April 2015 Group Read II-Relic

[Alison]

I just re-read this for the 3rd or 4th time. It is the book that introduced me to Preston and Child and it's fantastic every time I read it. Agent Pendergast is one of my favorite characters ever.

[James]

Alison wrote: "I just re-read this for the 3rd or 4th time. It is the book that introduced me to Preston and Child..."

I read it when it first came out and there was no series. Reliquary came as a pleasant surprise, one day, just sitting there, at the bookstore.

[Vicki Willis]

I am at 25% and agree that he is such a great character. I was totally cracking up.

[Vicki Willis]

Well, I am still working on this one. After the jungle scene it was so slow for me. I am now at 60% and the museum exhibit's opening night. It has finally picked up and I thought the whole extrapolator part was interesting. So now everyone is going to be in Cell 2 and the "dinner bell" will be ringing. Can't wait to find out what happens. Anyone still reading this?

[Katy]

Vicki wrote: "Well, I am still working on this one. After the jungle scene it was so slow for me. I am now at 60% and the museum exhibit's opening night. It has finally picked up and I thought the whole extrapol..."

I finished and I'm close to the end of the second one. Chatter on, as I liked the first one.

Did you see the movie version that came out a few years ago? They moved it to Chicago, the Field Museum. I thought they did a good job with the Superstition Exhibit though.

It was on cable a few times recently.

[James]

Katy wrote: "I thought they did a good job with the Superstition Exhibit though"

Yes, the one thing the movie got completely right was the museum. Then again, it's easy to get a good museum feel, when you film in an actual museum. And Peter Hyams is no slouch, when it comes to directing ( Outland, Capricorn One, 2010).

Not my favourite movie, but I definitely enjoyed it. Too bad about the monster (extra-poor quality), though.

[Vicki Willis]

I did it people! Finally finished. The second half was so much better for me than the first. Having the 3 different groups in different parts of the museum kept me wondering the whole time. I didnt see the ending coming ay all. I did like the characters and it is cool they will join up again in book 2. A solid 4 star book for me.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Glad you enjoyed it Vicki :)

[Quentin]

Ok so I finished the Reliquary, and I feel the same as most others said. It was good, just not as good as The Relic. I liked the idea of the monster roaming the museum better than the way the "monsters" were handled in this volume. I'm going to stop with the series here, but may go back and read the third volume in the future.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Quentin,
I think the focus on one hidden monster created more a of a dark, isolated tension, plus there was the whole mystery to uncover.

With Reliquary I found the underground tunnels and people interesting but it didn't hold together the same kind of urgency and togetherness for the heroes of the story.

The third will be a lot different since we're losing a big cast of characters, so I'm curious.

[Quentin]

Ok so I went back and watched the movie THE RELIC for the first time since reading the book. Wow. I realize it's usual practice to change things a bit for the film, but (view spoiler)[ Pendergast wasn't even in the movie? Neither was Smithback? That's like the two main characters! Frock didn't survive? Talk about radical changes. If you totally ignore the book, the movie really wasn't terrible. But in comparison to the book it falls short. I was really shocked, even though I wouldn't think Hollywood could shock me anymore. (hide spoiler)]

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Yeah I guess they wanted just the museum monster and that's about it