Children of Time
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4.4 • 1.8K Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Adrian Tchaikovsky's Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.
Who will inherit this new Earth?
The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.
Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
There’s nothing better than a thrilling adventure that makes you think. Children of Time features a mad scientist made even madder by AI technology, a planet ruled by intelligent spiders, and a spaceship carrying the last survivors of a decimated Earth. This may sound like the ingredients for a standard-issue science fiction potboiler, but Adrian Tchaikovsky’s story raises profound philosophical questions, delves deep into hard (if speculative) science, and boasts a sophisticated plot that unfolds over eons while maintaining real suspense. Children of Time is solid proof that pulp doesn’t have to be mindless to be fun!
Customer Reviews
A questionable 4/5 (spoilers)
Overall I liked the book, it’s well imagined and well written. As someone with a fear of spiders there were some parts in the beginning when I thought I would give up on it out of shear heeby jeebies.
I have some significant issues with it though. There’s maybe more suspension of disbelief required than average for even a scifi book, things like…
Kern not thinking to see if the nano virus would impact insects in a similar way that it impacts vertebrates.
The ever-increasingly insane ways the spiders figure out how to use the ants, and what they end up capable of. Specifically where it jumped the shark in this regard is when they somehow have “downloaded” Kern’s mind into a colony of ants and they can converse with her and she retains sentience.
The last thing I would call out is the book seems to want you to side with the spiders and cast them in this David vs Goliath light. The problem with that is by the latter half of the book the spiders actually become Goliath and the humans are David.
The humans are not coming to this world with a fleet of advanced warships to easily wipe out the inhabitants. It’s a single ship that’s basically a glorified 747 passenger plane with a few guns added. Ultimately leading up to the final battle you realize the humans don’t stand a chance at all, which removes any of the tension we should otherwise feel for the spiders.
These things aren’t enough to bring it down to a 3/5, but it’s still far from my top 5-10 favorite sci-fi novels.
A great read
Incredibly imaginative, a must read for sci-fi buffs.
A classic that should be read early in life
Truly impressive vision of one of humanity’s possible paths, time compressed through hibernation. The technological paths and antithetical perspectives presented in the story set this tale on the top shelf, and left this reader thankful for a wider lens from which to view the universe.