Relics – Pip Vaughan-Hughes
Hachette Livre Orion, 2007
276 pages
RRP: AU$22.95
ISBN: 978-0-7528-8124-9

Reviewed by Cat Sparks

“Every drunk is a magician,” states the opening line of this novel and in the case of Relics by Pip Vaughan-Hughes, the magic is all in the prose. The setting of this story is familiar enough to regular readers of fantasy. We begin with a tavern, drunken friends, the lure of gold coins, and a mysterious stranger. Novice monk Brother Petroc (Patch to his friends) is framed for the murder of a deacon by a sinister Templar Knight. He is forced to flee across rough country with his best friend, Will, at his side and a creepy relic, the hand of Saint Euphemia, stuffed inside his shirt. But Sir Hugh de Kervezey, the murdering Templar, is hot on their trail. When Will is slain, a terrified Petroc stumbles onwards, running first to his old Abbey, and then onwards again as he learns that his safe old life has been destroyed forever. Only one man can help him now, a Frenchman who collects precious curios and sails on a ship called the Cormaran.

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