Sleeping Giants

Let's just dive right in: this debut by Canadian author Sylvian Neuvel is extremely entertaining, but its plot is quite a mess. It has been compared to The Martian, and while it shares similarities, it is a different beast altogether. Sleeping Giants starts with the discovery of a giant robot hand, buried thousands of years ago, alien in origin. A high paced conspiracy SF thriller ensues, following the scientists and military personnel that try to uncover the hand's secrets.

It shares lots of surface details with Andy Weir's hit: it's a debut, it was first self-published, it's set more or less in our own timeframe, it has a kind of witty quality, the pacing is relentless, and -- maybe most importantly -- the movie rights sold instantly, a motion picture is on its way. As it reads like a blockbuster, that's no surprise at all.

Blockbuster, warts and all: weaknesses are abundant.

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While the science in The Martian has been debated, at least Weir tried to be consistent, and true to reality as best as he could. Neuvel doesn't even try. I'm not saying this is as brainless as Michael Bay's Transformers franchise, not even close, just don't expect meticulously researched scientific/military/political intrigue. A better comparison would be Ridley Scott's Prometheus: stylish & entertaining, yet also involving professionals who should know better doing things they shouldn't do.

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