A review by araebird
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

At first I found it difficult to get behind a main character that's also a spider, let alone entire spider colonies. But Tchaikovsky makes it so easy to root for them, and by the end of the book Portia and Bianca were my favourite characters. The units of time are so immense that at times it's difficult to comprehend, but I loved being able to see the evolution fo the spiders over thousands of years. 

Listening to the audiobook alongside the physical book helped make sense of Dr Kern's predicament
while her sanity declines and merges with a computer
. While there are some science-y elements in this book, it's not at all hard to follow, and if you don't understand them you'll still be able to follow the plot. If you're normally a high-fantasy reader who wants to get into sci-fi, this is a good book to start with since it follows multiple perspectives throughout.
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