Review – Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel @neuvel @randomhouse

Posted September 4, 2017 by Carole in Book Reviews / 34 Comments

Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
Series: Themis Files #2
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine
Publication Date: April 4, 2017
Date Read: September 3, 2017
Length:  325 pages
Source: NetGalley
★★★★☆

In the gripping sequel to Sleeping Giants, which was hailed by Pierce Brown as “a luminous conspiracy yarn . . . reminiscent of The Martian and World War Z,” Sylvain Neuvel’s innovative series about human-alien contact takes another giant step forward.

As a child, Rose Franklin made an astonishing discovery: a giant metallic hand, buried deep within the earth. As an adult, she’s dedicated her brilliant scientific career to solving the mystery that began that fateful day: Why was a titanic robot of unknown origin buried in pieces around the world? Years of investigation have produced intriguing answers—and even more perplexing questions. But the truth is closer now than ever before when a second robot, more massive than the first, materializes and lashes out with deadly force.

Now humankind faces a nightmare invasion scenario made real, as more colossal machines touch down across the globe. But Rose and her team at the Earth Defense Corps refuse to surrender. They can turn the tide if they can unlock the last secrets of an advanced alien technology. The greatest weapon humanity wields is knowledge in a do-or-die battle to inherit the Earth . . . and maybe even the stars.

My Thoughts

I had so much fun reading this book!  I recently listened to the first book in this series so I was pretty eager to fit this book into my reading schedule.  It turned out to be one of those books that are almost impossible to put down.  Every time I would tell myself that I was just going to read one more chapter something would happen in the story and one more chapter just wouldn’t be enough.  I ended up reading the whole book in a single day and enjoyed every minute of it.

This book picks up ten years the events of the first book.  This is a series that really does need to be read in order since it really is a continuation of the same larger story.  Due to the nature of the series, there may be some spoilers for the first book in this review.  If you haven’t read the first book yet and plan to, I would recommend trying not to read anything about the later books in the series in order to avoid spoilers.

Things have been pretty calm for the Themis team since the events of the previous book.  That changes quickly when a second giant robot shows up in the middle of London.  It doesn’t really do anything at first but its presence alone seems threatening enough.  The world is at a loss as to what they should do about it and fear what the robot is planning.  Events get exciting really quickly and there may be more danger than they ever imagined.

All of the characters from the first book are back for this installment.  Since I recently listened to the audio of the first book, I had their voices in my head as I read through the journal entries, interviews, and reports.  I think that this really added to the enjoyment of the story for me.  Rose, Kara, and Vincent all have personal issues to deal with in this book in addition to the world events.  There are some new characters that make an appearance and add to the story as well.

I would recommend this series to others.  It is a really great mix of characters cast in an incredibly exciting story.  The book is told in such an interesting manner through journal entries, interviews, and documents.  I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book in this exciting series!

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine via NetGalley.

About the Author

SYLVAIN NEUVEL dropped out of high school at age fifteen. Along the way, he has been a journalist, worked in soil decontamination, sold ice cream in California, and peddled furniture across Canada. He received a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Chicago. He taught linguistics in India and worked as a software engineer in Montreal. He is also a certified translator though he wishes he were an astronaut. He likes to tinker, dabbles in robotics, and is somewhat obsessed with Halloween. He absolutely loves toys; his girlfriend would have him believe that he has too many, so he writes about aliens and giant robots as a blatant excuse to build action figures (for his son, of course).

Author Links: Website | Goodreads | Twitter

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34 responses to “Review – Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel @neuvel @randomhouse”

  8. Literary Feline

    I haven't yet read the first in the series, but am looking forward to doing so. I like it when a book is one you don't want to put down. That says a lot about your enjoyment of it. 🙂

  10. Greg

    Mmm I think I'll have to get this one. I didn't love the first one (loved the concept though) but your review has me convinced to give this one a try I think. And I do want to know where the story goes…

  14. Olivia's Catastrophe

    I am glad you were able to enjoy this sequel! I like the sound of it bringing back characters from the first installment and being so addictive you couldn't put it down. I have book one and can't wait to read it.

  16. Karen

    I am so happy to see you are enjoying this series! I am really loving how much bigger the story got with this book. Like not only is it global but also includes aliens out in space. I also liked that there wasn't a "safe" stopping point which made me read this book at a furious pace. I really can't wait to read what happens next! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

  17. Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight

    I can def see why finding two giant robots would be worrisome to people lol. I'm really glad you enjoyed this one too though! And that's great that the audiobook helped you so much with imagining things and getting more into the story.