Reviews

Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

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this book was such a let down. you mean to tell me that this whole time the aliens' beef with humans, the reason why humans are significant on an intergalactic scale, is because of anti-miscegenation? it's impressive how a series about international organizations and humanity's global response to the existence of aliens can feel so small. maybe i'm projecting, but this series was positioning itself to be as expansive as story of your life or the three body problem. whether or not aliens and humans should get freaky is so uninteresting and insignificant compared to the philosophical questions raised by chiang and liu, at least in my opinion. i will admit, the last line of the book sounded promising, but i don't have much faith given that there's only one book left.

it would've gotten a half star bump because of the audiobook production, but eva's voice actress doing an extremely offputting little girl voice kinda ruined that.

aquabak's review

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dark inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

Stupid cliffhangers aaaaa

magdie's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

dothelindyhop's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

xcaity's review against another edition

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4.0

Parts of this book really pissed me off, which is why it took me so long to finish it. I had to put it down for a while to breathe. However, it ended well & I really want to read the third one.

sarcasm_and_foxes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

saedith's review against another edition

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3.75

This is a difficult one to rate. I absolutely loved the first book in the series, but this one not so much. I felt that the pacing was odd, it didn't give enough time to sit with some of the big feelings this book was supposed to evoke. So, I didn't end up caring as much about what happened. I also felt that there was a scene slightly after the mid-point that went on for way too long for no apparent reason.

It was still entertaining, and I do like the format of short snippets of recordings and interviews etc. I'll finish the series for sure, but I don't think I'll ever come back to other than the first book.

catbag's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5 stars

"I could not truly make the world a better place, but I could make part of it a better place for a short while."

Holy shit, the pages FLEW by- Waking Gods is packed with action, heartbreak, and as many answers as there are new questions. The themes and conflict have begun to to shift to an even bigger picture; rather than just focusing on the nature of humanity, Waking Gods starts to explore what it means to have and exercise power in a universe where life is both as simple and far more complex than what it seems.