Adrian Tchaikovsky's Epic Tale of Intergenerational Conflict in "Children of Time"

Linda Gail: Intelligent story. Clearly the author has reams of research to guide the detailed descriptions of the various beings who are vital to the plot. The novel moves like a symphony masterpiece, slow tempo crescendo leading to a dizzying array of tempo, volume and the intricate notes of possible catastrophe. How would it end? I had to know. Thank you, Adrian Tchaikovsky!

United States on Jan 03, 2024

Susan Donaldson: Well written novel of interstellar travel and evolution. Found thr central characters to be worth rooting for, and the convention of using repeating names for characters of the later generation was easy to follow. Looking forward to the sequel.

United States on Jan 02, 2024

Amazon Customer: I don't read much hard SF, but this story was absorbing and fascinating. I connected with the characters and their struggles. I definitely want to read more in this series. I saw some arguments online about whether this book is hopeful or depressing. I think, like the proverbial water glass, it depends on your perspective. I found this book inspiring.

United States on Dec 27, 2023

Teri: I was completely smitten with this book about 2 chapters in. Engrossing plot, engaging and interesting characters and epic beyond my ability to describe. I ordered the second and third books immediately and have thoroughly enjoyed all three and read them all in the same week. This series joins the scant few books I deem worthy of reading more than once. Highly recommend.

Canada on Dec 05, 2023

Amazon Customer: Très bon livre

France on Dec 02, 2023

Annemieke: Not used to reading SF, but did enjoy this a lot. Bit slow in the middle part, but greatly interesting.

Germany on Nov 20, 2023

Lillemor: Fast shipping, book was in great condition.

Sweden on Sep 25, 2023

R. Stewart: Children of Time is certainly a science fiction epic in the sense of being impressive in size and scope. Originally written as a standalone, it became Tchaikovsky's best-selling novel and so, of course, has spawned sequels. This first book in the series is a chunky 600 pages, and the action of the story covers thousands of years of future history.

The novel begins sometime in the far future aboard a space station orbiting a distant planet that has been terraformed and is on the brink of the next stage of development. Under the guidance of Dr. Arvana Kern, primates will be introduced into the ecosystem along with an uplift virus that will speed their evolution. (The station isn't named Brin 2 for nothing.) Being no fan of the directions that humanity has taken, Kern intends to nurture a new intelligent species that may perhaps avoid some of the mistakes her own has made. Things go catastrophically wrong during the setup stage, however, and through a series of events that strain credulity just a bit, the virus is introduced into the planet's atmosphere but the monkeys don't survive. Kern becomes the only surviving human member of the expedition after a coup attempt. Her own...

United States on Jun 26, 2023

Ada Chivers (@soterradaporlivros): Acho que a última vez que me empolguei com uma ficção científica contemporânea nesse nível foi com A quinta estação de Jemisin.

Algo nesse livro me lembrou a série Rama do Clarke, mesmo que a história em si não tenha nada a ver.

E eu não consigo decidir nem qual POV eu gostem mais.

Também nunca imaginei o tanto que eu ia torcer pra aranhas, nem o tanto que eu ia amar um personagem humano numa história com tantos personagens incríveis.

O melhor desse livro é que mesmo tendo continuações, ele faz sentido sozinho e a história dele tem um final.

Mas eu não vejo a hora de ler o próximo.

Brazil on Apr 16, 2023

Peter Wall: About 15 years ago, after being disappointed by the ending of the Wachowskis' Matrix movies, it occurred to me that it would have been much more satisfying to learn that The Machines were not "machines" at all, but instead the engineered descendants of elite humans, whose will and consciousness they still embodied. That story could have been a powerful fable of the ways that people abuse and entrap each other into diseased social relations, and how true peace would have entailed a reunification of a species separated so long ago. Instead it was just a muddled and one-sided story of revolution against—what? Oppressive "systems" personified?

So, after getting past the first few ham-handed pages of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, and the bodily antics of the weirdly juvenile, unbelievably flat, and deeply unlikable Avrana Kern—who plays better as a garbled piece of software than as a physical person—I was excited for the possibilities implied by the setup. "Did Tchaikovsky have the same response to the Matrix movies that I did, but more productively?" I wondered.

The book is extremely well-paced, with reasonably short chapters alternating between two...

United States on Apr 28, 2019