A review by plumpaperbacks
Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I only picked up Waking Gods because the ending of Sleeping Giants had a very intriguing revelation and I wanted to know more. However, in the first half of the book, I was quite bored, and contemplated putting the book down multiple times. Only the vaguest sense of curiosity convinced me to push through. I don’t agree with many of the choices Neuvel made regarding the direction of the story. An issue I had with the previous installment that came up in this as well was that the format—interviews, journal entries, etc.—made it difficult to connect with the characters. Also, in terms of both science and politics, some conversations and explanations went over my head, making it harder to enjoy and immerse myself in the story. I just really didn’t care about anything, especially as certain things happened and characters died. Once again, I was thinking I wouldn’t continue the series, until I read the epilogue—which ends on enough of a cliffhanger to make me want to know what happens. It’s a janky cycle. If you’ve read the first book, maybe you’ll like this, but I think Neuvel’s work is for a specific audience that doesn’t include me. At least there’s only one book left for me to read.
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