Sylvain Neuvel: Only Human (2018, Penguin Books, Limited)
352 pages
English language
Published Jan. 23, 2018 by Penguin Books, Limited.
"World War Z meets The Martian in the explosive follow-up to Sleeping Giants ("One of the most promising series kickoffs in recent memory"--NPR) and Waking Gods ("Pure, unadulterated literary escapism"--Kirkus Reviews). In her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. As an adult, Dr. Rose Franklin led the team that uncovered the rest of the body parts which together form Themis: a powerful robot of mysterious alien origin. She, along with linguist Vincent, pilot Kara, and the unnamed Interviewer, protected the Earth from geopolitical conflict and alien invasion alike. Now, after nearly ten years on another world, Rose returns to find her old alliances forfeit and the planet in shambles. And she must pick up the pieces of the Earth Defense Corps as her own friends turn against each other"--
"In her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal …
"World War Z meets The Martian in the explosive follow-up to Sleeping Giants ("One of the most promising series kickoffs in recent memory"--NPR) and Waking Gods ("Pure, unadulterated literary escapism"--Kirkus Reviews). In her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. As an adult, Dr. Rose Franklin led the team that uncovered the rest of the body parts which together form Themis: a powerful robot of mysterious alien origin. She, along with linguist Vincent, pilot Kara, and the unnamed Interviewer, protected the Earth from geopolitical conflict and alien invasion alike. Now, after nearly ten years on another world, Rose returns to find her old alliances forfeit and the planet in shambles. And she must pick up the pieces of the Earth Defense Corps as her own friends turn against each other"--
"In her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. As an adult, Dr. Rose Franklin led the team that uncovered the rest of the body parts which together form Themis: a powerful robot of mysterious alien origin. She, along with linguist Vincent, pilot Kara, and the unnamed Interviewer, protected the Earth from geopolitical conflict and alien invasion alike. Now, after nearly ten years on another world, Rose returns to find her old alliances forfeit and the planet in shambles. And she must pick up the pieces of the Earth Defense Corps as her own friends turn against each other"--
Uwielbiam tak samo, jak resztę trylogii - za to co mówi o nas, za formę w jakiej została napisana, za kreacje innego świata, za poruszenie wielu ważnych tematów. Polecam.
Loved the trilogy over all. This last book was ok, but got a little boring at times without Kara around. Good ending though.
I was really looking forward to this one after the second really recaptured my attention, but it was disappointing. This one introduced kind of a parallel story storytelling approach, which I'd usually be all about, but the way that the book is written, it felt jarring and poorly paced. My number one gripe with the first book was how similar the characters were written, and this dialed that up to 11 to the point that it was distracting. Story was interesting enough, but not good enough to overlook some of my other issues with the book and the trilogy.
A nice cap to a series that I have enjoyed very much, even though parallels to our current situation were sometimes painful and extremely on-the-nose.
Small niggle: I wish her father had taught Eva some human swear words, the single alien one gets old really fast.
No tan bueno como la segunda parte, pero un buen cierre para la saga.
Dadle una oportunidad si podeis.
This was an interesting finish to the series. I won't spoil it, but the resolution wasn't the one book 2 led me to think I'd get. It was refreshingly... well, humble isn't the right word, but I can't think of a better one.
Audiobook: very well narrated with full cast EXCEPT for the voice of Eva which was so terrible it's unreal they let this happen. Being raised in Puerto Rico for ten years and then living on an alien planet for ten years does not equal a Rosie Perez accent. Ugh so infuriating.
That aside I found this a nice ending to the series. I would have liked a little more info about Esat Ekt and their culture though. Oh and I did not see that ending coming at all.
Thanks to Netgalley & Neuvel for the ability to screen this title.
I think I had a logarithmic star rating. over the course of the read: 4-3-4*
Themis file #3. What a trip we have been on. In the first novel, I had some issues with the total file construct. It was novel but it wore on me over time. The second book really had a good blend of elements and the balance of the world and it's ultimate showdown (if one could call it that) was well put together. With the third and perhaps final installment we are given the archetype of files/interviews but it reads far more normal than anecdotal files from vol1. Let that be worth what it is worth, I'm not terribly sure if it plays into or out of the overall flow from volume to volume.
Pros or cons first... Let's hit my …
Thanks to Netgalley & Neuvel for the ability to screen this title.
I think I had a logarithmic star rating. over the course of the read: 4-3-4*
Themis file #3. What a trip we have been on. In the first novel, I had some issues with the total file construct. It was novel but it wore on me over time. The second book really had a good blend of elements and the balance of the world and it's ultimate showdown (if one could call it that) was well put together. With the third and perhaps final installment we are given the archetype of files/interviews but it reads far more normal than anecdotal files from vol1. Let that be worth what it is worth, I'm not terribly sure if it plays into or out of the overall flow from volume to volume.
Pros or cons first... Let's hit my sticking points.
What this volume does produce is a deep interpersonal relationship building (or destroying) story. As we know I have issues with characters who do not grow properly and Vincent in the early parts of this book really drove me nuts. I'm a father and as such, I reflect what would I do in a lot of his situations. I won't spoil the off-world elements but I feel that if a near decade of time rolls by we all change far more than less--especially if we are on another planet. I didn't see him change but his reasoning was a fairly large plot element so either it had to be, or there was just not enough other plot elements in the imagination to drive the levers forward to the outcome Neuvel wanted.
My other sticking point is while they have this decade of development there just doesn't seem to be much of it. A scientist who can't learn a language, a linguist who barely gets a language, and again a near 10 years and I just don't feel anyone but Eva develops. Again maybe in some ways, this was necessary but it feels like such deeply lost opportunity that I find it really hard to relate.
Relationship and growth plot devices aside we have a lot of intelligence in here. The geopolitical climate of Earth in absence has turned south in a big way. Governments full of the power hungry and a scared population creates populism that we can almost extrapolate from our current day affairs. Vincent has this diatribe on patriotism I'll excise once the book is published that I read like 10x for it's dead on nature. This is where I know Neuvel has a really keen eye on how systems operate (which is why I get irked when we don't see it consistently.) Interpersonal discussions between teams within the robots showcase so much humanity and how fast we can slip down a slope we potentially won't recover from.
We are children and like children with big toys, we like to bang them together. What's mine is mine, what's yours is mine. Luckily we do have some intelligence, compassion, empathy, a bit of sympathy, and maybe with that, the world will find its way. I'm certainly not going to spoil it for you. The build-up and culmination of this chaortic moment in time play out very well. I couldn't have guessed it and am glad to see how everything resolved. Fun times!
As I pause to re-read--I ponder. This book could have realistically been split into two books. One would have been just off-world and then the followup on return. Or maybe just a few foreshadows of files interspersed. The more I reflect on what happens off-world and how shallow it plays out it could have had a dedicated moment there where it was deeper and more meaningful. Ah well. A boy with an imagination can dream.
Oh.. and I'll always have a sweet spot for Mr. Burns. I'd invite him to lunch any day of the week to hear one of his stories!
It's a quality conclusion to the series and there's a crack in the door to the universe which has a lot of room for exploration in the future. I like where Neuvel's mind wanders and since there are other projects in the works I look forward to where his mind travels next.
