Let me start off by simply saying this is an excellent novel.
It has wide breadth and scope, reminding me of Olaf Stapledon’s ‘Last and First Men’ in that respect, or Herbert’s ‘Dune’ series, and contains some moments of beautifully written prose. The characterisation and worldbuilding are three-dimensional, deep, nicely nuanced, and fully-formed, which is absolutely necessary when a story spans thousands of years; all too easily the reader can fall by the wayside through the lack of connection to a protagonist, or feeling unanchored to the setting due to the passing of millennia.
As always, Tchaikovsky has used SF as it meant to be used – not only to entertain and provide escapism, but to philosophically explore some large and difficult themes; the potential of AI (particularly apt nowadays), messiahs and gods (with all the complexities that they entail), and what does it mean to be alien?
That last one is a big question. All humans have more in common than not, but do we have more in common with animals than plants? If so, do we also have more in common with earth flora and fauna than alien examples? Where does commonality end and alienness begin?
As you can tell, it got me thinking, anyway.
It’s clever, insightful, inventive, and above all, entertaining.
‘Children of Time’ is listed in many places as the first in a series, though the blurb states the novel is a standalone; the sequels are set in the same universe but feature different characters. I haven’t read either of the next two yet but if this opening novel is anything to go by, I will be hunting them down and snaring them for future consumption.
5*
Cover blurb:
“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?”
I am not paid to review or participate in blog tours, and this is my honest opinion.
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