Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

[Michelle]

I was in a position to buy a couple of signed books from Goldsborough Books, and for a few reasons, this one caught my eye. It's a gorgeous book, and this is a limited special edition. 

 

 

 

I do have some disappointments, but overall, it's ended up intriguing me, and I'm so frustrated I have to wait for the next book! It's a difficult book to explain, and it's style won't suit everyone. It's mainly written as a series of interviews, between the characters involved, and an unknown, obviously very secretive and powerful, interviewer. There are also a few personal entries and reports included.

 

To be honest, this was one of the main reasons for choosing the book, as I've loved books with similar ideas (Illuminae is marketed as YA, but I wouldn't limit it as that, and the format works unbelievably well) but I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more variety.. I wanted a break from the interviews, and think other formats may have given an even deeper insight into the characters.

 

Saying that, despite the format of an interview, which you would expect to not give much away, the author does manage to bring out the characters well. I particularly liked Kara, and I think she's the one I would have liked even more insight into.

 

The story itself starts with the discovery of a giant metal hand.. it's made of rare alloys, and yet doesn't weigh as much as it should, and it's dated as being there before civilisation. From here there is the search for further body parts, and the obvious questions of what does it do, where did it come from, and what will humanity do with it.

 

Although an intriguing book on it's own, it feels as if it's simply setting up for a far bigger story.. and combined with a fascinating twist at the end, this is where my frustration for the next book comes from. 

 

The format of interviews does mean that this is actually a shorter story than if it was straightforward prose, which was another slight disappointment. I'm going to upset the publisher and author here and say this may be one for the cheaper paperback.. although the hardback is lovely! I also read a review of the audio version which says that the format works really well as audio, so that's another option.

 

I think this is the first time this year I've attempted any sort of review, so it must have had an impact on me. Hurry up book two - there's so much potential here!

[Nollaig]

I've been dying to read this since I spotted it on Goodreads a few months ago! Sounds really interesting. Didn't realise it was out, will have to grab a copy!

[Sakura]

Yes, it's a pretty georgeous book. Pictures don't do it credit, it's very sparkly.

 

It's one of the best modern sci-fi book I red. I feared the interview format might be very dry and distant, but it actually flows very well.

I loved that the interviewer himself becomes an integral part of the story instead of being just the narrator.

The interviews work quite nicely to create suspense and I liked how the focus would easily switch beween the personal lives of the crew members to the global scale and back without ever feeling wrong. The big scope is as necessary and interessing as the small, I liked that.

Also, there where a lot of themes that I'm fond of like the moral of science and how science if influenced by politics, the responsibility of the individual vs. the group. And not a moral pointing finger in sight.

 

I agree that there could have been a bit more variety. I liked the transcript of the satilite video and the telefone parts worked well too. It would have been nice to include a little more of that.

[Nollaig]

I've started reading it and so far I'm intrigued! 

[bobblybear]

This sounds interesting! But I'm not sure I will get on with the interview format as World War Z was similar, and I didn't like that. My local library has a copy, so I've added it to my library wishlist.

[Michelle]

That's a good idea to get from the library. If it helps, I soon gave up on World War Z, but this is incredibly 'readable'. 

[Nollaig]

I really liked Sleeping Giants, but I definitely had issues with it. The interview format didn't agree with me. I didn't like being so far removed from what were really interesting events. The politics also left me cold, I really don't care about politics at all. And there was one event, that I thought was utterly unbelievable, and done only to facilitate a fundamental progression in the main plot - even if that progression was seriously badass.

 

I am however going to read the next book because I really want to know what happens!

[Michelle]

We seem to have similar feelings over this one Noll.. good concept, maybe not presented in the best way, but an intriguing ending which means needing to read the next book!

[Nollaig]

Yup, that about sums it up!