Once again, Sylvain Neuvel transports the reader to a fantastic land, where governments put their differences aside to focus on the betterment of all mankind, and giant robots come to guard us from unknown enemies.

But all joking aside, this novel is another in a fantastic series, and continues the excellence established in the first. Rose's situation is still both intricate and messy; and for the others we have the ongoing consequences of what it took to fit themselves to the machine.

It's hard to give this a fair review without spoilers so let me sum it up this way; this book is fantastic. It's wholly original, thoroughly engrossing, and avoids the dreaded sophomore slump as though it didn't exist at all.

This is the sequel to Sleeping Giants and I got an e-arc from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. However, I received a PDF file and I have a hard time reading those, so I waited until the paperback came out to read it (which I'm glad of right now because don't have to wait too long for the third book).

I liked the first book Sleeping Giants, but I did not think it lived up to the hype. That said, I really enjoyed Waking Gods.

This series is told through interviews and documents (similarly to The Illuminae Files) and while I had trouble connecting to the characters and plot in the first book, I didn't have any issues with Waking Gods. That might have something to do with the fact that the sequel is a lot more action-packed than the first one and intrigued me from the beginning. Additionally, a lot of questions raised in the first book were answered and the one shocking thing after another happened.

Ultimately, I was pleased with all the answers I got but was left with even more new questions I can't wait to explore in the third book.

All in all, I would recommend this book even to people who read the first book and are in doubt whether or not to continue the series. It's definitely worth it, in my opinion! Action, mystery, great characters and an original plot. Very much looking forward to Only Human! 4 stars! Also, look at that gorgeous cover!

I found this book really interesting. It was sci-do without leaving Earth. I read this book without reading the first book in the series and found that I could easily follow the plot. I’m eagerly awaiting the next book!

If you loved the first book, you'll love this one as well!
I just love these books! I can't believe how much I like it. The characters are still amazing an they go through so much, they grow, develop...I love them

I rated this a smidge better than Sleeping Giants because it had more exciting action to make up for the extremely basic setting descriptions and plain dialogue. Again, highly intelligent people conversing with very narrow vocabularies was making me twitch. This book has a lot of twists and turns, but I guessed them all, except one, before they happened. So the story was too predictable for me. Then the convoluted "answer" to what would make the aliens stop came about. The idea of it was okay, but the translation of what to do from that idea made no sense, seeing they were dealing with beings who were of super intelligence. Also, the plot was overly simplistic for Adult Fiction, in my opinion as a serious Science Fiction fan.

I was disappointed to see this was the second in the series but it didn’t matter in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Now I’m imagaining what it would like to see a giant robot appear in my town, now that would be something! Loved everything about this book and I would love to read more.

I love this series.

This book takes place nine years after the end of the previous book. I cannot go into the plot without spoiling it, but things surrounding Themis and the people involved in the project, are getting even more dangerous and complicated.

I still really enjoyed all the characters. Some of them are really shady, but I still love hearing what they have to say. My favorites are still the anonymous interviewer and the mysterious Mr Burns.

We get a lot of answers in this book. Neuvel manages to weave science and elements of religion/mythology in a very intriguing way. I feel that this series also manages to portray how very different we are from one individual to another, and how our perceptions and mindsets reflect in our reactions to situations.

Since this continues to be a story told through interview documents, it is a fast read.

Now on to the third book.

Epic.

Obviously a single word wouldn't suffice the thrill of having read a Neuvel novel but man, I'm trying. For those not familiar with the second installment of Sylvain's Themis Files installment, well, phew, you're in for something that you're not likely to forget. Think Peter F. Hamilton and you're on the ball, because WAKING GODS had me cancel my social calendar and stock up on energy drinks for those late-night reading binges.

I'm not telling you anything you'll soon be reading about for yourself.

Good book, but overall not as nicely written and planned out as the first one was, and especially the ending was rather disappointing overall.
But maybe it was a great build up for the third book?
It was still entertaining and a good read, but defiantly not at the level the first book set, sadly!

I have also read the first part of the trilogy and was very thrilled by it. So I needed to buy this part too and I wasn't disappointed. It was again as perfect as the first part and I read it in two days! The characters were again like old friends you are visiting after a long time, some things are new and it is exciting to discover them, some things have never changed and you are happy about it, because they let you feel at home. I also liked the new characters and I'm looking forward to meeting them again. For me it was necessary to read the first part again, because I didn't remember everything, but I wasn't angry about it, because I like the book very much. The story of the second part starts immediately after the first one, so it could be also a goof idea for you. The story war very interesting, with several twists I didn't expect and I like it. The author's style is still the same, a bit unsual, but very good to read. I can only recommend this book.

This is the second book in the Themis Files series and despite loving the first book, I’ve had some issues getting into this one. I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and after reading the first 50 or so pages several times, I’d sort of given up. However, when I saw the audiobook was available from my library, I gave it another go and enjoyed the reading of this a lot better this time around. This was probably due to my reading mood. I was in the mood for something fun and action-packed and Waking Gods was definitely that.

The audiobook was amazing though there were one or two voices that I didn’t like so much. The other downside I found was that the torture scenes were particularly difficult to listen to but they are very short.

I loved the way that this story went and, despite not being entirely realistic, I liked the scientific aspects of the plot. There were many twists that I didn’t see coming, as in the first book, and I’m looking forward to eventually reading the third.

This being the second in the series, I absolutely loved the book. This time around, I was ready for its format and surprisingly, the thing I might have criticised about the last book was resolved in this one. Getting to know the characters, connecting to them on a human level. This time, the author brought out the big guns and used them! I was almost reluctant to start this but I was also extremely excited about it too! Reluctant because I didn't see how this book could be better than the first one but the author managed it.

The questions that I was left with in the first book were somewhat resolved in this one and how! This one blew my mind even more than the first one, the questions this time were even more interesting and deep. Sleeping Giants started something and in the end, I felt a bit adrift because of the whole Rose Franklin thing. Waking Gods explained that and more this time around. Then there was the matter of the mystery man, he was humanized this time, however, I do wonder if what he told Rose was the truth. That's how much I am wary of the man.

Overall, I think Waking Gods was absolutely brilliant in its own way. The book should appeal to anyone who wonders if there's life beyond earth, if aliens had ever been here before. Anyone who loves science fiction and tons of facts and aliens, you should grab it and get lost in this wonderful if a bit scary world of the Themis Files.

Unfortunately I came to this book blind as I had never read the first release. The premise sounded so interesting though that I decided to take the plunge and I'm really glad that I did. I felt the author did a great job in making the quite basic trope of alien invasion fresh and new. Even though the cast of characters is very small considering the scale of events, I also appreciated the simple way that 'action offscreen' was conveyed. The novel never got too bogged down in language which can sometimes happen in sci-fi- I really felt that even higher concepts were easily explained in layman's terms so Waking Gods is both an entertaining page turner and easy to read.
My immediate critique though, is that the entire book is written in the form of recordings and memo. I could accept this perhaps from time to time if used cleverly, such as to illustrate plot points or the passage of time. For the entirety of the novel though I found the trick wore thin, as in several points it becomes hard to even know which character is speaking. Considering how invested I was in the story, this really let me down badly and comes across as a creative writing exercise. From what I've read this is a holdover from the first book, and I admit I find that very unfortunate. There is a seed of great storytelling here, if only it was a little less gimmicky. Disappointment aside, it's a fine effort and I'd highly recommend it. I know that I'll be looking for the next installment.

I only just began reading this series a few days ago, I had them on my tbr for a little while and then I got the chance to receive an arc of Waking Gods so I bought Sleeping Giants to read that first. Thank you to Netgalley, Sylvain Neuvel and Penguin Michael Joseph for my ARC of Waking Gods.

Title: Waking Gods

Author: Sylvain Neuvel

Publication Date: 6th April 2017

Page Count: 320 Pages

Rating: 5*

Quote: 'believing you're the only one person with their head on straight is usually not a sign of good mental health.'


Summary

Following the events of Sleeping Giants the robot/alien named Themis has been reassembled and her pilots, Kara and Vincent are now parading her around showing her off as some sort of Earth Defence project. So when another giant robot lands in the middle of London, it makes sense that Themis should be dispatched to try and treat with it.

But it seems like this alien life force is not so pleased to see Themis and what happens next could be the end of mankind.

Review
I was surprised by how much I loved Sleeping Giants and I was unsure if Waking Gods would live up to his predecessor. I had nothing to fear because it more than lived up to it.

Written in the same format as a series of interviews and journal entries means that the action is always central even though we're not getting a description of the action so to speak but instead getting told about it afterwards but somehow this really works to keep the pace of the book moving along and keeping it interesting.

Plus in this one we get to know a lot more about Themis' origins as well as (and some may think more importantly) more about Mr Mystery Man. We also get to find out more about the whole alien angle and how that came about.

I really can't wait for the third book in the Themis files to come out. I was devastated by some of the events in Waking Gods but also incredibly excited by what some others may mean for the future in this series.

I received a free copy of Waking Gods from NetGalley in return for review consideration. Waking Gods is a science-fiction novel, the second in the Themis Files series, and was published by Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in the UK on 6th April 2017.

Below is my synopsis of the book:

Set mostly ten years after the events of Sleeping Giants, Rose Franklin and the rest of the Earth Defence Corps have spent their time investigating Themis, producing more questions than answers. Then, one day, there are more of them, more giant robots all across the world and suddenly, Rose and her team are battling to save the planet.

Sylvain Neuvel uses the same unusual format to tell the story in Waking Gods as he did in Sleeping Giants. It’s a mixture of ‘recordings’, interviews, and other communications skills between the various protagonists. Waking Gods sees the return of Rose Franklin, Kara Resnik, and Victor Couture, as well as the unnamed collocutor who appears in most chapters, but about whom we know almost nothing. As with the previous book, I enjoyed this format for the most part. However, there were a few sections, particularly towards the end, where I found it harder to keep track of who was talking and which characters were in the scene.

The plot moves fast, much faster than in the previous book. I kept checking how far through the book I was and realising it wasn’t nearly as far as I thought, because so much happened. Revelation after revelation, dramatic scene after dramatic scene. I think part of the reason it feels so packed is because of the format. There’s little description, and very little fluff. Each section is there for a reason and serves to move the plot along. In some ways, this book is something of a masterclass in stripping out unnecessary words from a manuscript.

The book is definitely darker and more brutal than the first. This is particularly true when it comes to how the main characters are dealt with. They’re mostly familiar faces – Rose, Kara, Victor, our unnamed mystery man. Neuvel delves deeper into their motivations, and isn’t afraid to have them make difficult choices. He does make a few character decisions that I didn’t necessarily like, but by the end of the book, I did understand why he’d made them and why they were necessary for the plot.

Overall, I enjoyed this book more than the first in the series. I felt that a lot of the questions I had from Sleeping Giants were resolved, at least in part, whilst leaving enough unanswered plus more new questions to ensure that I can’t wait to read the next one. The scale of this book is much greater, and the stakes much higher. If you’re looking for giant robots, great action scenes, and a fascinating premise, give Waking Gods a chance.

Didn't get very far with this book, if only because I had rather stupidly neglected to read book one first. The book had a pretty good narrational voice, and I liked that there was a lot of action in it, but I couldn't help but feel a little lost sometimes. I'm also not the biggest fan of aliens, but I thought this was a refreshing take on it. I did appreciate that I didn't feel swamped by sci-fi jargon, as I have with some similar books. Shame I couldn't get through it, but I liked it enough that Sleeping Giants is on my to be read list, so I imagine I'll get back to this one sometime in the not so distant future.

I really liked this book. However some parts were slightly confusing as I hadn't read the first book in the series. Overall, 3 stars for a great plot and characters.

I had heard a lot of great things about this series, so when I saw it on here, I immediately got myself a copy. But then I read the first book in the series, Sleeping Giants, and I didn't love it. I couldn't get used to the format (even though I had /loved/ it while reading Illuminae) and I just couldn't connect to any of the characters. This sequel wasn't any better, and in fact, I DNF-ed it after a little over 100 pages. There was just too much info dump going on, and most of that not even connected to the story. It was all about squirrels and DNA and eventually, I just couldn't read any more of it and I had to put it down. Such a shame, because the story sounded so amazing, and the format could have been amazing too... Alas.

This sequel hits the ground running and doesn't let up - for the whole book I felt like I was holding my breath waiting for the next drama/surprise/disaster to hit, and don't even get me started on the ending!

Having said that, I didn't think Waking Gods held up to its predecessor, Sleeping Giants. The sequel deals with some incredibly weighty emotional moments and issues, and at these points the narrative style - which I loved in Sleeping Giants for its fresh and new approach to sci-fi - felt unnatural, forced and, at times, jarringly glib.

For me, the characters are the real selling point for this series - they're so well realised, unique and quirky, and they pull the book together as a whole. Rose is trying to cope with the fact that she's not the woman everyone else knew her to be - and she's not even sure she knows who she is any more. We see a more human side to the mysterious man who has his fingers in countless pies across the world and leads our Themis team. Kara and Vincent (my favourite characters in this series) are a stronger team than ever, but in the face of a new global threat even their bravery, humour and quick-thinking seem like they won't be enough to win the war that's coming. And now we have a new character - Eva Reyes, only a child, suffers apocalyptic visions that could mean saving the world, and which makes her the most wanted person on Earth...

Waking Gods is fast, clever and surprising and I can't wait for the next installment. Maybe if the prequel hadn't been so good I would have award this 4 stars instead of 3, so here's hoping the next book is as strong as the first.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an amazing follow-up to Sleeping Giants, the first novel in the Themis Files series. I honestly couldn't put it down and had to cancel plans with friends because I just had to know how it ended! The style of writing and the way the book is structured is pleasantly different from most works of fiction but that doesn't detract from the wonderful story that is told. Sylvain Neuvel is such a great, new writer and I hope the third novel in the series, Only Human, leaves me feeling as curious about what exists outside our world as the first two did!