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orbar1's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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? Yes
4.0
peach_plum_pear_dear's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
trnolan's review
3.0
Intriguing follow-on to Children of Time that is often too clever for its own good.The world building and different forms of alien life are great but I found the constant time jumps and perspective shifts jarring to read. My entire experience with this book felt disjointed as I didn't find myself invested in any of the main characters. It was easy to walk away from for a week and not be too fussed to continue on. And the plot itself got to levels of hand-wavy that were just too much.
ihateprozac's review against another edition
2.0
This one was not for me, I was so intensely bored ;_____;
It took all of the slow and meandering elements I didn't like in the first book and ratcheted them up to 100. If this had been more planet-based and we got to follow the octopodes in closer detail I would've liked it.
Hell, you could've given me 500 pages of just Senkovi being mischievious and difficult
and I would've loved it!
Not a bad book but this style and story did not mesh with me. I wanted more from practically every encounter.
It took all of the slow and meandering elements I didn't like in the first book and ratcheted them up to 100. If this had been more planet-based and we got to follow the octopodes in closer detail I would've liked it.
Hell, you could've given me 500 pages of just Senkovi being mischievious and difficult
and I would've loved it!
Not a bad book but this style and story did not mesh with me. I wanted more from practically every encounter.
hadeanstars's review against another edition
3.0
I barely finished this.
It started well, and picked up seamlessly from the previous instalment - which was okay, if not amazing - so I was always in two minds about whether or not to read this at all, but I have been looking forward to reading some decent sci-fi for a while, hence I picked this up.
Tchaikovsky has a very fertile brain, brimming with ideas and concepts, and you are immediately on a bit of a rollercoaster ride through his wild imagination. You can almost feel the fizz and effervescence of his ideas bubbling and popping away. There is no shortage of originality here.
On the other hand, it feels like there is very little steadiness in his style. It feels like it needs an anchor, something to weigh it down and stop it brimming over with its own intellectual excitement. In the end it starts to become just a little too airy and zingy.
The book started really well and somewhere in the middle it seemed to get into its groove. There is a section where, on the planet Nod, an alien life form is encountered. The story became very creepy at this point, and an element of high-strangeness crept in. I was really engaged by this, because that is what I look for in good sci-if, concepts and experiences which are truly alien. But they also need to be rooted in some kind of emotional or visceral sensation. In my (very humble) opinion, the author really needs to work on making emotional connections with his characters. It is in the juxtaposition of the human and the alien that sci-fi stands or falls. Tchaikovsky does the alien very well, the human? Not so well, perhaps.
I rate this at 5/10. It’s good for the science and the excitement of sheer invention, but it fails - ultimately - because the characterisation is kind of weak.
It started well, and picked up seamlessly from the previous instalment - which was okay, if not amazing - so I was always in two minds about whether or not to read this at all, but I have been looking forward to reading some decent sci-fi for a while, hence I picked this up.
Tchaikovsky has a very fertile brain, brimming with ideas and concepts, and you are immediately on a bit of a rollercoaster ride through his wild imagination. You can almost feel the fizz and effervescence of his ideas bubbling and popping away. There is no shortage of originality here.
On the other hand, it feels like there is very little steadiness in his style. It feels like it needs an anchor, something to weigh it down and stop it brimming over with its own intellectual excitement. In the end it starts to become just a little too airy and zingy.
The book started really well and somewhere in the middle it seemed to get into its groove. There is a section where, on the planet Nod, an alien life form is encountered. The story became very creepy at this point, and an element of high-strangeness crept in. I was really engaged by this, because that is what I look for in good sci-if, concepts and experiences which are truly alien. But they also need to be rooted in some kind of emotional or visceral sensation. In my (very humble) opinion, the author really needs to work on making emotional connections with his characters. It is in the juxtaposition of the human and the alien that sci-fi stands or falls. Tchaikovsky does the alien very well, the human? Not so well, perhaps.
I rate this at 5/10. It’s good for the science and the excitement of sheer invention, but it fails - ultimately - because the characterisation is kind of weak.
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.