Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neuvel

Sleeping Giants

By Sylvain Neuvel

  • Release Date: 2016-04-26
  • Genre: Adventure Sci-Fi
4 Score: 4 (From 858 Ratings)

Description

A page-turning debut in the tradition of Michael Crichton, World War Z, and The Martian, Sleeping Giants is a thriller fueled by an earthshaking mystery—and a fight to control a gargantuan power.
 
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?
 
Praise for Sleeping Giants

“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
 
“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

From the Hardcover edition.

Reviews

  • It’s…okay

    3
    By Anjin_nav
    This book is a fun read, but that’s about it. Characters, while wonderfully unique, are shallow—1.5 dimensional. The story reads rather like a trailer to a Marvel Universe movie; it’s big and bold, but doesn’t test the reader at all. There aren’t any reasons to think about the book when not reading it. If you just want a quick, fun read, read this. If you’re a Heinlein, Asimov, or Herbert fan, you may want to look elsewhere.
  • Great premise

    5
    By BQ41
    One of the very few books in recent memory that I could not stop reading until I was done. Very different writing style too, and I can’t wait for the sequel(s).
  • Sleeping Giants

    4
    By brassfield0401
    Beyond interesting.
  • Lazy writing style

    2
    By tc_sting
    Say you like it when you cannot maintain character development or are completely driven by obvious plot points— then this is the book and author for you. The writing is lazy. The characters are cliche. And the story itself is forgettable
  • Compelling Narrative — Hard to Put Down

    5
    By Mountain Viewer
    I’m not always a fan of the “collected artifacts” approach to story telling but the author pulls it off masterfully. Fascinating characters and the plot twists just keep coming. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
  • I really wanted to like this book, but…

    2
    By DavidP 4200
    At first the “interview with a mysterious, threatening, powerful maybe-government person” was interesting. But the format grew old for me. The interviews being the only dialog in the entire story grew stale.
  • A whole lot of fun

    5
    By Gus McCrae
    The Martian meets World War Z. Fun, creative, ingenious. It’s a clever story, cleverly told. The characters are all interesting, especially the unnamed interviewer. The plot and overall conceit are exciting.
  • It’s a book!

    4
    By Zombfunguy
    I have read hundreds of sci-fi books and I can say, with out a doubt, that this is one of them. It’s a book! Perhaps one of the better books about a dismembered robot left thousands of years ago by a technologically advanced civilization. Worth a go.
  • Get this book

    5
    By Lomonoji
    Read it in just a couple days, gripped me like no other book has in a long while.
  • If you’re deciding whether or not to read this based on reviews

    5
    By callmerayzer
    Here is your sign...do it. Wow! Just finished the trilogy and I am blown away. A little preface, for a long time I’ve wanted to make reading not only a habit but also a hobby. This journey started off with books of a similar genre including Small Gods, Paradox Bound, and several others that I started and never finished. Regardless, those books were enticing enough to pick it up a couple times a week to start developing a habit of reading. This trilogy morphed reading from a habit into a hobby. From the very first page of Sleeping Giants to the last word of Only Human, I was hooked. He combines several of my interests (mechanical engineering, linguistics, SciFi, robotics, biology, social engineering, crime, love, the list goes on) into an incredibly digestible conglomerate. In addition to the incredible development of the world and characters, several puzzle pieces are thrown out along the way to allow your mind to completely dissolve into the Themiverse. I hope there’s more to come, but I am completely satisfied if there isn’t.

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