Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
I received a copy of this via Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review!
After the events of Sleeping Giants, where a crew had located pieces of an unknown being which were scattered across the world and put them back together again. Now in the second book of the series, Neuvel takes the story and raises the stakes and gives us a terrifying insight into what an alien invasion might be like.
Set ten years after the first book, the US has formed a defence group in order study Themis, the giant robot that was found previously. We’re quickly brought up to speed on what the characters have been up to: Vincent and Kara are still piloting Themis. Rose is still trying to recollect herself after her memory loss. Everything is quiet until another one comes – much larger than Themis and possibly even more dangerous. Everyone must come back together in order to solve the mystery as to why.
The Themis Files is truly one of my favourite series. It’s just so much fun and has so many surprises. So much happens in a short amount of times. And you’re led to believe that Themis is good but things have changed so much. The pacing is so fast but still leaves a readable plot. Things get violent but not in a gory descriptive way, it was very horrific to read half of the stuff that happens in here. It’s a very powerful follow up to Sleeping Giants.
For some reason with the first book, it took a while for the style of narration to grow on me. I wasn’t even sure if I had liked it back then but now it really appealed to me and I love this style. Something about it – the interviews, journals, and radio – really works for me now. Our mystery narrator was also a question mark for me in book one but all my questions about him were answered and we really do see a vulnerable side to this all-powerful narrator. There’s also a spark that came from reading Sleeping Giants that I felt like it was missing here but it’s still a worthy sequel.
Overall, an interesting sequel that carries over the stakes from the previous novel. And that epilogue was truly a shock. I thought this might be a duology since the story felt close to being finished but Nuevel drops a bomb off a cliffhanger. I truly cannot wait for the next instalment.
GOODREADS | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | THE BOOK DEPOSITORY |
tw: major character deaths, sudden death (if you’ve read the book and feel like I’ve missed something out, please tell me!)
as told by zaheerah 