Sleeping Giants cover art

Sleeping Giants

Themis Files, Book 1

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Sleeping Giants

By: Sylvain Neuvel
Narrated by: Andy Secombe, Christopher Ragland, Charlie Anson, Laurel Lefkow, Eric Meyers, Liza Ross
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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. Read by William Hope, Christopher Ragland, Andy Secombe, Charlie Anson, Eric Meyers, Laurel Lefkow, Liza Ross, William Hope, Adna Sablyich and Katharine Mangold.

Deadwood, USA. A girl sneaks out just before dark to ride her new bike. Suddenly the ground disappears beneath her. Waking up at the bottom of a deep pit, she sees an emergency rescue team above her. The people looking down see something far stranger....

We always look forward. We never look back.

That girl grows up to be Dr. Rose Franklin, a brilliant scientist and the leading world expert on what she discovered. An enormous, ornate hand made of an exceptionally rare metal which predates all human civilisation on the continent.

But this thing...it's different. It challenges us. It rewrites history.

An object whose origins and purpose are perhaps the greatest mystery humanity has ever faced. Solving the secret of where it came from - and how many more parts may be out there - could change life as we know it.

It dares us to question what we know about ourselves.

But what if we were meant to find it? And what happens when this vast, global puzzle is complete?

About everything.

©2016 Sylvain Neuvel (P)2016 Penguin Audio Adventure Fantasy Fiction First Contact Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Space Exploration Superhero Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Time Travel Paranormal Interstellar

Editorial reviews

"Reminiscent of The Martian and World War Z, this is a luminous conspiracy yarn that shoots for (and lands among) the stars." (Pierce Brown, author of Red Rising)
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Interesting and well laid out sci-fi storyline I never felt drawn out but at times it seemed rushed. Having more than one narrator was a good change for me, it really fleshed out each character, especially in the beginning chapters.

One problem I had is probably one only a small percentage of listeners will encounter but while driving I had to keep the volume high to hear the narrators as they tend to mumble/speak quietly and all too frequently and loudly exaggerate a word or phrase to almost piercing volume which I never got used to. I've never had that problem with audiobooks so take that with a grain of salt.

8/10

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it was deep, engaging, unpredictable and fun. a excellent book, would recommend to anyone aye

8 hour cracker

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This book makes a great audio book, for many of the same reasons that World War Z did. Mostly because it is written in the form of transcripts of interviews and other recordings, all of which translates very well to audio. The full cast is amazing and they give a great sense of this cast of varied characters. It wasn’t perfect, there are some things that could have been done better, and there were a few little inconsistencies in the story itself, but this was definitely a book that made me not mind having.

I really loved the exploration of the political side of discovering alien artefacts on Earth. Who gets to claim them? How will other nations react to learning that the US has been invading their turf on the down-low and taking back pieces of alien tech? What will the President say? This was an overarching theme, but the impact of this discovery on the individual characters directly involved was also engaging. I loved Kara’s prickliness and Rose’s passion. I liked seeing how Vincent was an outsider but the others still cared for him. I even grew fond of the unnamed interviewer. Kara is correct when she tells him at the end that he is full of mush inside. He totally is.

I compared this book to World War Z above, and there are ways i think it improves on that audio book. In that one, Max Brooks played the interviewer, but he also read out the parts that weren’t the other characters speaking. Where I imagine the book had “[laughs]”, he would read that out. In Sleeping Giants, the actor actually laughs instead, which made it feel that bit more authentic. But there were still scenes where something was clearly going down in the background and all we could hear was the person narrating the events. I know this is an audio book and not a radio play, but that did lessen the effect a bit for me.

Still, I had the second one out from the library before I had even finished this one because I knew I would want to continue. This is a series unlike anything I’ve come across before and I’m eager to continue.

Really entertaining

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I loved this. The ongoing reports of a scientific project constructing a giant, humanoid robot apparently left on earth by aliens. The narrative is structured into reports and interviews surrounding the project, performed magnificently by the cast. Covering a whole spectrum from aliens as mythic inspirations, complex human drama of a tight knit crew and international relations, this is definitely one of my most satisfying reads.

Clever, Cryptic and Creepy

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I was unprepared for the 'report' style of this story and that it is a sci-fi. Having said that, it's a complex and intelligent narrative. I think it would make a great movie too. I will be interested in read book 2. If you're interested in whether we are alone in the universe, I think this story will intrigue you too.

Intriguing SciFi

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Hooked from start to finish. Great twists and great writing style definitely will read the rest of the series

Gripping

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Was slow and took a while to get in it’s feet. I feel much more could have happened in the first segment.

Interesting but slow

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I really enjoyed the style of this book - both the writing and the performance. An interesting storyline told in the form of interviews with the key characters. I listened to it straight through so I suppose that’s a good thing! Would recommend it to a friend!

A surprise package

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I really enjoyed this book. I am a lover of science fiction which drew me to this book initially. Then I found out the ramifications of this power for the human race and the political aspect of the story. All of this in addition to the brilliant voice acting and excellent plot of the story made this a book I couldn't stop listening too. I looked forward to driving to and from work just to listen to it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, not just the sci-fi afficianados.

Highly entertaining

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Uniquely enthralling story accompanied by fantastic narration. For anyone interested in Sci-Fi or fantasy stories.

funny, captivating and a unique story

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