The Themis Files trilogy
Sylvain Neuvel
★★★★★ 2.5/5
Science Fiction: aliens; giant robots
Great first book; disappointing series overall
If I were to rate the first book in the Themis Files Trilogy, Sleeping Giants, by itself, I’d give it a solid three and a half stars. But what started off as a promising read eventually devolved by the end of book three into what I can only describe as juvenile fantasy. I believe I might have quite enjoyed this book as a teenager. Though now, as a more discerning reader of sci-fi, I have to file this under wish I had a time machine so I could get my time back!
Promising Start
The Trilogy kicks off with great promise. In Sleeping Giants. Rose Franklin, as a child, stumbles upon a mysterious artifact that on investigation has every indication of being alien in origin having been left behind some time in the distant past. Over time, this initiates a search for other parts of what is eventually discovered to be a gigantic alien Robot weapon. The narration evokes a sense of a grand wonder and curiosity requisite of first contact stories. In many ways this was reminiscent of that Arthur C. Clarke classic – Rendezvous with Rama.
The discovery has global repercussion, kicking off a power struggle as Russia and America vie for access to the powerful weapon. The characters and their relationships are well written and include among them a mysterious deep state actor with seemingly limitless power to influence people into doing his bidding— who is trying to both control the overall situation as well as defuse the international tension, in the interest of all Earth. The story is largely told through interviews conducted by this character (whose name we are never to know). The rest of it through the personal logs of the other characters. This makes the narrative fast paced and Mr. Neuvel has a flair for entertaining dialogue.
Aliens: check. Science: umm... absent
There’s quite a fanciful reason presented for the presence of aliens and alien technology on earth and an even more far fetched claim that aliens live amongst us, unrecognized! But there is hardly any explanation of how their technology works—not even a working hypothesis. These aliens are technologically advanced, so they can do magic, seems to be the premise. This is somewhat acceptable within the premise of the first book. There’s enough hooks in there that made me pick up books two and three. But the lack of meaningful storytelling begins to grate further in the series.
The more chips you put on the table, the harder it becomes to fold
Promise broken
Things begin to get downright ludicrous in books two and three with doozies that stretch credulity. *Minor spoilers ahead* The aliens’ genetics is not DNA (or RNA) based but somehow they have managed to transfer some of their genes to humans over thousands of years. There’s a colony full of them living incognito among us for thousands of years! The only real weapon and transportation device they appear to have are giant robots that can cause all sorts of havoc but get this: can only be piloted if there are two beings present inside each AND they cannot fly or hover but can apparently teleport at faster than light speed! At some point some humans end up on the aliens’ planet and we are introduced to their language, politics and inter planetary dynamics this world is dealing with. These all feel half baked and poorly thought through including the alien language which should have been more interesting since it’s right up Mr. Neuvel’s alley with his training in linguistics.
I could go on and on but will stop by saying that where book one hit the high notes of grand speculation quite well, by the end of book three, I was left feeling I had just watched an episode of Johnny Sokko and his Giant Robot, a TV series I enjoyed immensely—as a kid!
Tread with caution
Give the first book a read perhaps. I strongly advise staying away from the rest. But if you disregard this caveat emptor and read the series and crave more of it, be sure to check out the lost files section on the Themis Files website.
2 thoughts on “The Themis Files trilogy”
The first book was entertaining, but slipshod too. Good to read I was right not to continue the series.
Wise choice indeed 🙂