Sleeping Giants

By: Sylvain Neuvel

Narrated by: full cast

Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

An inventive debut in the tradition of World War Z and The Martian, told in interviews, journal entries, transcripts, and news articles, Sleeping Giants is a literary thriller fueled by a quest for truth - and a fight for control of earthshaking power.

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved - its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top-secret team to crack the hand's code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of relic. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history's most perplexing discovery - and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

©2016 Sylvain Neuvel (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"This stellar debut novel...masterfully blends together elements of sci-fi, political thriller and apocalyptic fiction...." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Interesting concept, but falls at the first hurdle

The concept is certainly interesting, but the story fails to engage.
The most interesting character is the nameless man controlling things, but this doesn't quite work as he is too "nameless", and his position within the overall story is not well defined. Given that, I do like the way his dialogue is written; eschewing language contractions gave his speech a strange, formal air that appeals to me.
The other characters tend to be sketched too lightly to really engage with, with the result that they sometimes come off as whiney more that anything else.
I guess they may develop in subsequent books (the cliffhanger is a bit heavy-handed for my liking), and, if so, then the author needs to work on this.
Finally, an important plot point about two thirds of the way through the book was so ridiculous as to annoy me for the remainder.
As others have said, this both feels too long for the story presented, and not long enough as the characters need more development.

must read? (listen)

Loved the voice actors very fitting for each character. The book itself kept me intrigued, the ending left me wanting more.

Incredible!!!

This was the science fiction first book I’ve read that held my attention from the first page... I so glad I went in blind... and the epilogue was the cherry on the sundae. 5-stars & worth the credit.

Excellent!!!

This book was awesome! Wow, I mean I might have to listen to it again, not kidding! Sharp writing, it gets you and you’ll be hitting rewind when you blink! The narrators (full cast?) were just icing, all terrific, not a bad one in the bunch! I am getting book two NOW! Spend the credit!

Hmmm...

I just finished this book. The entire book is dialogue. At first I was a little bit confused, like there was something I was missing (not in a plot way), but then I really Rd the entire book was
*****Minor spoiler alert*****


a dialogue/conversation. That doesn’t give much of the storyline away but it took me a little while to figure out why this book was throwing me off. Once I began to understand, I was far more intrigued by the writing exercise this was for the author-from a technical standpoint

As far as plot, this is the 3rd “meh” review I’ve left today:(. I’m usually an insatiable audible reader but I just didn’t feel like this was really going anywhere. I mean, there was a clearly storyline but there wasn’t any sort of great audience aspect given the plot. It may have been the full cast narration though. It might be a book that is better read than listened too. Def did not hate it. I was just wishing for...more.

A fascinating story

Although I found the performances at time overblown, the tale is riveting. I could not resist listening for hours as I worked in the yard, tended horses or drove to town. I have a few casted audio books in my "library" and feel like I am attending a play with my eyes closed when listening. This book was a true pleasure.

Good Beginning

I enjoyed the full cast format and the story as a whole. The fact that it was told through a series of interviews and journal logs was intrigueing. It made a story with a grand scope more personal, but limited to the views and opinions of the characters. Not easy to do. It allows the reader to fill in certain things happening outside the realm of the interviews at times. And for those who want to see epic battles like a summer blockbuster film may find the limited format less exciting than it could be. However, those who enjoy a more cerebral story should find it enjoyable. Looking forward to the next book in the series to see where things go from here.

Great performance by the male manager guy

I felt the story was a bit weak at times, and the characterization a bit lacking for many of the characters outside of just their voice acting (how did this work out as a book when the book wouldn't have had this voice cast to cover for the story's failings?), but the presentation as a series of transcripts and recordings was interesting.

Now forgive me for writing a love letter here, but the highest praise must be given to the unnamed manager character and his voice actor, and presumably the voice directing. The male manager guy was funny with his sarcasm and chilling with his command of power at the same time, making for a very interesting character even though I know so little about him. I am convinced that without him this would have fallen fairly flat, but his voice actor was top notch and really carried the story and sold the whole piece well. I actually texted someone about how I liked the character's monologues. Who says things like that?

loved it

great sci-fi I was hooked from the beginning the ending was really good a real cliff hanger

What a great read / listen!

What a fun and great book, really couldn’t put it down. My only complaint is it wasn’t longer but thankfully there’s more books in the series. Highly recommend.