Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Waking Gods

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

9 reviews

nightstitch96's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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musicalpopcorn's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

When giant robots start appearing all over the world, it seems like humanity might come to an end. Can Rose and her team put a stop to the destruction?

This was a good sequel to Sleeping Giants. It was interesting and well written, just like the first book. I enjoyed the newly introduced characters and stories.

I will say that I’m a bit tired of the file premise and could tell the author was starting to feel constrained by it as well. I also didn’t like the voice actor for Eva in the audiobook, but that’s not the author’s fault.

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stories's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

The stakes escalated quickly indeed! Still full of twists, just on a greater magnitude.

Some of the plot turns we’re not what I wished to happen, but boy were they well executed.

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mar's review against another edition

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adventurous dark

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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madelonpaige's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

When I started listening to Waking Gods, I did not expect ten years to have passed since the end of Sleeping Giants. As much as I was looking forward to this sequel, that simple fact threw me off for the first couple chapters while I reacquainted myself with the characters, the world, and the events at the end of the first book. I’m usually okay when I read book two a few years after book three, but because of the time jump, there was a lot to catch up on.

Once I caught up, though… Waking Gods is just as good as Sleeping Giants. I still really enjoy the dossier style of storytelling. The audiobook version amplifies this by using a host of different narrators, all of whom do an excellent job. The storytelling and reading are both rich and interesting.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of in this book. For me, this was easy because the narrators sounded so different (I can not emphasize enough how excellent the audiobook is). For those who don’t enjoy untraditional storytelling or multiple POVs, Waking Gods may be a miss. The story is pushed forward by the plot itself. We do see some character growth, but since it is a dossier-style of storytelling, it’s really more about having the pieces of information to fill in the empty spaces than which character is telling that part of the story.

I’m still a bit salty about one of the choices Neuvel made at about 75% through the book. If nothing else, I will say that he is brutal and doesn’t shy away from making extreme decisions that will completely shatter your predictions for the end of the book. The very last chapter – the ending itself – the great.

I really enjoy Neuvel’s style. Hey gives you just enough about the story direction that you’re entirely clueless about what is coming next. He gives you just enough about the characters that you’re rooting for them without quite realizing it. He changes the world we know just enough that we ar3e led by out perception to make false assumptions and the twists hit you that much more.

Waking Gods is just about as good as Sleeping Giants. It manages to be both a self-contained story and a bridge between books one and three. Waking Gods expands the our world understanding and while we get a few answers, we are left with more questions. It makes the reader curious in the best way a second book can and I am completely invested in the story. Sleeping Giants remains one of my favorite books and in my top three audiobooks of all time. While I think the first book was just a little bit better… Waking Gods is excellent and I continue to highly recommend the Themis Files.

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