Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by philibin
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
(3.0 Stars)
This was basically "middle-of-the-road" for me. There were aspects of the book that I really liked, and others that I feel fell flat. I read the audiobook version which had several voice actors, almost like an audio-drama... but it was unabridged. The book is a "journal entry" style book, so that probably made having multiple voice actors easier to keep abridged, rather than going into a full "graphic audio" that Audible likes to do. There were also no sound effects that I remember, which is a "plus" for me.
I've seen this compared to The Martian or World War Z. I find it much closer in style to World War Z, there is none of the ... I don't know the word I'm looking for ... none of the synchronicity, or organic convergence that The Martian had. And if you have never read any journal entry style books, this might seem novel, but in addition to World War Z, there is also Bram Stoker's Dracula and many others if you like this style.
I understand that "character growth" can be difficult with journal/interview style books, however, I found most of the characters flat and unrelatable, and most of the events to be implausibly impossible.
Yes, this is Sci-Fi, but it is not "hard science", and is more fantastical in believability. The concept is great but I feel like it had a very slow start, and almost "wasted energy" setting up precursory events that never really seem to play out or influence later events. The very last part of the book (maybe 80%+) was where it picked up, so hopefully the next book(s) in the series will continue with the same energy.
This was basically "middle-of-the-road" for me. There were aspects of the book that I really liked, and others that I feel fell flat. I read the audiobook version which had several voice actors, almost like an audio-drama... but it was unabridged. The book is a "journal entry" style book, so that probably made having multiple voice actors easier to keep abridged, rather than going into a full "graphic audio" that Audible likes to do. There were also no sound effects that I remember, which is a "plus" for me.
I've seen this compared to The Martian or World War Z. I find it much closer in style to World War Z, there is none of the ... I don't know the word I'm looking for ... none of the synchronicity, or organic convergence that The Martian had. And if you have never read any journal entry style books, this might seem novel, but in addition to World War Z, there is also Bram Stoker's Dracula and many others if you like this style.
I understand that "character growth" can be difficult with journal/interview style books, however, I found most of the characters flat and unrelatable, and most of the events to be implausibly impossible.
Yes, this is Sci-Fi, but it is not "hard science", and is more fantastical in believability. The concept is great but I feel like it had a very slow start, and almost "wasted energy" setting up precursory events that never really seem to play out or influence later events. The very last part of the book (maybe 80%+) was where it picked up, so hopefully the next book(s) in the series will continue with the same energy.