DNF @  5 % (23 out of 509 minutes)

So I'm less than 5% in and already I don't want to listen to this scientist character. Seriously, you skip your own father's funeral and just expect your mother to put you up? That's not grieving differently, that's being a self-centred ass.

Besides, this interview format doesn't hold water. This isn't an interview; it's a weak contrivance to pour out personal information that wouldn't be coming out in an interview. I also have issues with how dull the narrator made the prologue sound.

Someone told me that the audiobook was a good way to make the chosen format more interesting but I don't agree. Already I've tried to listen to it twice and stopped it because I just can't take it any more. The problem with audio is that you can't skip over the boring bits, and yes, I'm barely 20 minutes into it.

Also, what are they carbon dating? They've just talked about metals so far and you need carbon to do any carbon dating. It's literally measuring the concentration of one carbon isotope compared to another one.

I'm probably going to drop this one. I'm not even sure I care enough to flip through a paper copy to try to find any interesting bits. And yes, I'm biased against the format.

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

This was really good! Amazingly good! I am kind of thinking that I am a big dummy for not realizing how good it was when I read the book last year. I liked it the first time around but I wasn't nearly as impressed as I was with this listen. I really do think that the narration of this story took everything to a whole new level. I listened to it over just a few days and really never wanted to stop listening. I am so glad that I decided to give this book another try.

This story is quite imaginative. Rose falls into a hole as a small child and discovers what appears to be the hand of a giant metal robot. I was hooked right away. The entire premise is just so interesting and I loved watching this group try to figure everything out. Since I had read this book just a year ago, I already knew how things would play out but that didn't lessen the excitement for me. 

This book is laid out a little differently than the norm. Instead of a running narrative, this story relies on a series of interviews, reports, and journal entries. The interviews are conducted by a character that doesn't have a hands on role with the project but seems to have a lot of power over everything that is going on. I found myself not only trying to figure out what was going on with the project but also trying to get some kind of clue regarding the identity of the nameless character. 

One of the main reasons that I decided to give this story another try was the fact that this audiobook is performed by a full cast. Having read the book before, I had a feeling that if done right this audiobook could be amazing. I was right. I almost felt like I was listening to a play being performed. Each character in the book had a different narrator. Interviews would be conducted back and forth between two narrators. The narrators were all really good and captured the characters very well. 

I would highly recommend this book to others. If you are someone who enjoys audiobooks, I would recommend that format if you have the option. The full cast production of this audiobook really does take a good story to a whole new level. I can't wait to continue with this series.

Initial Thoughts
I read an arc of this book last year and liked but didn't love it. I actually only gave it 3 stars last year. I had heard that the audiobook was really good so I decided to give it a try and I am amazed. The full cast performance of this story was fantastic. How did I not love this book the first time around? I probably should have liked it a bit more when I read it the first time but I do think that the audio takes it to a whole new level.

Book source: Audible purchase

A group of scientists and military types race to uncover the pieces of a giant alien robot buried on Earth thousands of years in the past. The novel is reminiscent of The Martian in the sense that it is almost entirely dialogue driven, and the plot is propelled by various successes and setbacks in the project. The story is told in the form of short interviews between the main characters and a mysterious shadowy figure who is the mastermind behind the project.

If you enjoyed The Martian you will likely enjoy this as well. It is science fiction as thriller, not exactly literary.

"Sleeping Giants" got a lot of press when it came out. It was proclaimed as original and engaging Science Fiction and so I immediately downloaded a copy of the audiobook. It then sat in my TBR pile until I realised the sequel has been published and I still hadn't read the first book.

I bumped it to the top of the pile when my next long drive came up and was astonished by how good it was.

The story is told in the form of direct speech or reports/correspondence by the main characters. In the audiobook version, each characters lines are given by a different narrator. When two of the main characters are talking to each other, it felt like listening to a clever radio play.

The plot is original and the way it is revealed is intriguing. The female characters in particular have strong voices that make you either admire or despise them. There's lots of wit and sume surprising twists and turns. These given maximum effect by the practice of jumping over major events unexpectedly and then disclosing them through interrogation. The actors did a great job, including the inherently unlikable "nameless man".

I listened to the first four hours or so, completely taken up by the story and this narrative form. By the time I was on the sixth hour of this eight hour book,  I'd been reminded of why the novel superseded the play. My imagination began to rebel against and all-dialogue diet and I found myself longing for descriptions and an authorial voice to give this tale more texture.

I enjoyed the book and I've bought the sequel. It will make a great movie, partly because it is already almost a movie script. As a novel it isn't as satisfactory as I'd like it to be. As a play, it evokes some powerful images of places and events and features some very believable dialog but it is a little too long

This has been on my TBR pile so long, the sequel has been published.

I started it today on a long drive and I'm astonished by how good it is.

So far, the book has been either dialogue or first person reportage in the form of reports.This work particularly well in the audiobook version, where there is a different narrator for each character, giving this the feel of an inventive and intriguing radio play.