Children of Time

Brilliant mind. Loved it. No notes. Best ending. I can’t wait to find what the rest of the trilogy brings.

There's at least three valid storylines in this book that maybe had been superior if they were given opportunity to breathe.

The excursions of the transport ship could've been kept separate from the spider verse, and they barely intersect to begin with. Humanity slowly discovering ancient relics of its past could be interesting in its own right.

I don't know. Some of the problems on the human side of the story felt somewhat contrived.

The opening scene of

Children of Time is a barrel of monkeys exploding in space, which is pretty iconic.

Jokes aside, the scene sets the tone for the entire novel. There are the favorites of science fiction: the arrogance of humanity, the fallen human condition not necessarily applying to humanity's creations, and so on. However, the novel also deftly examines what "growth" means, both in a personal sense (through the eyes of Holston) and in the sense of a civilization (through the many generations of Portia). This, ultimately, is a novel about growth through time—and how a lifespan plays into mortal condition.

The plot sounds simple enough. Humans want to land on a terraformed planet, only to discover life is already there. However, it is the layers of this plot that make this novel truly unique. Tchaikovsky's prose is brilliant, and he builds detail upon detail of a post-Earth humanity and a burgeoning society of sentient spiders(!). These sympathetic characters, both human and arachnid, are the novel's strengths, but if prose and structure could have a sidekick, the creative technology--an "unhuman" approach to human engineering problems-- would fill that role.

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time is one of the best science fiction stories I have read recently, and perhaps ever.

The author interweaves the story of a colony of (very relatable) spiders on a distant planet, unintentionally uplifted and augmented by an ancient human terraforming project, with the needs of a generational ship full of humans who must find a planet to live on.

Everything happens over hundreds of years, but the narrative is very fluid and shows a great continuity, complicit with the fact that the humans on the ship benefit from hibernation technology that lets them experience only the key events of their struggle to find a new home, and sleep during downtime.

Chapters about humans and spiders alternate, often ending with important milestones or events. This makes the book a real page-turner, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat to see what other unexpected things will happen next, no matter which of the two narratives the reader enjoys more.

The most fascinating aspect of the book for me is how Tchaikovsky wisely uses his background in zoology to describe a fairly plausible evolution of the arachnids, including aspects such as religion, gender roles, social norms, and technology. There is always a reason why things evolve the way they do, and that reason follows solid rules of nature and science.

This is very intelligent science fiction, and the way the author describes the evolution of the spiders reminded me a bit of how Andy Weir described the nature and physiology of the aliens in "Project Hail Mary".

I was a bit on the fence when the story reached a point where a conflict between the two species arose. After all I had read, it was impossible to choose a side, as I felt sympathy for both groups of protagonists, although the humans are a constant carousel of violence for centuries. The ending is surprising.

It's a 5/5 for me, and I recommend the novel to anyone interested in intelligent science fiction.

One of my favorite sci-fi novels of all time, and one I'll definitely revisit. It may not be as ethically/thematically complex as some of my other favorites (e.g. Octavia Butler's Dawn), but in terms of premise/imagination and pacing, it's just astounding. "Page turner" is cliche, but this was definitely that. Lost some nights of sleep because I couldn't put it down.

I found this book because it was mentioned as being similar to Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep / A Deepness in the Sky, which are also some of my favorites. The shared theme is: the way a species evolves determines much of its culture as it becomes a society—what would it be like to interact with those divergent cultures, and could we find enough common ground for empathy?

This was my first Tchaikovsky novel, and since then I've read the rest of this series as well as a handful of his other books. They've all been good experiences, but this was the high water mark.

Kind of mediocre in every way. The writing is simple and serviceable, the plot was neat at times but not as mind-blowing as I was led to believe, the parallel storylines make you want to keep reading but the pacing dragged through the middle overall, the characters were pretty flat.

“And yet it seems that building the future is never so simple. Each thread always leads to another, and there is no easy way to stop spinning.”

What an absurdly long slow book! I almost gave up many times but FINALLY the story started progressing towards something less drawn out than the beginning chapters of the book around 75% of the way through, and then REALLY kicked into gear around 83% in. The last part of the book would be 4 stars but the overall slog of getting through everything else puts this at a ~3.4.

With that said, very interesting world/concept, with a wonderful message at the end about empathy and working together to solve problems through different perspectives.

I feel like the line from The Simpsons suffices here. When Bart catches Lisa and Marge staring at shoes, he says, "Speaking of shoes, I don't care about shoes." I feel like this fits my opinion of this book. "Speaking of spiders, I don't care about spiders."

Giant spiders stretched my suspension of disbelief a little too far. Giant spiders that are basically like humans except spiders? Too much for me to believe. Also...I don't *hate* spiders, but I'm not really their biggest fans, either. The idea of a giant colony of humungous spiders makes me cringe a little.

I got 25% through it and then decided that it's too much. If the spiders are the good guys and I'm not enjoying their chapters, then there's not much hope for me, is there?

Spiders

Intriguing sci-fi with a wonderful ending. The book becomes a little slow and repetitive in middle but last 30 percent makeup for it. The rise in spider culture over a long time is very fascinating. It shows how science fiction can be about small insects' life rather than always need to be just space travel( even though the book has a parallel track about that). Overall good book.