Sylvain Neuvel continues what he started in Sleeping Giants in book two of The Themis Files, Waking Gods. The giant robot that scientists recovered and put together in book one was incontrovertible evidence of extraterrestrial beings with intelligence and technology superior to man's. In book 2, the aliens show up. Without prior warning, another robot appears a decade later, this time fully assembled, in London. Attempts at a peaceful welcome failed, and a large slice of London is vaporized by the robot.
Themis, the earth-assembled robot, takes down the robot, but then additional robots appear in major cities around the world. Themis's crew has their hands full, trying to figure out the teleportation feature and being reunited with their test-tube baby daughter they didn't know they had. Their plan for confronting the newly-arrived robots sounds crazy, but it just might work. . . .
Neuvel continues his documentary story-telling style, advancing the narrative through journal entries, interview transcripts, event logs, etc. While I enjoy his method, in this case it serves to downplay the scope of the events of the book. Tens of millions are killed by these robots, and it seems as if the characters can barely bring themselves to care. He gives only a distant, detached understanding of world events as he focuses on the personal perspective of the characters.
I thought he had a pretty good cliffhanger at the end of Sleeping Giants. That cliffhanger became an important element of Waking Gods. But the cliffhanger at the end of Waking Gods is even better. I can't wait to read Only Human!
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