I really love a good science fiction story and this series has definitely fit the bill. The second book in the Themis series is a lot darker, but we finally learn more about the background of our characters. It definitely has stronger writing than the first novel. The story structure is unusual with the interviews and government documents but it works.

It was refreshing to see the author kill off two main characters in the book. While their presence in the narrative will be missed, it helped to advance the story. I am eager to see where the author will take the readers next.
I would recommend this novel for my more mature students.

Thank you for the advanced copy.

Sleeping Giants was one of my favorite books of 2016 so I was super excited to read Waking Gods. As with Giants, I was hooked from page one and found myself delaying bedtime in order to finish it. The format and structure of this duology, along with the author's writing style, is great. Telling the story through interviews, case files, log transcripts, and character pov's is unique and interesting and works quite well, in my opinion.

I have to say I was surprised by a lot of the events in Waking Gods. I'm not sure exactly where I expected the story to go after the first book but this wasn't it lol. The sheer number of deaths, especially the deaths of certain main characters, was definitely a shock.

The ending, including the reason for and solution to the impending apocalyptic doom, felt somewhat underwhelming after so much build up. The subplot involving Eva could have used a little more development as well.

Overall, I truly enjoyed Waking Gods and The Themis Files as a whole and I still think it would make a great movie! Sylvain Neuvel is a talented author and I'm looking forward to reading whatever he comes out with in the future. *Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!*

I have been waiting to read this 2nd book since I finished reading the 1st book, Sleeping Giants. I was blown away by both. I simply adore this series. Hopefully there will be a 3rd book.

Not sure what I can say as I am absolutely not a writer and fear my review will not do it justice. I will say this, the writing style works for me and the plot is amazing. This story is absolutely entertaining, immensely intriguing and at times, utterly devastating. My emotions are all over the place. I'm still in shock.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

4.5* Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, my very first one!

Having loved Sleeping Giants, I couldn’t resist trying to get my hand on the sequel. Second books are notoriously difficult, especially in a series, but I’m pleased to say that Neuvel has exceeded my expectations!

Waking Gods is quite a different book. The narrative is not focused on the search for parts any longer, or the socio-political ramifications of the existence and 'ownership' of Themis. No, this novel not only widens the horizon considerably but takes on a different perspective, which makes perfect sense, building from the events of the first novel. Nine years have passed in relative calm but everything comes to a halt when a new and bigger robot - friend or foe? - appears in central London.

Once more, the narration is presented through a variety of documents, mostly interviews and journal entries. The characters shine and I really enjoyed following them through the story but also in their personal growth. Kara, Rose and the 'Interviewer' still steal the show!

Finally, Neuvel impressed me with his courage in pushing his readers by his plot choices. He didn't go for the 'easy' way by offering more of the same but instead went for what is more realistic. I'll definitely read this again when it is published!

First off, if you haven't read Sleeping Giants and you don't want to be spoiled, STOP READING NOW, 'kay? Actually, there are spoilers for this book, too, so.

I really enjoyed Sleeping Giants - it felt fresh, I liked the style of interviews/documents, the pacing was steady and they mystery felt pretty taut. Needless to say, I was very much looking forward to its sequel, particularly with that cliffhanger ending!

Waking Gods is good. A lot of mysteries are wrapped up, we find out a little bit more about the robots and where they come from, Dr. Rose Franklin's return is discussed at length.

[SPOILERS START NOW]

The biggest caveat to not loving this book was the pacing and the feeling of...emotional distance, and the two are not unrelated. Even though some truly terrible things were happening throughout the books - millions of people dying, for instance - I weirdly didn't care? I mean, it was upsetting in theory. But like, no emotional response. No urgency, no OMG! WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT? I almost feel like the author tries to make an excuse for this with a conversation between Rose and the Interviewer - how you can never feel the magnitude of that many deaths fully - like, people don't typically feel 1 million times worse if 1 million people die compared to 1 person that they are close to. And that's probably true. But if the scary things the robots were doing were supposed to move the plot along and increase the feeling of urgency - it failed, for me anyway.

Like I said earlier, I really did enjoy the epistolary way that both books are written - but for some reason, in the second book the style created an emotional barrier that didn't feel there in the first book.

So many major character deaths and I just felt a little, womp womp. That's too bad. Not my normal reaction to characters of that magnitude dying.

The perspective was perhaps a little too Birdseye for me to really engage emotionally.

Eva is a great character that I wish we had seen A LOT more of. The writing is good, the sense of humor is still there. The story is fascinating. I mean, it's still GIANT ALIEN ROBOTS!

Annnnd we get another cliffhanger ending. So I guess there will be a third? Or was the author just trolling us? I'd be fine either way. it could spin off to such a fun first contact story or it could be left here and we could just wonder.