Another sci-fi book lent to me by my
boss. It was a personal favourite
of his, partly because the writer is a local boy (hails from Quebec) and partly because the novel reads like a screenplay (it was also written originally in English for accessibility). The hardback languished on my desk at work for a number of months. My company was undergoing renovations, so I had to move to a different area (after years and years of staying put!). I finally decided to take the book home with me to read.
The story unfolded in the epistolary format where each chapter featured a character being interviewed by a high-ranking government agent.
The writing was easy to read but I didn’t really like it. Characterizations were rather two-dimensional and the dialogue often hokey and somewhat juvenile. There were parts that were amusing and enjoyable, but the overall style was rather derivative and clichéd.
Olman was interested in reading Sleeping Giants after I was done. Although I gave him fair warning about how I didn’t like it, he thought he should read it out of obligation as the writer is Quebecois. When he finished he had similar feelings as I although he was more generous in his review.
SG is first in a trilogy of which my boss has all the books. When I informed him that I finished SG, he immediately offered to lend me the rest. I rather abruptly declined, saying that I needed to catch up with other books in my pile, which was true, but I still felt a bit awkward about my sudden refusal! This book was just not for me.
