Children of Time

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

hardcover, 608 pages

English language

Published May 31, 2015 by Tor.

ISBN:: 978-1-4472-7328-8

(7 reviews)

A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?

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 …

A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?

WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?

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?

3 editions

Pretty Greene Leaves 🌿 reviewed Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time, #1)

A book about loving the unloved

5 stars

This book is more Star Trek than Star Trek. It embodies the ideals of infinite diversity in infinite combinations in a way that struck me to my heart. It stretches our minds to consider the most alien and for many people the most feared animals as having the capacity to be people, with just a little help. In all of his work, Adrian Tchaikovsky is a bull in the china shop of our delicate distinctions and artificial barriers between "thing" and "not thing".

Sam reviewed Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time, #1)

Good ending, didn't care for the human portions

3 stars

Content warning Discussion of the ending

For most of this book I didn't expect to continue with the rest of the series. I very much enjoyed the spider scenes and seeing their culture, values, and technology evolve over time, but I didn't much care for any of the human scenes until right at the end.

One aspect that I particularly liked is that, ironically, the spiders are effectively Humanist at the end while the humans take on the place of the un-evolved animals who think of the spiders in a predator/prey relationship. The spiders then turn the tables and uplift the humans in the same way (and using the same mechanism) that the humans originally uplifted their civilization (except by bootstrapping empathy instead of sentience). It brought the whole thing to a nice conclusion in a circular way and made me decide to try the second book as well.

Michael Haider reviewed Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time, #1)

A Pleasant Surprise

5 stars

What a great book. I'm so happy I went back to it, and I'm looking forward to starting the second book in the trilogy, probably in the new year.

I would highly recommend this to any and all sci fi fans.

WagesOf reviewed Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time, #1)

Fresh

4 stars

Content warning too many legs

What a cool ride. I did not expect to have the giant spiders to end up as the bosses at the end!

Kenobit reviewed Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time, #1)

Fantascienza e... ragni

5 stars

Una storia di scienza e tecnologia da una prospettiva completamente inaspettata. Un ragionamento molto interessante sul linguaggio e sulla terraformazione.

peoplelikedogs reviewed Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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5 stars

This was extremely good. Dunno why it took me a really long time to read... i kinda stalled out really hard halfway through but I suspect it was unrelated to the book itself and more just me. The end was really fun. I wasn't planning to read the sequel but I think I will now?

Tiago Dall'Igna

rated it

Jan. 25, 2021