Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1)

by Sylvain Neuvel

[inlibrisveritas]

4.5 Stars

Sleeping Giants is an epistolary novel that focuses on the mysterious discovery of large metal body parts hidden all over the world and the team assembled to uncover it’s secrets. This is the book that started my work time audio binges, and now I can barely focus without a good book to listen to.

I didn’t know a lot about this novel going into it, and I definitely didn’t realize it was an epistolary novel or I might have grabbed the actual print copy first, however I’m actually glad I didn’t because it turned out to be such an addicting listen that I blazed through it in a single day. For those that don’t know an epistolary novel is written as a series of documents like emails or security write-ups on video footage, and I think that the format really worked well for this story. It really adds to the suspense because it limits the amount of information you receive, and really works the time periods between each entry to its advantage. To top it off it is told from the point of view of a narrator that remains unnamed and has a very important role to play despite not offering any information on who he is or how he has been positioned in the place of power that he has. As the narrator learns more, so do we…and by the end of the book, there are so many bombshells that it left me reeling.

The story itself is a ton of fun as well, I mean who doesn’t like the idea of finding a giant mysterious object that might be from a civilization lost to time or completely alien? The plot is full of surprising little twists that turn a expect discovery into something that asks ‘just how far are we willing to go?’. We have a handful of characters (who are named) that play a variety of roles.My favorite though is Kara Resnik. She’s brash and bold and becomes the programs unassigned protector. She is fully on board with going as far as she needs to, to see the project complete but she doesn’t ask that anyone else do the same. I love how unapologetic she is even though it sometimes gets her into trouble.

Sleeping giants is definitely a contender for my favorite sci-fi book this year! I found it to be one of the most addicting audiobooks I’ve ever listened to, and with all of its twists and turns, I have no idea where the second book will truly lead which is rather exciting!