Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel Published by Del Rey on April 26th 2016
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover, Audiobook, Kindle Edition
Source: Library, Publisher
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Rating:
I received this book for free from Library, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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?
An inventive debut in the tradition of World War Z and The Martian, told in interviews, journal entries, transcripts, and news articles, Sleeping Giants is a thriller fueled by a quest for truth—and a fight for control of earthshaking power.
I think this is one of those books I have a hard time reviewing. I got the book from the library, saw the format and went to look for an audiobook. Despite the fact that it took me a very long time to finish the audiobook, I was absolutely right in picking it up. The audiobook, was amazing. If you like audiobooks with multiple narratives and a story that listens and feels like an old radio show, this was fantastic for that. I thought the actors in this audiobook did a great job with it and I was never really bored.
The format of the book itself is done in interviews. The basis of the story is about a giant hand that get’s found by a little girl named Rose, who falls through the Earth and lands onto its palm. She then grows up and basically dedicates her entire life on this project trying to figure out where the hand came from and is put in charge of putting this thing together as they uncover more pieces around the world.
I thought this was so interesting. I know a lot of people have an issue with the fact that the book is done as an interview so they felt like the book lacked something. I personally had a lot of fun with this and I felt like I was listening to these people tell a real story of their experience and the actors did a great job with portraying emotions through it. It felt personal and kind of real.
The book has a lot going for it. It’s a science fiction, but it almost doesn’t read like it. A lot of this book focuses on finding this giant robot and the political effects of it, since the robot is found in places outside of the USA. So there’s government conspiracy, political power struggle, and the possibility of a giant alien robot and who might have made this and why is it being uncovered now.
I found it interesting, exciting, I liked the format, it was super easy to get into and it’s one of those science fiction books that does not deal with a lot of science fiction jargon I guess, so it wasn’t hard to follow. The characters because of the interview style really grew on me and for that I will be continuing the next book in audio format as well.
This is the first book I completed in audiobook, but I did follow along with a physical book as well a lot of times to keep my mind from drifting. Also, if I missed something it was just easier to reread it in the book. I don’t typically like audiobooks, but I found that I just really liked this one, especially with the multiple narratives.
I like the ones where the jargong is not too heavy
Oh neat! I’d heard of this series and saw good reviews, but I didn’t realize it was told in interview format. I love another series that does that. Cool mystery about the alien robot pieces, too. Glad the audio worked out well for it.
I’ve never read a book that is done as an interview. Sounds unique for me. Awesome review, Lily. Glad to hear you enjoyed this book. 😁👍🏻
The plot itself doesn’t appeal to me but the interview format does make a difference. Makes the story less fanciful and easier to suspend disbelief. I bet the accounts are awesome
I love this book. I hope you’ll love Waking Gods. I read it last week and it was awesome.
I enjoyed this book. I bet the audio for it would be amazing. I may have to think about grabbing that if I ever decide to do a re-read. I hope to read Waking Gods soon. Great review!
I like the format too, but kind of wish I would’ve listened to the audio of both books. I listened to a sample and it sounds great.
I’m not into audiobooks, but I’d probably pick the printed copy because this book sounds quite interesting!
You have me curious is about this. The more you listen to audio the more your brain relearns and listening becomes easier.
I don’t generally like audiobooks either, but it does sound like the interview style is something that’d work really well in audio format! Glad you ended up liking this one so much, it sounds interesting!