Meh. There’s a cliffhanger ending and I can’t see myself getting into the last one.

This review was crossposted on my blog.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

A few phrases that adequately describe this book are: a study in mediocrity; forcefully average; principled in its lukewarmness; dogmatically tepid. This book was just good enough to keep reading it, but just bad enough to not really care what happened or who it happened too. Unlike Relics,which fit well within several genres, namely, horror, thriller, and urban fantasy, The Folded Land focuses in on the urban fantasy genre, which is a shame, because Relics strength’s were the horror and thriller aspects, and the worldbuilding was just so-so. The Folded Lands attempts to develop many of the characters from the prequel, but it largely falls flat. Simply because this book series is an easy read, I will finish the trilogy the final installment being The Edge.

Plot: 2 out of 5

Just meh? The plot twists were very obvious, and the pacing was poor throughout the story. Some things were dragged out way to long, and others went by way to fast.

Setting: 2 out of 5

In this book, Lebbon really tried to invest in worldbuilding and character development, but both fell really flat. The worldbuilding elements were rather nonsensical and never explained. We’re never really informed why the lightening strikes were needed, the importance of the map etc. etc. I hate it when plot lines rely or contain unnecessary coincidences.

Spoiler

Sammi is related to Angela, but the odds of her being entangled in the story are next to nil from a logical perspective, and its even less likely that she would be the one that was kidnapped by Gregor. But this was done to drive Angela’s emotional involvement in the plot, which was more or less redundant already? Ugh I digress.

Anyway, world building is lackluster, lore is meh, the magical creatures are meh. Not horrid, but not great.

Characters: 2 out of 5

Oh Lebbon, what were you thinking? How is it possible to go on for pages and pages about the same characters without making them any more complex? To be honest it was rather impressive that I could learn more about these characters and not care at all.

Writing Style: 3 out of 5

Lebbon is not a bad writer of horror or thrilling plot elements, but did not distinguish himself at all in the urban fantasy elements of this story. Easy to read, easy to follow.

Personal Enjoyment: 2.5 out of 5

This book was infuriatingly mediocre. If it was any worse I would have set it down, if it was any better I would have enjoyed it. Oh well, on to the next.

3.5 rounded to 4. Book two of the Relics Trilogy had me struggling to remember what happened and who was who from book one. There was no “story so far” and it took about a quarter of the book to recall the characters.
After that it did get better. There are nymphs, wisps, and centaurs, kidnapping, and double crossing.

Although it was great to have a continuation of the story, what made the first book so good was the mystery and suspense of the unknown. By this time, the cat's out of the bag, so to speak, and none of the mystery remains. Even the serial killer is revealed to the reader early on and it's simply a case of watching the various story threads merge. I did enjoy the story, even though the characters were less well defined and simply more reactive to the situations they found themselves in.

I was gifted this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a good continuation of the series and, in fact, I actually enjoyed it a bit more than I enjoyed the first one. We follow the same set of characters with a couple more added in and although the plot isn't necessarily a direct follow on, this books connects well with the first. There are a lot of threads that continue from the first to this one so I would recommend starting with Relics.

I like Tim Lebbon's writing style. It's not overly descriptive but he still manages to create an interesting plot. This book was quick and easy to read and I was able to immerse myself in the story. There were also several twists woven into this plot that I didn't see coming. At times I was generally surprised. I have similar feelings towards The Kin as I did after reading the first one. I love the idea behind them but I just felt we were lacking in information. I was still left feeling like I wanted a bit more. This book definitely isn't as graphic as the first one though, however there was still some gory parts but I found these a bit easier to read.

Overall another enjoyable read and a good continuation to this story. I'm still enjoying the plot, themes and ideas, along with the characters and I'm excited to read the final book in this series.

I really wanted to love this book, but sadly I did not. I would rate it a 2.5.
This is the 2nd installment of Relics by Lebbon. I really enjoyed the first and was hoping for more of the same and more depth into the characters. What I found was a boring story that made me consider not finishing the book at all. It does get better for the 2nd half, but only slightly.
The Folded Land picks up shortly after where Relics ended. It follows many of the same characters (I won't specify all in case you haven't read the first yet, wouldn't want to ruin who survived). Again we have various mythical creatures, known as Kin, living (and often hiding) in a human world. Some Kin are fine with the way things are now, as they had their time and know it's coming to an end. Others see themselves as far superior to humans and think it's time they rose and took their rightful place in the world.
Sammi, Angela's niece, has been kidnapped by a Kin killer. In a race against time, humans and Kin come together but they all do not have the same motives in mind.