Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Waking Gods

Waking Gods picks up ten years after the events of the first book, Sleeping Giants. I was intrigued but at times bored by the slow pacing of the first book in this series so I worried that while interesting, I wouldn't be gripped by Waking Gods. Thankfully, this was not the case. Told once more through interview transcripts, diary entries and mission logs, this book is even more captivating than the last. As the aliens that created Themis arrive on Earth, action and mystery unfolds, drawing Rose, Kara, Vincent, and our nameless Agent into dramatic new situations. The events of Waking Gods are so much bigger, discussing themes of morality, humanity, family, and the desperation to make a difference. My investment in the characters and their relationships only grew as the story unfolded and the tension racked up. I also loved that Neuvel left space for moments of tenderness and normality in the midst of all the action. It allowed the book to maintain a feeling of reality. I have no doubt that the finale to this series will be as adventurous and thoughtful as Waking Gods is, and hopefully, even more moving.

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kimbekaw's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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aviery's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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josefinceh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

The second book in the Themsis files. Following the employees at the EDC after the discovering and learning to control Themsis, the ancient giant robot with backwards legs. The atmosphere gets tenser when another giant robot appears in the middle of London and standing in silence as the characters try to figure out how to react.
The book really has a lot of good mixed with a lot of "meh". The characters of the story just didn't come across as clearly and honestly lost a lot of their personality, or the traits that had been established in the previous book. This became especially clear with Kara and Vincent whom, I felt, made a pretty much total reset as characters.
It's also worth noting that the recordings format that the books have didn't work as well as in the previous book, especially since there were a lot more characters at play which made some "recordings" a bit confusing and I often mixed up which character said what.

What I was disappointed by: Karas development

I was really frustrated with how Kara was built up to be this really strong character but kinda became a pushover and just there to move the plot forward. She was strongly against both children and marriage and ended up having both (a very frustrating recurring thing in media), the only point to have her around was to bring Eva into the story, and then when the brought Eva in and introduced her to Vincent, Kara's role was over, and so she was killed of.

What I liked: Mr Burns, More about the mystery interviewer, Rose Franklin

let's start with Mr. Burns, probably my favourite and most interesting character of the entire book, I don't really have much to say about him, I just really enjoyed the chapters where he was around.
Mystery Interviewer, I was really surprised that he also was killed of, I do still like that you get some Insight into his life, his son and how he ended up doing what he was doing. Especially liked the part of him basically saying "I don't work for anyone, people just think I'm scary either way"
Rose was also a high point for me, I loved her development as the characters and her understandable struggle with coming back to life not knowing what had happened. I do wish that her talking to Mystery Interviewer from beyond the grave would be a recurring thing, that he would be some support for her even after death.

What I wished for it: Strip it down and focus on fewer things instead of trying to deal with everything that could be important for the next book.

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vash_e's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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noonanr's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kipiekie's review

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adventurous informative slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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plumpaperbacks's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I only picked up Waking Gods because the ending of Sleeping Giants had a very intriguing revelation and I wanted to know more. However, in the first half of the book, I was quite bored, and contemplated putting the book down multiple times. Only the vaguest sense of curiosity convinced me to push through. I don’t agree with many of the choices Neuvel made regarding the direction of the story. An issue I had with the previous installment that came up in this as well was that the format—interviews, journal entries, etc.—made it difficult to connect with the characters. Also, in terms of both science and politics, some conversations and explanations went over my head, making it harder to enjoy and immerse myself in the story. I just really didn’t care about anything, especially as certain things happened and characters died. Once again, I was thinking I wouldn’t continue the series, until I read the epilogue—which ends on enough of a cliffhanger to make me want to know what happens. It’s a janky cycle. If you’ve read the first book, maybe you’ll like this, but I think Neuvel’s work is for a specific audience that doesn’t include me. At least there’s only one book left for me to read.

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