Sleeping Giants

This is like an epistolary novel but instead of letters it's told in interviews and phone calls. I was able to get used to it enough to enjoy the story. The book has what it needs for a global-scale intrigue, some action, some politics, a bunch of tech.

I was looking for another series to start, and this one will do.

I really enjoy the style in which this book is written, but find myself pretty miffed by the anti-Semitic sentiment.

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Almost at the end of the book, a Jewish man contacts our nameless interviewer. He's apparently the child of a human and this higher race... a la David Icke's reptoids. :/

Interesting! I feel like everything about this book was.. good. The story is fine, nothing incredibly unique or interesting, but good enough to hold my attention. The characters are fine, though I don't think they are written in a way that is distinct enough from one another. More specifically, the book is about 90% interview format with each character responding to the same person. The characters are distinct in their actions, but not so much in their dialogue. The format is unique, but it took some getting used to. This hardly feels like the first installment of a trilogy, rather it is just the first third of a larger book. I don't have any strong opinions on that, but I think I would have rather it had more of a stand-alone story. It left me intrigued enough that I'll likely pick up the next two.

It took a while to get used to the narrative rhythm of this book, but I was generally pleased with the work and I've already got the second book in the series.

ОЧБР, but a surpisingly satisfying read, especially despite the "interviews collection" format.

So there's this giant hand in the woods, made of a metal alloy that violates the known laws of physics...

And it just gets more mysterious from there.

Sleeping Giants is told through Interview Transcripts. It was an interesting read, and I did like how the story unfolded through interviews with a mysterious unnamed person. However, I felt that for me, this format didn't really let me get to know the characters as well as I might have if the story was told through a normal narrative. It also seemed a bit rushed towards the end where a lot of things were revealed in just a few interviews.

There are two ways to look at the quality of this book: standing on its own and as part of a larger whole. Far beyond whether you enjoy the books that the publishers liken it to – World War Z, the Martian, etc. – I think that the perspective you choose will ultimately decide whether you enjoy Sleeping Giants or not.

On its own, Sleeping Giants is a 3 or 3.5 star book. It's premise is fascinating, but the surface is barely scratched. Its interview-style format is engaging, but doesn't quite carry the backward-facing, "what was it all for?" gravitas and confusion that World War Z employed so beautifully (while using the same style). It's dialogue and characters are interesting and feel real (for the most part), but they don't carry the blend of intelligence, wit, and sarcasm that made The Martian's Mark Watney so appealing. Viewed in this light, Sleeping Giants is creative enough to be noticed and fresh enough to avoid feeling derivative, but ultimately comes across like a "half effort" that never quite finds its footing.

However, when viewed as part of a larger whole (read: when understood that it is intended to be part of a series), Sleeping Giants is easier to swallow. The idea that this book serves as a premise to a larger story is intriguing enough to continue on.

I read this book in two or three stints putting it down numerous times for easier to read books, however every so often circling back round to investigate it further.

The writing style is a series of interviews or phone calls with different people. The person who is interviewing or being phoned is... a strange almost unlikable character, who has a bit deus ex about them. This can make it feel like it's going to be a predictable story, I promise you that it is not.

The rest of the host of characters are likeable and well created, they have their flaws, and their development, and I certainly grew to care a lot about them.

This isn't really an action book, it's sort of a book of curiosity. The curiosity about finding out more is what drives you on. For me this is a 4* book because I couldn't do it on one stint, and unlink other books I couldn't do in one stint it didn't quite have the strange majesty that, for example, [b:The Night Circus|9361589|The Night Circus|Erin Morgenstern|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387124618s/9361589.jpg|14245059], or [b:Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell|14201|Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell|Susanna Clarke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1357027589s/14201.jpg|3921305] has. Having said that I'll be reading the next one in the series.

Meh. Didn't like the story being told as a series of 1-2 page interviews. Don't think the author ever adequately explained why an advanced alien civilization would have a 20 story robot as a weapon. Doesn't pass suspension of disbelief.

Great audio cast. A lot of this seems like setup but that's fine with me, I'll read the next one. Enjoyable.