Review: Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Young Rose was riding her bike in the last few minutes of daylight, when she suddenly plummets into the earth.  When she is rescued by fireman, they are stunned at what they see: Rose has fallen into a square hole, lined with intricate designs. Most perplexing: they find Rose laying in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the source of the object is still unknown.  Everyone has studied this artifact, including scientists, architects and even the military, but all theories are quickly dispelled.  Rose is now a renowned physicist, leading a covert team to unleash the mysteries of the hand's code.  As they find more pieces, they are yet uncertain as to its purpose. Is it a large weapon of mass destruction? A relic of an alien visit centuries ago, meant to be discovered when our humanity was capable of understanding its purpose?

Rose, along with other members of her team, are interviewed by an interrogator willing to risk everything to unlock (and release?) the power of this object.  Rose soon realizes that she, and her team, are involved in something completely amazing, history-making. Also, ultimately, deadly.

Giant alien girl robot? I’m sold. From the very beginning, I was instantly captivating by this title’s premise. Of course, I’m also on this “end of the world, doomsday” reading kick, so that certainly helped as well.

Told in alternating formats, including interviews and journal entries, sure, this does remind one of World War Z as the marketing content suggests. Yet that is where the comparison ends.

This incredibly engaging read has the most unique of premises: parts of a giant robot have been left at various sites around the world.  Were they left by alien beings as a way to protect ourselves against invasion…or one another? There are so many unknowns, but instead of frustrating the reader, this compels them to move on with the story.

Additionally, the depth this unknown interrogator will go to in order to achieve knowledge and information about this robot relic are incredibly terrifying. Chills ran down my spin, unable to grasp what I was reading.  Yet, understanding that there are so many covert/underground government and private agencies studying….who knows what, it’s completely plausible.

Neuvel does an outstanding job at developing his characters.  Realizing that this is the first in a new series, this is quite important. Hopefully this means the next volume will launch right into more of an explanation of the robot’s origins.  Yes, I did say this was the first in a new series. I’m aching to read the next one, hoping that this has a future as a movie, for it is outstanding. My plan is to follow up with the audio of this title.  I’m certain there are key things that I missed my first read, for I read it without abandon or control. It’s that captivating a book. The moment you set it down, you want to pick it back up again. Highly, highly recommended.