Book Review: Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1 of Themis Files
Publisher: Del Rey (April 26, 2016)
Length: 320 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
The concept behind Sleeping Giants is amazing. I also love epistolary novels. But all the same, I wavered for days after finishing this book, pondering how I should phrase my review. On the one hand, I had a fantastic time reading it, a fact made even more obvious by the fact that I devoured all 300-ish pages in a little more than a day. Still, for all its wonderful themes and ideas, the novel is inherently flawed in several ways, and as much as I admired the format, I also thought it greatly limited the story in what it wanted to accomplish.
To call its premise awesome and unique though, is a huge understatement. Say what you will about Sleeping Giants, but you can’t deny the insane amount of thought and imagination that went into it. The mystery presented by its opening chapter is irresistible by itself, beginning with something as innocuous as a young girl riding her new bike near the woods in her home town of Deadwood, South Dakota. One moment, Rose Franklin is having a great time pedaling through the forest, and the next, she’s falling into a large square hole in the ground that wasn’t there before. When the rescuers come to get her out, they peer down to see an incredible sight: little Rose, lying cupped in the palm of a giant hand made of a strange metal shot with glowing turquoise light.
Scientists and researchers are baffled by the discovery, which is dated to be thousands of years old—far older than it should be. Despite efforts to unlock its secrets, not much progress is made, and the hand is stored away, its mysteries shelved for the next seventeen years.
But now, interest is stirring again. Dr. Rose Franklin, the very same girl who “found” the hand all those years ago, has grown up and become a brilliant physicist. In a strange twist of fate, she is assigned as the lead scientist to direct a top secret team to try and once more study the giant artifact, with much greater resources and technology at her disposal. Overseeing this entire project is a nameless benefactor with seemingly bottomless pockets and friends in high places. Almost the entire story is told through interviews with this mysterious man as he collects progress reports from Dr. Franklin and her colleagues, even though it’s clear he already knows a lot more than he’s letting on.
For those who go into Sleeping Giants without knowing about the format, the experience can be decidedly jarring. It was distracting even for me, and I knew full well beforehand that the entire book was going to be made up of interview transcripts, journal entries, and other documents. Part of this is due to my high expectations for this type of novel; I’ve read a lot of them in the last few years and I realize it’s a format that’s hard to pull off, but when it works, it can really enhance the atmosphere and impact of a story. There are many challenges of course, and out of all the epistolary-style books I’ve read, only a few have come close to overcoming them. Mainly, I think this format creates a huge distancing effect between the reader and the people in the story. Because you can only hear what they say and not know their thoughts and feelings, you sacrifice a lot of the intimacy and personal connection with the main characters. In Sleeping Giants, I found this to be the main issue, because I simply did not feel emotionally invested enough in our mystery interrogator, Dr. Rose Franklin, Kara, Ryan, Vincent, or any of the other major players to care all that much about their ultimate fates.
The second issue relates to how much information a story needs to convey. The interview format is not very well suited to this, especially when a lot of description (and scientific detail) is involved. You end up with characters going on huge monologues loaded with scientific jargon, making the book’s conversations feel forced and unnatural, which to me is kind of defeating the point of the interview structure in the first place. The info dumping is even more awkward when it’s in the form of an oral report or diary entry, so what you have essentially is a character going, “I’m doing this, now I’m doing that, and okay, now I’m going to shoot these three bad guys in the face…oh, how I wish you could see all this!” Despite attempts to make the dialogue sound more organic, some of the action sequences read more like a farce, killing any kind of mood intended.
Still, I don’t want to make it sound like I didn’t enjoy this novel, because I did. I loved the story, despite my skepticism that this format was the best way to tell it. The main plotline is engaging and addictive, and the term “unputdownable” comes to mind. The first half of the book, with its mysteries and puzzles, was the hook that sucked me in. The second half, where we start to get into the meat of the story, is a lot more complex and suspenseful, exploring the ramifications of Dr. Franklin’s discovery as well as its impact on global politics and humanity’s place in the universe. Just think of the significant ways something like this can change our world and affect everything else we do in the future. Pardon the pun, but…this is big.
So, should you read Sleeping Giants? Well, if its premise sounds awesome to you, then yes, for all that is good and holy, yes, yes, YES. If unconventional styles of storytelling aren’t your bag though, you might want to be approach this one with caution. I personally find the interview/oral diary format restricting for THIS particular story, though I also admit to being a reader with finicky tastes when it comes to epistolary novels. If you love a great tale though, and don’t care what shape or form it takes, then I would recommend this one heartily. Sylvain Neuvel’s imaginative debut has captured my full attention, and I’m excited to see what the sequel will bring.
The BiblioSanctum 
Ok now I’m very curious to read this…I love this format, at least I would say it mostly works for me. But I know what you mean about not really getting to know the characters, it can be hit or miss. Reading this very soon!
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I hope it works for you! It probably will, I’m just picky about my characters 🙂
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This sounds really different and well I just love books like that! The unique formatting appeals to me as well. I am a bit concerned about not really getting to know the characters, but if the story itself manages to win me over, it might still work for me. Thanks for bringing this one to my attention Mogsy^^
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I know you enjoyed Illuminae so I think you’ll feel right at home with the format! Though I have to say, Illuminae did a really good job letting the reader into the heads of the characters, this book not so much 🙂
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I think this will be one of those library reads. I’m not sure about purchasing it, in case I don’t like it. Which is bound to happen with a book written in this style. Great review!
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Yeah, the format can be hit or miss! Even speaking for myself, as someone who loves this style, I admit some books just don’t work.
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Before reading “Illuminae” I would never have thought I would appreciate a story told in this format, but that book totally changed my outlook. That said, from your review it would seem that here the author failed in the task that the writers of “Illuminae” fulfilled so admirably, which is to get the readers invested in the characters’ journey. Still, this story seems to be a fascinating one, and it might well be worth a try.
Thanks for sharing!
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I agree, Illuminae did characterization extremely well, considering the limitations of the format. The authors also used a lot of different types of documents though, including IM chat transcripts etc. that really gave us a good picture of the characters’ personalities. This book only used interviews (mostly) so there was that restriction.
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The format can work or not, I never know before I have tried it
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You should give it a shot then! You might like it 🙂
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I completely agree with everything here and yet I just found myself enjoying this. It definitely leaves you with a detached or cold feeling about the characters. Also, some of the dialogue comes across as definite info dumping. And yet I was strangely entertained.
I did have one thing that I was puzzled by but I won’t put it here because it would be a spoiler.
Lynn 😀
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Oh! Feel free to DM me and we can talk about it! I’m curious what it is that puzzled you now 🙂
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hmmm… I hate that I am a tad bit less excited for this one, but it does sound like it should still be good.
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Oh, don’t feel less excited! The story was still really interesting and fun – plus, it’s so easy to read, you’ll breeze through it real quick, I’m sure!
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I’ve been hearing a lot of buzzy interest about this book for a few months. It is a really fascinating premise and it’s good to know that it works well enough that the format doesn’t get in the way of it being awesome. I’ve like a few epistolary novels but agree it can be really tricky to get right. I don’t think it will stop me from picking this up. Nice review!
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Yep, “epistolary novel” is actually a buzz term where if I hear it I’ll pick up a book pretty much sight unseen. I really enjoy getting to see what authors do with the format, and that alone to me is worth it.
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The only book in this kind of format was Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente and it was the thing that I disliked the most with this book… However Sleeping Gaints has an amazing premise and it was in my list of my most anticipated releases of the year so I really want to give it a try!
Great review 🙂
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I haven’t read Radiance! But I really wanted to. Thank you so much for letting me know it’s in that format too, I had no idea! I’m doubly curious about it now 🙂
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You made this one sound interesting, but your warnings regarding the format continue to echo in my ear, because I’ve never really enjoyed this format. Probably take a “wait and see” approach to this one.
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Yeah, if you’ve never enjoyed this format, then this one might not be for you.
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Thanks for this review! I’ve been looking forward to Sleeping Giants coming out because the plot sounded so interesting. I didn’t, however, know about the format. I agree with Maryam that it sounds like Radiance (Have you read it? Is that a fair comparison?), which I felt mediocre about. I’m a little less excited knowing the format, but I’ll definitely give it a shot.
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No, I haven’t read Radiance, but like I told Maryam now I want to more than ever! I love the epistolary format, if nothing else because I enjoy seeing how authors use it to tell their stories. 🙂
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Now I’m really curious to read this. From your review it doesn’t sound to be at all like I was imagining but I’m intrigued. I’ll have to borrow this from my library.
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I’m glad to hear this review has helped others, especially those who were initially unaware of the format! I imagine it would quite a big surprise!
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