Sleeping Giants by Sylain Neuvel

Sleeping Giants is the debut novel by Sylvain Neuvel. This novel uses an unusual technique, like found in World War Z, to tell the story. The narrator is an unknown person and you are reading the interview files of said narrator with a few journal notes and news reports as fillers. I was not expecting this, even though this technique is not new; yet, it really worked for me and I found it to be a very effective tool.  It gave a certain air of mystery and aloofness that I found enhanced the story.

The story opens with Rose Franklin riding her new bike on her 11^th birthday and out of nowhere a huge hole opens up and swallows her. When rescue arrives it is discovered that she has fallen into a pit that contains an ancient artifact. This artifact is a gigantic metal hand and the hole is glowing and contains strange symbols on the walls. Skip forward twenty years and Rose is now a scientist and is leading a team of people to uncover the mystery behind the hand and the symbols.

What they discover is that the hand is over five thousand years old and the metal it is constructed of cannot be found on Earth in the quantity necessary to make something of its size. Then it is discovered that the hand is one of many moving parts that make a robot of monolithic proportions. Then the questions really get interesting. Who put this here? What is its purpose?

As the team works to assembly the robot and discover its secrets they are presented with ethical dilemmas and personal issues that could put an end to the project. For example, Is the cost of human life worth the knowledge that might be gleaned from the robot?

As I was reading, I kept thinking this would make a great book for a science fiction book club. There are so many great concepts that could be discussed. In fact, you could write a thesis on the ethical questions alone. In addition, the writing was suburb and I was hooked in the first few pages. The only thing that did not work for me was the ending. I don’t want to spoil it for others. Therefore, I will just say that real life does not always end on a happy note.

I understand this is the first book in a series. I can’t wait for the next one!