(Kind of contains spoilers) I really liked both "Relic" and "Reliquary", which were by the same author (plus a coauthor). I don't know if it was the lack of the coauthor or what, but this wasn't anywhere near as exciting or interesting. I could predict a lot of what happened, and much of it seemed trite. I mean, everyone even learned a valuable lesson at the end. On the other hand, there was at least one bit of the ending that was unexpected, which makes me happy. It certainly wasn't unreadable, but not something I'd go out of my way to pick up.