Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky – An Audiobook Review

Publisher’s Summary:

Adrian Tchaikovksy’s critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity’s battle for survival on a terraformed planet.

Who will inherit this new Earth?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age – a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind’s worst nightmare.

Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?

 

Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrator: Mel Hudson

Publisher: Audible Studios

Running Time: 16 hrs 30 mins

Audio Release Date: 2/5/2017

My Rating of ‘Children of Time’: 5 out of 5

Purchase: Audible UK, Audible US

 

Review:

This is the second book by Adrian Tchaikovsky that I have reviewed (the first in audio format) and, all I can say is … I’m not sure he’s capable of writing anything that isn’t wonderful.

Children of Time focuses on the remnants of Earth, fleeing for the survival of their very species due to the disastrous aftermath of a civil war. The fleeing humans traverse (quite literally) time and space as they transport large numbers of the population in cold-storage, destined to be woken up when a new home world can be found.

Not only does Children of Time revolve around the struggles of mankind, it also focuses on the struggles of the alien species that mankind are to cross paths with. The book shows us the growth of their civilisation just as it shows us the struggles and pitfalls of mankind. It focuses on both in such a way that you can’t help but become emotionally attached to both … and I never thought I’d become emotionally attached to a race of intelligent, thinking, evolved spiders.

The novel deals with big themes such as science, religion, Artificial Intelligences and how such things impact the societies as they continue to grow. My only slight negative was that I felt the narrator’s range of voices wasn’t as wide as I would have liked. Other than that, it was a thoroughly interesting and engaging book from start to finish.

If I had to pick a favourite part, it would most certainly be the start. It really hooked me like no book has for quite a while. The author really manages to engage the reader extremely quick and kept me hooked from there on out. There is also the fact that you get to essentially watch as one civilisation is built from the ground up and another does it’s best to rebuild after being torn asunder.

Another bonus is that Children of Time is a standalone novel. In this era of huge epic fantasy series spanning twenty books, or epic space operas with has high a book count, I just find it refreshing to see there are still authors out there capable of telling a complete story in one book. I also read a rumour on the internet that this may end up being made into a film at some point in the future. Hopefully that rumour is correct!