Sunday, April 02, 2017

Melanie's Week in Review - April 2, 2017




Happy spring! I can't believe it is April already. It felt like it was just minutes from when I was telling you about my favourite books of 2016. Before I look forward to April showers I thought I would tell you about what I read this week. I actually read 2 books but midway writing this I checked the publication date and realised one of the books I read won't be released until October 2017! You are going to have to wait a while to hear what I thought. However, I do have a book that more than makes up for it. So wait no longer..... Note: There are slight spoilers for the 1st book in this series so read at your own risk.


I had been waiting months to read Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel and I was finally able to. It was rather like waiting counting down for Christmas but in this case I was counting down to the publication date of the 4th April. I had the book for a few months but didn't want to read it too much in advance of its publication and my opportunity to find out what happened next to my favourite characters from Sleeping Giants (book 1 of The Themis Files), one of my all time favourite books.

Waking Gods is set approximately 10 years after the events of book 1 and humanity is enjoying relative peace thanks to the giant alien robot Themis, built by the Earth Defense Corps. When another robot appears in Regents Park (in London, UK) and ends up decimating most of London, killing millions, everyone soon realises that the peace they have enjoyed is now over. It's up to the EDC to figure out how to save humanity from complete annihilation from the alien race. Are they up to the job? I will let you find out for yourself.

All my favourite characters are also back including Rose Thornton who died midway through book 1 but who reappears, unharmed in Ireland but missing 4 years of her life. We get to find out what happened to Rose and how and why she returned. Also back is the mystery man who conducts the interviews which tell the story through book 1 and most of 2. Neuvel is a real tease by solving some of the mysteries from book 1 including who the mysterious interviewer is and how he came involved, but then leaves us with one big whopping cliff hanger at the end. We also find out more about Themis and why she was left buried, in pieces around the world. There are some real shockers in Waking Gods and don't get too attached to some of the characters....that is all I am going to say about the plot. Another fantastic novel in the Themis series. Well done Neuvel. From clever debut to exciting second novel.


That is it for me this week. Short and sweet. Apologies for not having more books to tell you about and I promise to take more care about publication dates and when I should be reading certain books. Until next week, Happy reading.



Waking Gods
The Themis Files 2
Del Rey, April 4, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 336 pages

In the gripping sequel to Sleeping Giants, which was hailed by Pierce Brown as “a luminous conspiracy yarn . . . reminiscent of The Martian and World War Z,” Sylvain Neuvel’s innovative series about human-alien contact takes another giant step forward.

As a child, Rose Franklin made an astonishing discovery: a giant metallic hand, buried deep within the earth. As an adult, she’s dedicated her brilliant scientific career to solving the mystery that began that fateful day: Why was a titanic robot of unknown origin buried in pieces around the world? Years of investigation have produced intriguing answers—and even more perplexing questions. But the truth is closer now than ever before when a second robot, more massive than the first, materializes and lashes out with deadly force.

Now humankind faces a nightmare invasion scenario made real, as more colossal machines touch down across the globe. But Rose and her team at the Earth Defense Corps refuse to surrender. They can turn the tide if they can unlock the last secrets of an advanced alien technology. The greatest weapon humanity wields is knowledge in a do-or-die battle to inherit the Earth . . . and maybe even the stars.



Previously

Sleeping Giants
The Themis Files 1
Del Rey, January 24, 2017
Trade Paperback, 336 pages
Hardcover and eBook, April 26, 2016

A page-turning debut in the tradition of Michael Crichton, World War Z, and The Martian, Sleeping Giants is a thriller fueled by an earthshaking mystery—and a fight to control a gargantuan power.

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?


See Melanie's Review here.

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