BOOK REVIEW: Only Human (Themis Files, #3) by Sylvain Neuvel

This is the third and final book in the Themis Files trilogy by Sylvain Neuvel. The premise of the series is based around the discovery of a huge metallic hand which corresponds to a 200-foot-tall humanoid robot. It turns out that 3,000 years ago aliens visited Earth and left behind pieces of a giant robot (which when it is put together and made functional in the first book (Sleeping Giants) becomes known as Themis). Themis is (or can be) a paradigm-altering weapon that disrupts the status quo among global superpowers. In the second book (Waking Gods), more giant robots show up and the reader is wracked with suspense as we try and figure out if these are “good aliens” or “bad aliens” and the subsequent implications for the survival of humanity.  Luckily, the answer is far more nuanced than one would expect. The third book carries the story forward from the events of the first two but changes (and in some sense, narrows) the focus of the plot dramatically. Without giving too much away, the primary tension in the plot of Only Human becomes one of escape from troubling circumstances and interpersonal/intergenerational disputes between parent and child. Oh, and the question of whether humanity will be exterminated is an ever-present possibility in the background that continues.

The main distinguishing aspect of these books are textual and functional, i.e. not related to the actual story being told. By this I mean HOW the story is presented not WHAT story is presented. To be specific, the story is told in the 3rd person, through reports, transcripts, news articles, government reports et cetera. This is an interesting literary device which I think works in the first and second books but feels a bit hackneyed by the time we have reached the third. (It’s possible that could just be my own reaction and YMMV). My weariness with the lack of direct storytelling that is an integral feature of these books (I believe) had a negative impact on my overall enjoyment of the 3rd book in the series. In my opinion the third book Only Human is not as good as either Waking Gods (which was the best entry in the series) or the first, Sleeping Giants. It looks like Goodreads readers agree with me, because the first book (which has well over 42,000 ratings has an average score of 3.84) while the second book is up to 4.09 with nearly 18,000 ratings and the recently released final entry has about 6,000 ratings and an average of 3.73.

Anyway, I am glad that I read the entire Themis Files trilogy and I think the series will make a helluva screen adaptation when (or if) that inevitably occurs in the future.

Title: Only Human (Themis Files, #3)
Author: Sylvain Neuvel.
Paperback: 352 pages.
Publisher: Random House.
Date Published: May 1, 2018.
Date Read: July 15, 2018.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★½☆  (3.5/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A-/B+ (3.5/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A-.