Book Review: The Edge, by Tim Lebbon
The conclusion of the Relics trilogy.
Titan Books, 2019, 336 pages
A diseased town - long hidden beneath a lake - rises from the depths to become a focus of the war between humankind and the Kin.
There exists a secret and highly illegal trade in mythological creatures and their artifacts. Certain individuals pay fortunes for a sliver of a satyr's hoof, a gryphon's claw, a basilisk's scale, or an angel's wing. Embroiled in the hidden world of the Relics, creatures known as the Kin, Angela Gough is now on the run in the United States.
Forty years ago the town of Longford was the site of a deadly disease outbreak that wiped out the entire population. The infection was contained, the town isolated, and the valley in which it sits flooded and turned into a reservoir. The truth - that the outbreak was intentional, and not every resident of Longford died - disappeared beneath the waves.
Now the town is revealed again. The Kin have an interest in the ruins, and soon the fairy Grace and the Nephilim leader Mallian are also drawn to them. The infection has risen from beneath silent waters, and this forgotten town becomes the focus of the looming battle between humankind and the Kin.
This is the conclusion of the Relics trilogy. The first book, about Angela and her boyfriend Vince's discovery that the relics of ancient supernatural creatures were not of extinct beings but creatures who still existed, turned into a typical urban fantasy with magical creatures living hidden in the modern world.
Book two ended with Vince trapped in the Fold, with the faerie Grace, who has staked the nephilim Mallion to the ground and torments him and the other Kin endlessly. Meanwhile Angela is stuck in the normal world, not knowing if Vince is still alive, and trying to take care of her niece, Sammi, whose own faerie blood is beginning to assert itself.
Mallian is the revolutionary/Magneto in this world, with the goal of bringing about "Ascendancy." He wants the long-hidden Kin to rise up and reassert themselves as masters over humanity. Grace is a sadistic deux ex machine.
Like the first two books, The Edge is a pretty gory book, with Kin and humans being murdered and tortured in various grisly ways. Eventually of course Angela and Vince are reunited, and Sammi is the key to defeating both Mallion and Grace. I was not expecting the author to threaten to rip open the "Masquerade" and have the Kin reemerge into public, and there is a showdown at the end where it looks like it's going to be the U.S. Army vs. nephillim and werewolves and dragons.
Overall this was a fun if not terribly original series. A few named characters die, there is a semi-final resolution, and the world goes on. Most of the characters were never fleshed out in much detail and we never get much knowledge of the Kin. I liked it well enough but wouldn't consider it a series that needs another sequel, though there is definitely room for one.
Also by Tim Lebbon: My reviews of Relics and The Folded Land.
My complete list of book reviews.
Titan Books, 2019, 336 pages
A diseased town - long hidden beneath a lake - rises from the depths to become a focus of the war between humankind and the Kin.
There exists a secret and highly illegal trade in mythological creatures and their artifacts. Certain individuals pay fortunes for a sliver of a satyr's hoof, a gryphon's claw, a basilisk's scale, or an angel's wing. Embroiled in the hidden world of the Relics, creatures known as the Kin, Angela Gough is now on the run in the United States.
Forty years ago the town of Longford was the site of a deadly disease outbreak that wiped out the entire population. The infection was contained, the town isolated, and the valley in which it sits flooded and turned into a reservoir. The truth - that the outbreak was intentional, and not every resident of Longford died - disappeared beneath the waves.
Now the town is revealed again. The Kin have an interest in the ruins, and soon the fairy Grace and the Nephilim leader Mallian are also drawn to them. The infection has risen from beneath silent waters, and this forgotten town becomes the focus of the looming battle between humankind and the Kin.
This is the conclusion of the Relics trilogy. The first book, about Angela and her boyfriend Vince's discovery that the relics of ancient supernatural creatures were not of extinct beings but creatures who still existed, turned into a typical urban fantasy with magical creatures living hidden in the modern world.
Book two ended with Vince trapped in the Fold, with the faerie Grace, who has staked the nephilim Mallion to the ground and torments him and the other Kin endlessly. Meanwhile Angela is stuck in the normal world, not knowing if Vince is still alive, and trying to take care of her niece, Sammi, whose own faerie blood is beginning to assert itself.
Mallian is the revolutionary/Magneto in this world, with the goal of bringing about "Ascendancy." He wants the long-hidden Kin to rise up and reassert themselves as masters over humanity. Grace is a sadistic deux ex machine.
Like the first two books, The Edge is a pretty gory book, with Kin and humans being murdered and tortured in various grisly ways. Eventually of course Angela and Vince are reunited, and Sammi is the key to defeating both Mallion and Grace. I was not expecting the author to threaten to rip open the "Masquerade" and have the Kin reemerge into public, and there is a showdown at the end where it looks like it's going to be the U.S. Army vs. nephillim and werewolves and dragons.
Overall this was a fun if not terribly original series. A few named characters die, there is a semi-final resolution, and the world goes on. Most of the characters were never fleshed out in much detail and we never get much knowledge of the Kin. I liked it well enough but wouldn't consider it a series that needs another sequel, though there is definitely room for one.
Also by Tim Lebbon: My reviews of Relics and The Folded Land.
My complete list of book reviews.