Book Review: The Folded Land, by Tim Lebbon
The second book in the Relics trilogy.
Titan Books, 2018, 336 pages
In the dark underbelly of our world, there's a black market in arcane things - living and dead. Angela Gough has been pulled into this world, making her a criminal on the run.
In London she encountered the Kin-satyrs and centaurs, Nephilim and wraiths, hunted and slaughtered for their body parts. Fleeing back to the United States, Angela discovers that the Kin are everywhere, and they are tired of being prey.
When her niece Sammi is struck by lightning, she is drawn toward the mysterious Folded Land and its powerful and deadly ruler. Helped by her lover Vince, caught in the midst of a Kin uprising, Angela must locate Sammi before the girl is lost forever.
The sequel to Relics continues the story of Angela and Vince, who fled London after a violent confrontation between the magical Kin and human Kin-hunters left a lot of corpses. Angela then had to escape American legal authorities, and is now permanently a fugitive in the U.S.
Conveniently, Angela happens to have a niece named Sammi who's been struck by lightning multiple times. This turns out to involve the faerie that Angela freed back in London, who is now running amok and created a "Folded Land," basically a pocket reality, to hide in.
Lalu the nymph returns, as does the Nephilim Mallian, who is plotting "Ascendency," wherein the Kin will come out of hiding and once more assert supremacy over Muggleshumans.
Mallian has a serial killer working for him, a human who kills other Kin and believes this will result in him eventually being transformed into a Kin himself. That Mallian's minion is a chump is obvious from the beginning; what Mallian is getting out of this is not so clear.
The story is a bunch of tangled threads and tries to tie together all these separate characters and plotlines. The first book was an intriguing dark fantasy where "relic hunters" become aware that these antediluvian monsters still exist. The second book is more a standard "hidden magical creatures in the mundane world" setting, with lots of violent confrontations, and a predictable reveal about Angela's niece Sammi.
Overall an entertaining read, if you like urban fantasy, with lots of different creatures making their appearance, but the characters aren't particularly memorable and while I will finish the trilogy, it's a fairly mid series.
Also by Tim Lebbon: My review of Relics.
My complete list of book reviews.
Titan Books, 2018, 336 pages
In the dark underbelly of our world, there's a black market in arcane things - living and dead. Angela Gough has been pulled into this world, making her a criminal on the run.
In London she encountered the Kin-satyrs and centaurs, Nephilim and wraiths, hunted and slaughtered for their body parts. Fleeing back to the United States, Angela discovers that the Kin are everywhere, and they are tired of being prey.
When her niece Sammi is struck by lightning, she is drawn toward the mysterious Folded Land and its powerful and deadly ruler. Helped by her lover Vince, caught in the midst of a Kin uprising, Angela must locate Sammi before the girl is lost forever.
The sequel to Relics continues the story of Angela and Vince, who fled London after a violent confrontation between the magical Kin and human Kin-hunters left a lot of corpses. Angela then had to escape American legal authorities, and is now permanently a fugitive in the U.S.
Conveniently, Angela happens to have a niece named Sammi who's been struck by lightning multiple times. This turns out to involve the faerie that Angela freed back in London, who is now running amok and created a "Folded Land," basically a pocket reality, to hide in.
Lalu the nymph returns, as does the Nephilim Mallian, who is plotting "Ascendency," wherein the Kin will come out of hiding and once more assert supremacy over Muggleshumans.
Mallian has a serial killer working for him, a human who kills other Kin and believes this will result in him eventually being transformed into a Kin himself. That Mallian's minion is a chump is obvious from the beginning; what Mallian is getting out of this is not so clear.
The story is a bunch of tangled threads and tries to tie together all these separate characters and plotlines. The first book was an intriguing dark fantasy where "relic hunters" become aware that these antediluvian monsters still exist. The second book is more a standard "hidden magical creatures in the mundane world" setting, with lots of violent confrontations, and a predictable reveal about Angela's niece Sammi.
Overall an entertaining read, if you like urban fantasy, with lots of different creatures making their appearance, but the characters aren't particularly memorable and while I will finish the trilogy, it's a fairly mid series.
Also by Tim Lebbon: My review of Relics.
My complete list of book reviews.