Reviews

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

cdeane61's review against another edition

5.0

Wow, this is a real page turner, even though it spans generations, the story is always current and fresh.

What a great idea, what marvelous execution. If you're looking for updated space opera, this is it.

Will definitely be looking into the sequel.

hugewizard's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? No

5.0

jaimiejaimiejaimie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Spoiler

This would have been 5 stars, but the ending was too neat. Everything ends happily and kumbaya? I expected a struggle for understanding so that alliance was earned!

Otherwise, absolutely loved this book. The world building was awesome, the characters were vivid, and it was so creative. There were some parts that felt written by a male academic, but the rest was so engrossing that I could forgive them. The audiobook reader was excellent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Murder, and Death

enbyglitch's review against another edition

5.0

Simply fantastic. Every time I set an expectation, this book blew it out of the water. Tchaikovsky tackles gender roles, xenophobia, and many problematic faces of human nature while simultaneously telling a better story than any billion dollar sci-fi film.

I also have to praise the storytelling technique: this story is made far more enjoyable for the fact that there are only ~10 essential character names and even fewer locations. Other series with similar time scales could learn a lot from this book!

llaverac's review

adventurous reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

aratecla_the_bookrat's review against another edition

5.0

Absolutely amazing! I've enjoyed reading this book so much. I'd say it touches some of the themes that have always intrigued humans. It depicts a different Earth where humans are not the alpha species and it describes an alternative way of mastering the use of a planet's resources. But as humans are bound to ruin everything just because they think they are entitled to survive as a species above everything else, it's up to someone else to ensure both species survive. It's a story that it could be real some centuries from now and it is so well written I couldn't put the book down. Some things are not as they look if we're willing to look past our own frame of reference. I can't wait to continue the saga

maxed's review against another edition

4.0

Interesting book, I especially liked to see the evolution of spider society. But I feel the author likes his non-human characters a bit too much - they become annoyingly perfect toward the end. Are there no drawbacks to the artificial empathy induced by a nano-virus?

lex23's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

samseybert's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

leonietjeuh's review against another edition

5.0

SPOILERS.

Centuries of evolutionary wonders, pain and joy, only to end up in a prisoner's dilemma?! I refused to read the end for a couple days, but then I realised that the author had not disappointed me a single page, so I continued, and:
5/5 stars. One of my favourite books ever.