Sleeping Giants

January 4, 2016
This fascinating first novel is told mostly through conversations between an unnamed interviewer and the book’s other characters, along with newspaper articles, government memos, and various characters’ journal entries. When Dr. Rose Franklin was a little girl, she made a startling discovery in the woods near her home: the gigantic hand of a robot that appeared to be of alien manufacture. Now that she has grown up and become a prominent scientist, she has, perhaps by coincidence, been put in charge of secretly recovering other parts of the robot, which have apparently been hidden around the world for thousands of years, and returning the behemoth to working order. When the robot’s human pilots accidentally blow a hole in Denver, Colo., thus revealing the machine’s existence, other nations demand access and tensions mount. Neuvel develops several interesting characters, particularly Franklin and cranky pilot Kara Resnik. Even the anonymous interviewer, by turns enigmatic and supportive, holds the reader’s attention. Behind them looms the gigantic, inhuman figure of the robot. There are hints that it was placed on Earth to protect humankind, but from what? Far from being a clone of the Transformers, this intriguing tale is entirely worthy of an adult audience.

Each performance is expertly crafted and distinct in this engrossing genre-crossing debut. The premise is pure sci-fi as a woman seeks to understand a bizarre artifact she inadvertently discovered as a child. Other literary elements also come to the fore as various scientists, army personnel, and witnesses provide interviews, reports, and other findings to an unspecified government agent, telling the story in a nonlinear fashion. The full cast makes the interview sections easy to follow and gives them a feeling of genuine spontaneity. With a sense of eavesdropping on real events, listeners will be encouraged to piece together the puzzle at the heart of engaging novel. B.E.K. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine