Reviews

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

karenina4777's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

matt_taff's review

adventurous informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

sueodd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

das_hoffman's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Was surprised at the tonal shift between this second book in the series and the first. Overall, this book built on the storyline in a meaningful and gripping way. Was more or less engrossed in the story the entire time. Fantastic sequel. 

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad tense slow-paced

3.75

Thought it was a good sequel. Felt different enough from the first and felt like it was expanding the universe of the book.

The added element of

horror

was really fantastic and I thought was done super well.

I liked the structure better than the first book, where instead of jumping back and forth chapter after chapter, we spent longer chunks of time with each plot thread. 

Some parts were very difficult for me to visualize so I found a bit confusing. 

I wish the characters were more developed! 

Around the 60-70% mark it was dragging a bit and I wished the plot were a bit tighter.

madden1706's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

patsywatsymatsy's review

3.0

This was... a disappointment. I felt like it lacked the emotional impact the first book had. The middle portion of the book felt like it dragged on forever. I felt like reading this was a chore, whilst the first book was pure joy. I feel like whilst the prose is beautiful the ideas were recycled and just felt like the first book re packaged. I am curious about the final installment but will read something else as I might need some time between the different installments to appreciate them more. 

lakmus's review against another edition

4.0

Cogsci adventures in space continue! We now have: spider-human communication interfaces being developed with risk to life and limb, evolved octopuses only recognising visiting humans as real sentient species when humans are on the verge of hysteria (because emotions are the mark of intelligent life, *obviously, duh*), and a parasite thingy that just really wants to learn about the world but messes things up a bit and accidentally absorbs everything in its path and nearly extinguishes a neighbouring civilisation. (it's sorry, it knows better now, it's joining us on the space adventures in the future).

imoskowitz's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

killerstickman's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0