difficulties in collaborative work, but Preston and Child are so successful that one hopes they've found some mutually satisfying solution, so that they never stop! RELIC was a fine thriller, set in the NY Museum of Natural History, a dark labyrinth of curious objects. This time the pivotal scenes take place below New York City, in the dark labyrinths of subway tunnels, sewer drains and abandoned egresses, while the characters are the same. This is a true sequel, so do yourself a big favor and read RELIC first. You'll find the same main characters: anthropologist Margo Green, FBI Special Agent Pendergast, police lieutenant D'Agosta and reporter Bill Smithback, and it's nice to see them because they're all interesting and intelligent characters. A new character is introduced, Sargeant Hayward, who is also intelligent and cynical about her idiotic and sexist superiors. She gravitates toward our group, in a sort of Ayn Rand meets Stephen King way. This time out someone or something has been killing homeless people, and our protagonists must learn about and enter the frightening depths below The City. The plot intensifies as they realize that one of the victims is someone they knew during the events of the first book. My only complaint is that the book took a while to get going, for me at least, and really only took off after page 100, when Pendergast showed up. From there it is a superb thriller, and I stayed up to finish it until 4 am, turning pages quickly, interested in all the story threads as they played out and converged. Masterful, intelligent and thrilling, this is a great read -- but read RELIC first!!
Rating:
Summary: Almost as good as RELIC...
Review: Wonderful novel! Just a little short of Relic. The whole mystery unwound a little too early. And something at the ceremony beneath the crystal chandelier gave away the otherwise shocking ending. A good editor should have caught that.
Otherwise wonderful, engaging, page-turning fun! Loved it.
Rating:
Summary: Made me sweat, Part II
Review: I have read several works of Preston and Child in the following order: THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, MOUNT DRAGON, RELIC and RELIQUARY. All of these are wonderfully written stories, but I think it is critically important that one reads RELIC first, followed by RELIQUARY and then THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES. I read THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES first and regretted it. Perhaps we need a federal law requiring warning labels on such novels? In RELIQUARY, all the main characters who survived in RELIC converge to uncover the hidden causal factors that explain their encounter in the museum. As I stated in my review of RELIC, it ends with "a knock on the door." RELIQUARY does not begin by identifying who knocked on the door, but only toward the end of this second novel does it become clear who (or perhaps more accurately "what") knocked on the door. For those of you who read this review, I hope I am able to convince you to read RELIC first. Each time I read a novel by Preston and Child, I become more amazed that two authors are able to coordinate their efforts to write with such a penetrating style. The integration of science and technology provide a great backdrop. In all of their books, I become so engaged in the storyline, I forget where I am. I have gotten lost in all of their novels and am looking forward to finding another to read!
Rating: 
Summary: Where be there monsters?
Review: In the heart of men, as this book shows. Less a monster novel than a straight forward beat-the-clock suspense thriller with some rousing action scenes, readers expecting a return of the hypothalawhatchamacallit eating mutant will be sorely disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Museum Beast redux
Review: The NYPD harbor patrol during a routine dive to recover a cache of heroin dumped into the Harlem River, snag the headless corpses of two individuals. Through extensive analysis it is determined that one of the bodies is that of a young, beautiful and wealthy Manhattan socialite, Pamela Wisher, who has been missing. The other skeletonized remains appear to be hideously deformed, with thickening and twisting of the lower extremities. The medical examiner immediately calls in Dr. Margo Green, a curator of the Museum of Natural History and Lt. D'Agosta of the NYPD to help in the identification. Before long they are joined by NY Post reporter William Smithback and the cerebral and mysterious Special FBI Agent Pendergast. The cast of heroes that solved the case of the Museum Beast in The Relic is now re-assembled. Analysis of xray and medical records of the distorted and unidentified corpse soon leads to the discovery that they are the remains of Dr. Greg Kawakita, a brilliant research biologist and former colleague of Margo Green. They cannot however decipher the cause of the skeletal deformities. Simultaneously, it is revealed that there has been a rash of murders involving homeless people who have sought refuge in the deep subterranean levels of railroad and service tunnels beneath Manhattan. With the help of Sgt. Hayward, an expert in homeless underground communities and Pendergast, our heroes recruit the help of Mephisto, the leader of a large group of homeless who live beneath Central Park. From him they learn of the "Wrinklers", denizens of the Devil's Attic, the deepest of underground recesses and a group he feels is responsible for the decapitations of the homeless. There seem to be similarities between the Wrinklers and Mbwun, the half man half reptile Museum Beast who is fond of consuming the hypothalamus of the human brain. Green and D'Agosta track down the previous whereabouts of Kawakita and find his fire ravaged high tech laboratory. He had been genetically synthesizing the Museum Beast lily, the preferred food of Mbwun. Kawakita had been consuming the lily extract and has transformed into a Mbwun, explaining his deformed skeleton. He had been supplying a group of drug consuming homeless with lily extract. Could he have created a tribe of Museum Beasts who were ravaging the city and perpetrating these sickening beheadings? Preston and Child proceed to tell a white knuckled, suspenseful tale of the mystery of these heinous murders in their usual superb fashion. Reliquary did not create the bewitching spell of The Relic but was an excellent read nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this now.
Review: Buy this now. Some other reviewers were dissapointed with the ending, but I was not. (I would agree that Relic is better, but still this is solid reading). I liked how you-know-who was in charge of the whole thing from the beginning. You will not be sorry. Books written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have a special place on my bookshelf. It's such a pity that they can't turn out novels nearly as fast as I can read them (once you get this, you won't be able to put it down).
Rating: 
Summary: VERY disappointed!
Review: For those of you who read Relic and have not yet read Reliquary. It is a sequel of poor quality. I am a huge fan of Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston. Reading Relic was a terrifying experience that kept me on the edge of my seat and scared at every turn. Reliquary fell very short of my expectations. I kept waiting for it to get scary! It never came close to the anticipation I had built up knowing a sequel had been written. If you want scary, read Relic. Don't bother reading Reliquary, though well written, it paled by comparison...
Rating:
Summary: Worthy successor
Review: It's hard to write a decent sequel to an excellent book, but RELIQUARY is everything we could expect from the team that gave us RELIC. It builds from the first book but does not just copy. The great characters are back but have been allowed to react and grow from the events in the first book: something many authors forget to do, and how could anyone not change after the events in RELIC? Suspenseful, well written, a definite great read.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than the Relic
Review: The detail of the underground of NYC, and the sense of pacing is what made this book outstanding. More than that, it is both a scientific mystery, a RKO monster movie, and an action book all rolled into one. Even if you have never read the Relic (Which I suggest you do), it is worth the read. One of the better Preston and Child Books out there.
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