The team that assembled the giant alien robot known as Themis in 2015's Sleeping Giants never really got answers about who left the machine behind and why. They face a terrifying escalation of the mystery in this sequel as a new robot lands in London. The new machine, even bigger than the colossal Themis, unleashes a violent attack on the city. Worse, there are more robots landing at every major population center on the globe. The Themis team might be the only hope for humanity's survival. Rose, the original discoverer of the first piece of Themis, has an especially intriguing arc, questioning her very existence. VERDICT Darker than the first book, this entry maintains the effective format of a compiled history of interviews, news items, and official journal entries. This series' thoughtful yet action-packed nature would make for a great film, and in fact, the rights were sold to Sony Pictures before the first volume came out. [See Prepub Alert, 10/31/16.]—MM

In the much-hailed Sleeping Giants, a South Dakota girl falls through the earth into a huge metal hand and as an adult leads the team puzzling over that hand's provenance and meaning. In this sequel, bits and pieces of that sleeping giant have been discovered and assembled, but now a second giant has appeared. Film rights optioned by Sony.

Neuvel's sequel to Sleeping Giants, told through interviews, reports, emails, and other documents, shares the first volume's successes and flaws. Earth has been gifted with a gigantic robot, Themis, now crewed by Capt. Kara Resnik and civilian consultant Vincent Couture. Its ostensible purpose is to protect the Earth from danger. Another robot appears in the center of London and turns hostile after being surrounded by the British military; in a scene reminiscent of The War of the Worlds, it wipes out half of the city. Using Themis, Resnik and Couture destroy the alien machine, though more through luck than skill. Soon a dozen more giant machines show up in great cities around the world and begin to systematically exterminate humans. Not even Themis would seem to have any hope of defeating them. The epistolary nature of the narrative sometimes comes across as artificial, and the slangy dialogue is repetitive and annoying. Still, this is an exciting adventure story, unusually presented, and should particularly appeal to readers of the first volume. (Apr.)