Relic - Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

            Relic is the only book this semester that has made me squirm on the first page.

“Lighting a cigarette, he applied its tip to the forest of ticks on his shin and ankle.”

The forest of ticks. Have I mentioned how horrifying I find ticks? This has no particular relevance to the rest of the novel, but it still deserves a mention. I shuddered on the first page. Good on you Relic.

                      

As for the rest of the story, I found it to be more of a mystery than a horror. The pace was slow at points, and there were times it dragged for me, but the good moments of the novel made up for the low points. What Relic lacked most for me was the presence of strong characters. The only character I developed even a tiny attachment to was Smithback, and this was due to his obnoxious quirkiness, and possibly the moment of complete understanding I shared with him when he hit the buffet table and refused to be stopped even by absolute catastrophe.

What I enjoyed most about Relic was the setting, and the science. The giant labyrinth of the museum, stuffed with countless artifacts was at the same time lonely and compelling. I imagine if I was lost in the museum vaults, alone, afterhours I would be a bit apprehensive. Yet, at the same time, the beautiful realism and details that went into crafting the museum made me really want to go to one. And unlike the frozen Artic wastes, or vast spacecrafts, I can actually go to a museum. Relic actually inspired me to seek out first hand experiences with the diversity of other cultures and time periods. I am now planning a trip to the Smithsonian. Relic will doubtlessly be on my mind the whole time.

The other aspect of the book I enjoyed was the science. Natural science has always been an interest of mine, and I dabbled in a fair amount of biology during my undergraduate degree. Though the science in Relic took its creative liberties, it was clear to me it was based upon the author’s solid understanding of accurate science. One of my favorite puzzles in the novel was figuring out the machine’s predictions before the scientists could interoperate it for me.

Speaking of the machine’s prediction’s… what a fascinating beast! I found myself more intrigued by the museum beast than I was frightened, but this intrigue kept me turning pages. Though we never got to read in the POV of the beast, it still became a sympathetic monster to me. It was the last of its kind, living in a squalid and pitiful environment compared to the lush, green, expanse of its native home. It was drawn to the figurine of itself. It appreciated things of beauty. Then the beast was slowly hunted down, collecting bullets and injuries as the quiet lonely existence it had was disrupted, then destroyed by ignorant humans. I’d be pissed too. I’d probably go on a murderous rampage too. The beast, despite the opinions of several characters, wasn’t evil to me. The novel succeeded in turning the beast into a natural phenomenon, that like so many, is threatened and destroyed by the advancement of human society. It was a symbol of an old world, still wild, that was lost before it was fully understood, like the dozens of plant and animal species lost every day in the world’s rainforests.

Because I felt this way about the beast, I did not like the epilogue. I felt making the beast into Whittlesay and then having Kawikita attempt to harness the plant that caused the transformation, undid some of the work I appreciated most in the novel. I would have preferred if the beast were a natural born phenomenon, or simply one of the Korthoga, transformed by the virus. This adaptation seemed to destroy the ancient roots the beast represented to me. I prefer the conclusions Margo and Frock drew at the end of the novel.

Now, one last thing. While the science for the most part impressed me with its believability, this made the one flaw stand out in stark, annoying contrast to me. “All big game-lion, water buffalo, elephant- have eyes on the sides of their head”

No. Wrong. Lions, like all predatory mammals, have forward facing eyes. Predators have eyes in the front of their heads because it gives them the advanced depth perception they need to calculate distance to their prey. Herbivorous, prey animals have eyes on the sides of their heads to give them a wider field of vision to spot stalking predators.