Sleeping Giants - Book Review

Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1)
by Sylvain Neuvel

What is it about:
A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square-shaped 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 - the object's origins, architects, and purpose unknown.

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 relic they seek. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unravelling history's most perplexing discovery-and finally figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

What did I think of it:
I saw the cover of the last book in this trilogy and it was so cool I immediately wanted to buy it. But it turned out to be the last book of a trilogy, so I was good and picked up the first book instead.

And this is a cool read.

I was surprised by the format. The story is told in interview style: one person is interviewing the people involved about what happened. Luckily it was very well done, and I liked the way the story developed this way. Even though some tension is gone, because you know that at least the person being interviewed is alive at that particular moment, some tension remains, because the interviews are not taking place after the end of the story, but during. So you know the person being interviewed came through the previous events unscathed, but the events after may change that.

There are several people being interviewed and working on uncovering the secrets of the giant metal hand. Some I really liked, others not so much. Still all viewpoints were interesting to read. I was soon totally engrossed in the mysteries and problems the team encounters. It's clear the project they're working on is leading them into unknown territory and might put them in danger. I had to find out what would happen.

All in all a really cool read that ends with some things resolved, but hints at lots more to come. You bet I'll be getting my trotters on the next book.

Why should you read it:
It's a very entertaining Near Future/SF read.


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