Sleeping Giants
Themis Files #1
Author:
Sylvain Neuvel
Publisher:
Del Rey Books
US Release date:
April 26, 2016
Pages:
304
ISBN:
978-1101886694
also available as ebook
Genre:
Science-Fiction
Visit Del Rey Books
MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK
The book starts with a prologue in the first person narrative: on her eleventh birthday, Rose gets a bike as a gift. Loving nature and solitude, she tries it right away in the nearby forest. And something weird happens. Thus begins Sleeping Giants, it grabbed me right away!
Rose is found later, alive, at the bottom of a huge hole, the size of a house, with very shiny walls covered in intricate carvings. She’s actually lying on something that looks like a giant metal hand.
Then the rest of the book is mostly done with investigation files, in the form of questions and answers.
Right after the accident, the area was cordoned by authorities and Rose was invited to forget about the whole thing. But seventeen years later, Rose is a trained physicist, and with her team, she still wants to try to figure out what really happened to her that night.
I was first surprised by the unusual format of the book, but soon realized it really worked to build up the suspense, even if sometimes I had a hard time figuring out which was the interrogator and the interrogated. These Q&A sessions make the whole story very lively, as well as the relationships and tension that can exist between the different characters.
The book takes bigger and bigger proportions, and I can’t wait for volume 2 to really know what’s really going on there. Is this some type of huge human plot? Or a mega alien invasion preparation? For now, there’s already enough suspense to entertain you, as you gradually put together pieces of the puzzle with the scientists.
And who really is the interrogator, who is he working for?
I just hope we won’t have to wait until end of volume 3 of the trilogy to start getting answers.
A warning, if the book has been presented to you as comparable to The Martian, don’t fall for it, you would be disappointed. According to me, they are both quite good, but really, I don’t see the connection, neither in story, plot, nor writing style. Even the scientific details have absolutely nothing in common, both deal with two very different areas of science-fiction. And I’m glad they do, science-fiction is vast enough for all kinds of different sub-genres.
VERDICT: Very suspenseful science-fiction novel, with a unique writing style in the form of Q&A. And it works beautifully!
WHAT IS IT ABOUT
A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.
Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected.
But some can never stop searching for answers.
Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?
Pingback: 2016 New Release Challenge | Words And Peace
Pingback: 2016 New authors reading challenge | Words And Peace
I hadn’t heard of this, but the title in your blogpost first caught my attention. I love the title, and your review piqued my interest.
LikeLike
If you are into scifi, you definitely need to try it
LikeLike
Not one for me sorry – I’m too rooted in reality to enjoy sci fi
LikeLike
It’s interesting what authors can come up with, and the choice of writing was intriguing for me
LikeLike
Loved this! Can’t wait for the next book!
LikeLike
me too!
LikeLike
I have a copy of this one, but haven’t read it yet. It does sound really good. I am glad you enjoyed it!
LikeLike
you should definitely take it from your shelf. the sequel is supposed to come out on April 4
LikeLike
Pingback: The top 11 Books to read in April 2017 | Words And Peace
Pingback: Book review: Waking Gods | Words And Peace
I have never heard The Martian comparison, but I did really enjoy this as well:-)
LikeLike
When it came out, that’s how it was presented for marketing. False advertisement in my opinion
LikeLike