One of my favorite reads of 2017! Hands down...This one was just as action packed as the first -and this series has such a unique storyline -its amazing in every way.   
I had just finished reading Sleeping Giants about two weeks ago (which I absolutely loved) and was so grateful to have Waking Gods to pick up and continue with the story. So many questions and mysteries finally get solved-being reunited with old and now new characters and that ending!  I can't wait till the next book is out. 

I want to sincerely thank Sylvain Neuvel, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this. 

I had to buy myself a copy of the finished book because I loved it so much-and seriously the cover art for the hardback is just as beautiful as the first book.

I read Sleeping Giants completely by chance last year, and boy, I was sucked into the world Sylvain Neuvel has woven. Waking Gods is every bit thrilling, heart-pounding and unputdownable as its predecessor was.

3 stars--I liked the book.

I liked this book more than the first one in the series. There's a lot to enjoy--mysterious giant robots, aliens who may or may not be trying to destroy earth, humans who are desperately working against the clock to save their planet.

Just like with the first one, I think the format (mostly presented as interview logs or memos) makes the action too distant. However, I thought characterization was better in this book, and the plot was fast-paced and kept me reading. I had a fun time with this book, and the pages seemed to fly by.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

This sequel to Sleeping Giants ramped up the story and the stakes. Themis is not alone, and once again our diverse cast needs to determine what is happening and how to fix it. The book is written primarily using interviews, and although it was interesting in printed form, I suspect it would be fantastic in audio format (and I hear it is). One thing I liked is that the events weren't random - they made sense (eventually). Although things wrapped up nicely, the last sentence makes me think we are not done with the story.

Like its predecessor, Sleeping Giants, Waking Gods is marked by an interesting style, where debriefings, news reports, and journal entries are pieced together to tell the story. The second book of the Themis Files has a markedly different tone than the first: while Sleeping Giants was somewhat contemplative and slow-moving, things really get going in Waking Gods. Despite the difference in tone, I don't think you can really enjoy Waking Gods to the full without reading its predecessor, as the story isn't dragged down by too much exposition of what happened before. The story picks up a few years after the first book, and all of the characters from the first story are back in force, along with a few new perspectives. I was a little disappointed in one of them, as their introduction makes another character's demise painfully obvious rather than a surprising twist or "anyone can die" vibe. However, I did like the new characters and I was happy to see the return of some of my favourites, such as the fiery Kara. 

The plot and tone reminded me quite a bit of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds. As with Welles’ famous story, the reader spends most of the story frustrated, helpless, and adrift, unable to determine what will happen next or why. Despite the crazy events, I think Neuven is quite successful in creating what I'd call, for want of a better term, a tone of realism. Part of achieving this is having atrocities and events can happen without any explanation or any leading plot arc. For me, this made it quite difficult to actually push my way through the book. I stuck with it, and I’m glad I did. As the story moves towards the climax, everything clicks into place with a reasonably satisfying and quite creative solution. As with the previous book, there’s a bit of a hook or cliffhanger for the next story arc, and I’ll be very interested to see where the story goes next.

If you haven’t read the first book in the Themis Files, and you’re a sci-fi fan, then you need to. I had been waiting so anxiously for the follow up to the first book, but was also apprehensive being that so many 2nd books in a series struggle to continue with the story created in the 1st book. That was not the case here. I was immediately hooked into this world again and was so fascinated by the technology and alien themes. I really don’t feel like I can add details without giving things away, so I’ll just say that it was awesome, and really hope the author is going to make this a trilogy! I was also super excited to get to know who the mysterious narrator was, but it was at a cost. This is easily turning into one of my favorite series’ of all time, and one I will most definitely re-read in the future.

ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another fun novel. Love the format of this novel with different documents and interviews. I read part of the book and listened to part of it. The audio is really fantastic. Looking forward to more!

When I began to read Sleeping Giants (First book in this series), I loved the story from the begining.
In the first place to began with interviews was enjoyable and I thought it was a nice way to know characters and my favorites was always Kara's interviews (Every time I read her interviews she make me want to say "Yeah, thats my girl" :)) She is lovely for me. But when all story told that way, It was becoming disturbing for me. 

But I liked our mission man (Just don't like to call him nameless man).If this is made to movie (I would love to see it.) I feel like every time after he talks with Mr. Burns he will look us (and will think what the hell he (Mr. Burns) was telling :))

I was unconfortable with the way story told until I finished first book which make us shocked in the end. After that I didn't care about the way story is told so I was excited to began second book " Waking of Goods" which didn't dissapoint me and on the contrary it was better what I expected.

As I go on reading story was making me add more questions for me to ask and that made me worried how will end ( even though this book had a lot of good comments). I was remembering "Lost" series case so felt like to say " Just don't make me feel the same way when I wached Lost last episode (Even though I enjoyed how series gone on in the begining, I was thinking I would rather not to wach at all in the end). But when I finished the book I was feeling happy and satisfied with what I get ^_^. 

The ending is making you want to story keep going on (and make you feel like it is going on in your head) Even though that, I was satisfied with it just ending like that too. 

Well this is how I feel about story. About characters I didn't love all of them (but I can't think story with any of them missing). Kara and Our mission man was my favorites :)) I didn't like him much but he did make story more enjoyable. 

I can higly recommend this book anyone who love fiction. I believe this book won't dissappoint you (so don't miss it ^_^)

Thanks, netgalley and the publisher, giving me a free copy of this e-book in exchange for a review.

I loved the book! I devoured both the first and second book of this series within a day. Enough science fiction to be fun, enough drama to keep me interested, enough heart to convince me to care about the characters, and enough philosophical quandaries to leave me in anticipation of the next part of the story. I absolutely recommend this series to anyone wondering what it means to be human and what it should ultimately mean for our species in the grand scheme of the universe.

The follow up to last year’s Sleeping Giants, Waking Gods is even more exciting and action packed than its predecessor. At least until every interesting POV character dies, then things kind of stall in a not-so-spectacular manner. Set ten years after the events of the first novel, Waking Gods answers some lingering questions and explores the unthinkable: a global alien attack

Pure enjoyment. This series remains so smart/sad/funny, and the characters (old and new) keep me engaged as much as the action-packed story.

A wild and crazy follow-up to Neuvel's thrilling debut Sleeping Giants, Waking Gods ramps up the tension, the action, and the stakes as humanity finds themselves facing down their first direct alien contact - and the fact that the aliens might not be peaceful at all. Neuvel's addictive and twisty writing is at its best in Waking Gods, weaving a web of conspiracy, danger, and dire stakes around his fascinating characters, and it leaves off on such a cliffhanger that I actually screamed when I finished it. I can't wait for the next book!

Stylistic experiment doesn't work

Writers not uncommonly set themselves to compose in the style of another writer. I have known situations (more often in the UK) where this can actually be a mildly competitive sport.

Sylvain Neuvel has undertaken to write this series as dispatches, files, and interviews, rather than in normal prose. I find the result less than impressive. The style lacks the immediacy of prose, reports are by necessity written after an event so the reader receives cues about the timeline that detract from suspense, and interviews, however informative, are not dialogue.

This is an interesting exercise but the resulting books do not work as novels.

I received a review copy of "Waking Gods: Book 2 of The Themis Files" by Sylvain Neuvel (Random House – Ballantine) through NetGalley.com.

VERDICT: How similar or different are we from aliens? This novel proposes an answer with dreadful consequences.

I really enjoyed Sleeping Giants last year, the first book in the Themis series, so I eagerly seized the opportunity to read Waking Gods, the 2nd volume.
Waking Gods adopts the same unusual and attractive format and structure as Sleeping Giants, each chapter being presented like a document, whether an interview, or a log, or a diary. Note also the cool titles and covers! I enjoy how the titles evolve with the plot, and I’m really curious to know what the next title will be!
There are again interesting international dynamics. These can be essential in a time of crises.
One important difference between both volumes: the shift at one point for the mysterious interviewer, but I won’t give spoilers.
The book opens up with Eva, a young girl having strange dreams or rather visions. What’s her connection? How important is she to the story? I liked her character and the reason she’s there.
The book takes place about ten years after the previous one: we now know what this giant metallic hand was: a body part of a huge robot, that humans finally put together and learned to operate. But why was it on earth?
Now even more mysterious, more huge robots show up in London and then in all major cities of the world. Are they related to Themis? Were they made and sent by the same people? Why for?
The plot raises interesting questions about origin, destiny and mission of life.
But with all that’s going on in our world today, I realize this was actually not the best timing for me to read a book where millions are killed all over the world.
Also I thought the genetic element at the center of the story was a bit convoluted and it didn’t really work well for me. Plus, I thought there were too many technical details about genetics.
The very last line of the book promises interesting premises for book three, but depending on the mood, I may or may not try it.

I wasn't falling over myself in love with the first book in this trilogy, Sleeping Giants, but without anticipating an oh-my-god read with this one, I enjoyed it more than the first book.

The mysteries from the first book are explored in this one -- the meaning of the alien technology and the purpose for the abandoned machine now named Themis.

Whereas the first book felt more intimate, in a way, being focused on the four or five characters involved in researching this alien technology and what that research does to them, this book pulls back and starts looking at the global implications.

There are still four main characters we see things through, who give the story some heart, but much of the story is focused externally -- and with good reason. An alien robot lands in London at the start of the novel, similar to Themis but not the same, and our heroes have to scramble to figure out what the meaning of this visit is -- and if they can use Themis to protect Earth.

Man, this is a lukewarm review and I really don't mean it to be! I just don't want to give away anything from the first book or this one, so I'm being super vague. Basically, it's more of what was great about the first book: the "epistolary" style of found documents through which the story unfolds, cinematic catastrophe, and a wonderfully provocative kind of "what if" sense woven throughout. I can't wait for the final book to see how things shake out.

I sort of want to caps lock this review because I feel like I’m shouting about how great the series is every time I talk to anyone about it. Waking Gods continues the story of how humans might cope were we to find a massive robot built by an alien race buried in the Earth. (Spoiler: not super well.) Our cast of characters is back and face a new challenge when new robots arrive on the planet and don’t seem to want to move unless we try to attack, in which case they annihilate us. The mystery of why they’re here, who created them, and what might come next deepens, and the more we learn, the more questions that need to be answered.

The thing I really enjoy about the series is that we get multiple narrators helping to tell the story through a series of saved files, so we’re able to jump perspective, time, and format with relative ease and it doesn’t end up being confusing. I’ve listened to both books now on audio, and I really recommend it. There is a whole cast reading for the various characters, and it really lends a cinematic quality to the reading experience. I found myself looking for any excuse to turn the audiobook back on, which is what I really look for in a listening experience.

I’d describe the book as being a true science fiction story, written for literary fiction readers. The story has some great sci-fi elements and pulls those off really well, but the real hook is the character develop and the human reaction to the unknown. We action is taking place on Earth, and we don’t get any more information about the alien race than what the humans are able to figure out.

[I also reviewed this book on Litsy.]

A great follow up to Sleeping Giants! I love all the characters, and I’m fascinated by the structure of these books. They are told in “files” (not chapters) which consist mainly of interviews by a nameless interviewer who seems to have endless resources at his disposal, and our other characters, as well as research logs, personal journal entries, and the occasional military mission report and news report transcripts. It may seem a little choppy at first, but draws you in quickly. I'm not generally a sci-fi kind of girl, but this series is one of my new favorites and I would recommend them to anyone!