JULY 2016 - AudioFile
Each performance is expertly crafted and distinct in this engrossing genre-crossing debut. The premise is pure sci-fi as a woman seeks to understand a bizarre artifact she inadvertently discovered as a child. Other literary elements also come to the fore as various scientists, army personnel, and witnesses provide interviews, reports, and other findings to an unspecified government agent, telling the story in a nonlinear fashion. The full cast makes the interview sections easy to follow and gives them a feeling of genuine spontaneity. With a sense of eavesdropping on real events, listeners will be encouraged to piece together the puzzle at the heart of this engaging novel. B.E.K. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
B&N Reads
4/11/2016
The jacket copy for Sleeping Giants hat tips both The Martian and World War Z. I can dig the comparison—Sylvain Neuvel's accomplished debut is likewise told through a series of diary excerpts and interviews that follow the action as events unfold—but that's an altogether bloodless way of looking at it. The comparison is apt in another very important way: like those films, Sleeping Giants is nothing less than a future summer blockbuster in book form. (And what do you know, Spider-Man screenwriter David Koepp is already attached.) Read More
Publishers Weekly
01/04/2016
This fascinating first novel is told mostly through conversations between an unnamed interviewer and the book’s other characters, along with newspaper articles, government memos, and various characters’ journal entries. When Dr. Rose Franklin was a little girl, she made a startling discovery in the woods near her home: the gigantic hand of a robot that appeared to be of alien manufacture. Now that she has grown up and become a prominent scientist, she has, perhaps by coincidence, been put in charge of secretly recovering other parts of the robot, which have apparently been hidden around the world for thousands of years, and returning the behemoth to working order. When the robot’s human pilots accidentally blow a hole in Denver, Colo., thus revealing the machine’s existence, other nations demand access and tensions mount. Neuvel develops several interesting characters, particularly Franklin and cranky pilot Kara Resnik. Even the anonymous interviewer, by turns enigmatic and supportive, holds the reader’s attention. Behind them looms the gigantic, inhuman figure of the robot. There are hints that it was placed on Earth to protect humankind, but from what? Far from being a clone of the Transformers, this intriguing tale is entirely worthy of an adult audience. (May)
From the Publisher
Reminiscent of The Martian and World War Z, Sleeping Giants is a luminous conspiracy yarn that shoots for (and lands among) the stars.”—Pierce Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Red Rising
“As high-concept as it is, Sleeping Giants is a thriller through and through. . . . Not only is Sleeping Giants one of the most promising series kickoffs in recent memory, it’s a smart demonstration of how science fiction can honor its traditions and reverse-engineer them at the same time.”—NPR
“[Sylvain] Neuvel weaves a complex tapestry with ancient machinery buried in the Earth, shadow governments, and geopolitical conflicts. But the most surprising thing about the book may just be how compelling the central characters are in the midst of these larger-than-life concepts. . . . I can’t stop thinking about it.”—Chicago Review of Books
“First-time novelist Sylvain Neuvel does a bold, splashy cannonball off the high dive with Sleeping Giants. It bursts at the seams with big ideas and the questions they spawn—How much human life is worth sacrificing in the pursuit of scientific progress? Can humanity be trusted with weapons of ultimate destruction? And the biggest: Are we alone? But all that really matters is that this book is a sheer blast from start to finish. I haven’t had this much fun reading in ages.”—Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter and the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy
“A remarkable debut . . . Reminiscent of Max Brooks’s World War Z, the story’s format effectively builds suspense.”—Library Journal (debut of the month)
“This stellar debut novel . . . masterfully blends together elements of sci-fi, political thriller and apocalyptic fiction. . . . A page-turner of the highest order.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“[A] fascinating first novel . . . This intriguing tale is entirely worthy of an adult audience.”—Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
★ 03/15/2016
An enormous hand glowing with strange symbols is found in South Dakota by young Rose Franklin, who years later becomes a scientist and heads the team studying the artifact. The hand is just the beginning as the researchers hunt for more pieces of what turns out to be an enormous alien robot-like construct. Through transcripts of interviews of those investigating the machine and a secretive man directing the work, we follow the discovery and assembly of the relic and the mystery of who left it and why. VERDICT Reminiscent of Max Brooks's World War Z, the story's format effectively builds suspense using debriefings and news articles after the fact. Great characters such as prickly pilot Kara Resnik keep the tale grounded, and readers gradually get a picture, complete with the anonymous interviewer as he pulls strings to keep the project afloat and world tensions under control. A remarkable debut.—MM
