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bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
2.0
“Those are not my words. In fact, I had to look up the exact quote. Like everyone else, I only knew 'I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' We tend to romanticize good quotes, and I always imagined Oppenheimer uttering those words while staring at the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion. In reality, he spoke those words during an interview for an NBC documentary in 1965. He had had twenty years to think about it.”
➽ I was curious about Sleeping Giants because it's a pretty popular sci-fi! I really enjoy mixed-media books and the audiobook has a full cast, so I was excited to check it out. Sleeping Giants is about a young girl called Rose who discovers a giant metal hand. Years later, she's leading a research time to find out more about the bizarre artefacts that have been left all over the world. The body parts are supposed to make up a giant figure, but there seem to be even more secrets hiding within them! I liked the idea and the fact that the story is told in journal entries and interviews! Unfortunately, unlike other similar books (such as The Illuminae Files) I didn't enjoy Sleeping Giants, as I wasn't engaged in the story.
➽ I had such a hard time caring for any of the characters. They didn't have much depth and the interview format worked against connecting to anyone in this book. I think it would have been better to focus on Rose since she has a personal connection to the hand and reframe the story from her perspective. I also wasn't a big fan of the included forced romances, as they felt out of place. I wanted more focus on the giants and less on the romantic drama in the research team.
➽ Another big issue was that I despised the unnamed interviewer, he was always acting so smug and superior. Since 80% of the files are interviews, he showed up all the time. We never really find out who he is, so it's hard to tolerate him when he's constantly manipulating and insulting the people he interviews. I actually liked him more in the very end, as he finally loses his composure instead of being this insufferable know-it-all. I just found all the interviews so offputting, since the interviewer constantly lets you know how powerful he is and that he seemingly can solve all the problems.
➽ In general, I was just disappointed by this story. It wasn't engaging and the only hook happens in the epilogue, but still isn't enough to make me want to read the sequels. I feel like the story was all over the place with all the military operations and discussions of war I didn't care about. So much went over my head and the mystery of the giant should have been the focus. I don't think I ever understood why everyone was so obsessed with this research, the story failed to establish the personal and bigger stakes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexism, Torture, Kidnapping, and War
arlorees's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I would recommend listening to this book, I listened to the audiobook over a few long drives and it was fantastic. The characters are super engaging, the story is fascinating and I love sci-fi which focuses on the human reaction to alien things. There are a lot of serious topics touched upon in this but none are in too much depth.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
garbagebarge69's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, and War
chilivanilli28's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Torture
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
4.25
Finished reading: September 7th 2023
“I was smart enough to know it was wrong, but not brave enough to stop them.”
It's true that I don't usually read a lot of sci-fi, and especially when there are aliens involved... But there was something about Sleeping Giants that made me curious ever since it was first published back in 2016. I guess my TBR jar thought it was time I finally gave this first book of a trilogy a chance, and I'm very glad this title popped up now. Why? I have to say that I was very much impressed by Sleeping Giants! There was just something about this story that was both addictive and able to make you feel humble at the same time. The fact that you don't exactly know what is going on only adds to the suspense, and it was absolutely fascinating learning more about what was being discovered. The writing style itself stands out as it is told through interviews, diaries and other files, but somehow the story was still very readable. It makes you wonder what would happen if such a discovery would be made in real life, and how the people involved would react... The different characters involved added humanity to the story and while I could have done without the love triangle, in general I enjoyed learning more about them. And after how things ended, I also can't wait to pick up the sequel to see what will happen next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Genocide, Sexual content, Torture, Xenophobia, and Kidnapping
ticktock's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Torture, Violence, Medical content, War, and Injury/Injury detail
mar's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
why is almost every character in this book a war criminal. this sucks but i cant put it down tf
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Car accident
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Genocide, and Torture
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
challenging
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, and War
bardic_llama's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness, Torture, and Kidnapping
With the sexual violence, one assumably female character without the consent of another female character,josefinceh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Intreguing and fast paced.
The characters were interesting and complex and I had a hard time deciding weather to like or dislike most of them. Partially in consequence to the story being told through interviews and files some relationships felt slightly underdeveloped. Some parts of the stories and characters do fall into some literary clichés.
At times the story lept forward a little faster than I personally prefer, adding to it's overall fast pace. It sets up a lot of points that don't get a complete conclusion (not necessarily a bad thing) building up to more further into the series.
I do have a few annoyances, none that I felt ruined the book but worth mentioning none the less. Firstly the relationship to the mystery man. It was at times comedic how much the characters were willing to share in the interviews, even Kara who was more drawn back. The development of the characters was interesting, however I felt some lack of consequence to some of their actions and behaviours.
Over all the story still had me flipping through the book at record speed and I'm excited to find a copy of the second book and see where the story goes. Recommend it to anyone that is new to the sci-fi genre (like me) as well as slow readers (also like me).
The characters were interesting and complex and I had a hard time deciding weather to like or dislike most of them. Partially in consequence to the story being told through interviews and files some relationships felt slightly underdeveloped. Some parts of the stories and characters do fall into some literary clichés.
At times the story lept forward a little faster than I personally prefer, adding to it's overall fast pace. It sets up a lot of points that don't get a complete conclusion (not necessarily a bad thing) building up to more further into the series.
I do have a few annoyances, none that I felt ruined the book but worth mentioning none the less. Firstly the relationship to the mystery man. It was at times comedic how much the characters were willing to share in the interviews, even Kara who was more drawn back. The development of the characters was interesting, however I felt some lack of consequence to some of their actions and behaviours.
Over all the story still had me flipping through the book at record speed and I'm excited to find a copy of the second book and see where the story goes. Recommend it to anyone that is new to the sci-fi genre (like me) as well as slow readers (also like me).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Violence
Minor: Torture
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