Tim Lebbon's The Edge was published by Titan Books in June 2019.
Information about Tim Lebbon:
Tim Lebbon is the New York Times bestselling author of Coldbrook, The Silence, the Relics trilogy and the movie novelizations of 30 Days of Night and The Cabin in the Woods. He has also written many successful movie novelizations and tie-ins for Alien and Firefly as well as critically acclaimed horror and dark fantasy novels. Tim has won three British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award, a Shocker, a Tombstone and been a finalist for the International Horror Guild and World Fantasy Awards. The Silence is now a Netflix Original Movie, starring Stanley Tucci.
Click here to visit his official website.
Information about The Edge:
There exists a secret and highly illegal trade in mythological creatures and their artifacts. Certain individuals pay fortunes for a sliver of a satyr’s hoof, a gryphon’s claw, a basilisk’s scale, or an angel’s wing. Embroiled in the hidden world of the Relics, creatures known as the Kin, Angela Gough is now on the run in the United States.
Forty years ago the town of Longford was the site of a deadly disease outbreak that wiped out the entire population. The infection was contained, the town isolated, and the valley in which it sits flooded and turned into a reservoir. The truth - that the outbreak was intentional, and not every resident of Longford died - disappeared beneath the waves.
Now the town is revealed again. The Kin have an interest in the ruins, and soon the fairy Grace and the Nephilim leader Mallian are also drawn to them. The infection has risen from beneath silent waters, and this forgotten town becomes the focus of the looming battle between humankind and the Kin.
REVIEW: THE EDGE BY TIM LEBBON
Tim Lebbon's The Edge is the third and final novel in the Relics trilogy. It concludes the trilogy in an excellent way, because the author delivers a strong and exceptionally thrilling ending, in which all the plot threads come together in a satisfying way.
Now that I've read Relics, The Folded Land and The Edge, I can say that the Relics trilogy surpasses many urban fantasy series, because the author avoids easy solutions and writes fluently about the various characters that range from humans to supernatural beings knows as the Kin. To be honest, this trilogy is perhaps the best urban fantasy series I've ever read, because it's different, original and highly enjoyable. It's urban fantasy at its best and most captivating.
What makes The Edge compelling is that it has the complexity of literary novels and the atmosphere of urban dark fantasy and horror novels. It's a unique and entertaining fusion of many elements with a strong touch of brutality and rawness. This novel is - in terms of storytelling - a bit more straightforward and thriller-like than Relics and The Folded Land, because it's the culmination of a vast story arc, but it's very impressive and entertaining, because the author does an excellent job at bringing things to an end.
Here's a short recap of the happenings in the previous novels:
Relics introduces readers to a world where supernatural and mythological creatures known as the Kin exist and keep themselves hidden from humans. Although the Kin have stayed hidden, there are shady dealers who trade in their remnants and pay a lot of money to get them. Some of the Kin don't want to stay hidden anymore and are thinking of aggressively revealing themselves to humans. This event is called Ascent and the mastermind behind it is Mallian, the Nephilim. When Angela and Vince find themselves in the middle of these events, their lives change in a drastic way and nothing stays the same. The story continues in The Folded Land. In this novel, things gradually become even more complex and fascinating, because Angela has become a fugitive and has found out that the Kin can be found everywhere. Angela searches for her niece, Sammi, who is being led towards the Folded Land by the fairy Grace whom Angela and Vince helped to save in London.
The Edge begins with the flooding of the town of Longford. Bone, a young boy, escapes from Longford, avoids soldiers and witnesses how his hometown is turned into a reservoir. Then the story skips ahead forty years... Angela Gough is still on the run after what happened in London and is looking after her niece, Sammi. She has noticed strange things about Sammi, and she misses Vince, who is trapped inside the Fold, which is a pocket universe created by the ancient fairy Grace to be her eternal home. When Lilou visits Angela, she asks Angela and Sammi to come to Massachusetts with her. Lilou wants to go to Longford, because the remains of the town have been revealed due to a dam being ruptured. She lost an old friend there when the disaster happened. Meanwhile, Vince and Mallian are trapped inside the Fold. Mallian has not given up on his dream of Ascent and is making plans...
These events pave the way for an action-packed and memorable endgame which brings things to closure.
The characterisation in this novel is just as good as in the previous instalments and the author quickly recaps what has happened to the characters. The characters feel achingly realistic as if they were real persons. Both the human characters and the characters who are Kin are well-created and fascinating.
Here are a few words about some of the characters:
- Angela and Vince are still as intriguing as before. Angela is still on the run from the authorities who are looking for her because of her supposed part in the massacre in London. She knows that her situation is anything but easy and everything has changed. Vince is trying to escape from the Fold, but has not yet found a way to escape. His only companion is Mallian, the Nephilim, who doesn't care much about humans.
- Sammi is an especially interesting character. She used to be a normal girl before being hit by the fairy's lightning, but now she is changing into something else. The change frightens her, because what is happening to her draws her away from her old life, but she is also excited about becoming something more.
- Lilou is a nymph who can use her powers to seduce others. She has befriended Angela and Sammi and occasionally visits them. She wants to visit the town of Longford, because she once knew someone there.
- Bone is an interesting addition to the cast of characters, because he's a fascinating character. He is half-human and protects the Kin from those who seek to harm them.
- It was great to read again about the ancient fairy Grace and her deeds, because she has her own ambitions and needs that don't align with the needs of humans. In this novel, she is not entirely happy with her new home, because it is not what she intended it to be. There are things that weigh on her mind and she wants to find herself a fairy companion.
- Mallian the Nephilim has been captured by Grace, but he is not as helpless as one might think and has not given up. I enjoyed reading about Mallian, because the author reveals how mad his schemes are and how far he is willing to go in order to achieve his goal.
One of the best things about this novel is that not every character has a happy ending. I find this refreshing, because I'm fed up with forced happy endings (the story has a touch of bittersweetness to it that is lacking from many other urban fantasy stories). It's great that Tim Lebbon stays true to the story and its requirements, because it results in a fresh story that stays with the reader.
I was impressed by the author's depiction of how much destruction and harm humans have caused to the Kin. He fluently tells of how humans destroy things which they can't control and don't understand. I also enjoyed reading about how the author writes about what the Kin want and how they deal with humans, because many of them have lived in the shadows for a long time.
I like the author's writing style and prose. His way of writing about the events and the characters feels fresh and exciting.
I found the ending enjoyable and totally satisfying, because the author leaves no loose ends. I can mention that the endgame is worth waiting for, because it is action-packed and fast-paced in the best possible way. What happens in Longford is memorable in its madness and rawness.
If you love urban fantasy and enjoy gritty stories, you should immediately read Tim Lebbon's The Edge, because it will impress you. This novel belongs to the bookshelf of everybody who's a devoted fan of urban fantasy. Even if you're not an urban fantasy reader and don't normally read fantasy fiction, you should read this novel, because it's excellent.
Highly recommended!