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Children of Ruin (The Children of Time Novels) Kindle Edition
'My most anticipated book of the year' - Peter F. Hamilton, Britain's no.1 science fiction writer
Children of Ruin follows Adrian Tchaikovsky's extraordinary Children of Time, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award. It is set in the same universe, with new characters and a thrilling narrative.
It has been waiting through the ages. Now it's time . . .
Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life – but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time.
Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth.
But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed.
And it’s been waiting for them.
'Books like this are why we read science fiction'
- Ian McDonald, author of the Luna series
All underpinned by great ideas. And it is crisply modern - but with the sensibility of classic science fiction'
Stephen Baxter, author of the Long Earth series (with Terry Pratchett)
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTor
- Publication dateMay 16, 2019
- Reading age18 years and up
- File size2751 KB
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Get to know this book
What's it about?
The astonishing sequel to Children of Time, the award-winning novel of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.Popular highlight
Only by accepting the other can it truly find diversion and inspiration; only by allowing the universe to be separate from it can it have the infinite variety it craves.807 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Senkovi’s personal theory was that the pressure of being in the middle of the food chain was an essential prerequisite for complex intelligence. Like humans (and like Portiid spiders, had he only known), octopuses had developed in a world where they were both hunter and hunted. Top predators, in Senkovi’s assessment, were an intellectual dead end.610 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
And so if Viola’s state of mind is not exactly like Human grief, it is still a mournful acknowledgement that the world of today is at variance with the world of yesterday, and today is not the richer for it.504 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
But then, when you’re designing an interface to let molluscs play computer games you probably don’t build in that much security.145 Kindle readers highlighted this
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A novel of sublime plot twists and spectacular set pieces, all underpinned by great ideas. And it is crisply modern - but with the sensibility of classic science fiction. Asimov or Clarke might have written this. A hugely satisfying sequel"―Stephen Baxter
"Magnificent. This is the big stuff -- the really big stuff. Rich in wisdom and Humanity (note the 'H'), with a Stapledonian sweep and grandeur. Books like this are why we read science-fiction."―Ian McDonald
"Children of Ruin is wonderful - big, thinky SF that feels classic without being mired in the past, absolutely crammed with fun ideas. Anyone who likes sweeping, evolutionary-scale stories will love this."―Django Wexler
"Once again, Tchaikovsky performs all the wonders of the first book, while at the same time making some quantum jumps in his sequel ... the underlying message of persisting through misunderstandings, fear, and hatred until harmony and new balances are reached is not just preached, but embodied in thrills both corporeal and intellectual. Tchaikovsky's good sense of pacing and his ability to make arcane scenes and concepts vividly transparent all contribute to a winning tale ... With the guiding spirit of Poul Anderson hovering over his shoulder, and the buttressing work of peers like Vernor Vinge and Paul McAuley standing to either side, Tchaikovsky has made that rare transition from master of fantasy to master of SF."―Locus
"Children of Time is a joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human."―Patrick Ness
"Brilliant science fiction and far out world building."―James McAvoy on Children of Time
"A refreshingly new take on post-dystopia civilizations, with the smartest evolutionary worldbuilding you'll ever read."
―Peter F Hamilton on Children of Time
"Like a Stephen Baxter novel with an epic sweep of history (see his Evolution, for example), added to a broad cast of a Peter Hamilton Space Opera and the narrative drive of, say, a David Brin or a Greg Bear old style SF novel, Children of Time soon got me hooked."―SFF World on Children of Time
"Children of Time has that essence of the classic science fiction novels, that sense of wonder and unfettered imagination but combined with this is the charm of a writer who really knows how to entertain, how to spin a good story. Essential science fiction, a book not to be missed."
―SF Book on Children of Time
"The novel's clever interrogation of the usual narrative of planetary conquest, and its thoughtful depiction of two alien civilisations attempting to understand each other, is an exemplar of classic widescreen science fiction."―New Scientist on Children of Time
"This is superior stuff, tackling big themes - gods, messiahs, artificial intelligence, alienness - with brio."―Financial Times on Children of Time
"An entertaining and thought provoking novel of post humanity, survival and legacy."―SF Signal on Children of Time
"Tchaikovsky's prose is superb, and his world building was exceptional, brilliantly realized on the page, and both fascinating and original."―Civilian Reader on Children of Time
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B07KPMJ7V9
- Publisher : Tor (May 16, 2019)
- Publication date : May 16, 2019
- Language : English
- File size : 2751 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 576 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #254,139 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #707 in Hard Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #1,468 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #2,082 in First Contact Science Fiction eBooks
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind, possibly excepting his son. Catch up with Adrian at www.shadowsoftheapt.com for further information about both himself and the insect-kinden, together with bonus material including short stories and artwork. Author Website: http://shadowsoftheapt.com/
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I wouldn't recommend picking this book up without reading the first book in the series, "Children of Time." Tchaikovski doesn't spend a lot of time explaining who the Portiids are or where they come from, details that give some weight (not to mention plausibility) to the events as they unfold. That said, I really liked this book, can't wait to start the third one. The unexpectedly gentle ending to this tale only pricks one's imagination as to where the next one is going.
I have a little fantasy about Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time series. I imagine he read Nagel's effusion and said to himself, "Utter nonsense! I'm gonna show that I can imagine not only what it's like to be a bat, but even what it's like to be a spider or an octopus!" (Nagel in fact raises the question of invertebrate experience in his essay, only to make the point that it is an even harder problem than bat consciousness.) I don't know whether this is true. However, I would be willing to bet that Tchaikovsky has read Nagel's essay, and is familiar with the literature of Philosophy of Mind. For instance, technical terms from that field show up in Children of Ruin.
I would describe Tchaikovsky as a "hard science fiction author". So far I have read only two of his novels, but they are clearly based in science. This doesn't mean the science is always right or in accord with what scientists now believe (it is, after all, _speculative_ fiction and science _fiction_), but that when he departs from science he does so knowingly, and with more justification than Star Trek-style technobabble.
Tchaikovsky's plot based on the attempt to imagine himself into spider brains worked very well, in my opinion, in Children of Time. I fell in love with the Portias, Fabians, and Bianca's of spider history on Kern's planet and found their history engrossing. It worked less well for me in Children of Ruin. It is not so much that he succeeded less well with the octopuses. I think that is true. (I loved the Pauls and Ruths less than the Portias and Fabians.) But it is a minor problem. The bigger problem is that he let the technical stuff take over too much. It became more textbook-like than story-like. I didn't believe in the weird alien memory bacteria he invented and had a hard time caring a lot about them.
Still I intend to go on and read Children of Memory. Any review that says, "I'm gonna keep on reading this guy!" counts as a positive review!
Top reviews from other countries
The story itself is really good, if at times a *little* similar too its predecessor. Also, there was one event at the beginning that felt a bit too...... convenient for the sake of story telling. But overall, it was just as entertaining as the first, and some of the best sci-fi I've read in a while.
The spiders and Humans of Kern's world have made their first interstellar spacecraft. This is still a sub-light-speed craft, with the crew going into cold-sleep during the long period between stars. When they arrive in a new system, they find it inhabited by both native lifeforms and some, non-human, descendants of the human terraforming mission. There is conflict amongst the descendants of Earth, and we join them at a critical point in their society's history. This allows the crew from Kern's world to interact with different factions, and with the life which did not originate on Earth.
The timing of the expedition's arrival is very convenient for the story, but I suppose it was necessary for the plot. The fact that they happen to come across a damaged craft, being flung out of the system, just as they arrive, given the huge area it could have emerged from, and the precise timing, did seem rather contrived. There were other coincidences or convenient timings, but on the whole you could see the necessity of these to the plot. They were the main issue I would take with the book. They did work to get the ideas across, but, given the time spans covered by the first book, this could, perhaps have been done differently. The existential threats to the Human and Portiid races did not seem as great, or as imminent as in the first book, so the compressed time frame probably also served to heighten the tension of the narrative.
I thought the first book was slightly better, but it was a hard act to follow, and this one had all the ideas, the excellent writing, interesting characters and character development you could wish for. Even the AI remnants fo Avrana Kern, got to have some personal development, which was an
hildren of time but not as good. I hope the next one brings a plot as God and as original as the first book.