The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home. Following their ancestor's star maps, they discovered the greatest treasure of a past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New monsters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare. Now two civilisations are on a collision course and must fight to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
Review of "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky
5 stars
An immensely satisfying story about human advancement and hubris that gave me everything I'm looking for in good sci fi. It's an exciting story filled with twists and turns that touches on deep, familiar ideas in profound and novel ways. There's lots to think about, characters to care about, and story lines to look forward to. The kind of book that gets me looking into the rest of the author's catalog.
Earth is dust, humans are looking for new planets to settle. Generation ships travelling for thousands of years, genetically engineered spiders, failed terraformed planets, first contact, a look into an alien society evolving through the years. Even though there are wars and the classic conflicts for power, I liked the optimistic ending.
I read a Peter F Hamilton book years ago where the story we had been following stopped abruptly and we had a long section explaining the way an alien species developed, dominated its home planet and took to the stars. It was a fun, interesting part, but narratively it was very strange: the story came to a screeching halt while we caught up with what the baddies are up to. I can't remember the name of the book, and I can't be bothered digging it out because it's not like I really recommend reading it anyway...
Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time feels like that concept, but executed significantly more cleverly. The story flits back and forth between the human story and the story of the other species. And the other species are made a lot more interesting and sympathetic than in the Hamilton book.
My one gripe with the book …
I read a Peter F Hamilton book years ago where the story we had been following stopped abruptly and we had a long section explaining the way an alien species developed, dominated its home planet and took to the stars. It was a fun, interesting part, but narratively it was very strange: the story came to a screeching halt while we caught up with what the baddies are up to. I can't remember the name of the book, and I can't be bothered digging it out because it's not like I really recommend reading it anyway...
Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time feels like that concept, but executed significantly more cleverly. The story flits back and forth between the human story and the story of the other species. And the other species are made a lot more interesting and sympathetic than in the Hamilton book.
My one gripe with the book is that the characters are not particularly well fleshed out. It's a book very much focused on the grand story of the fate of humanity, rather than on the specific humans it follows, and so those humans are just plot devices, really.
Incredible! "The smartest evolutionary world-building you'll ever read", indeed! I was not expecting that wonderful ending. I was bracing myself for an ending I would not like, but I was wrong!
