Match Book
Relic
Douglas Preston
1995 · 480 pages · Horror
How it reads
Relic is horror (archaeological creature horror, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.
It's set in a big city setting, in the present day, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are survival, secrets and nature. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.
It opens a series. It ends on a cliffhanger, so have the next book ready. At 480 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something eerie
- you want a book that pulls you through
- you want an escape
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or heartwarming
- you want dense, lingering prose
- you hate waiting for a sequel
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- horror
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- prolific veteran
- Setting: place
- big city
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- eerie
- Pace
- fast paced
- Tone / weight
- light and escapist
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- first in a series
- Ending style
- cliffhanger
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
Heads Will RollJosh WinningShares: horror, eerie mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced- The WitchFreida McFaddenShares: horror, eerie mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced
- Does It Hurt?H.D. CarltonShares: horror, eerie mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced
- DollhouseAnya AllynShares: horror, eerie mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced
The Final Girl Support GroupGrady HendrixShares: horror, eerie mood, fast paced, set in big city
ReliquaryDouglas PrestonShares: horror, eerie mood, fast paced, set in big city
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