Book Review: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

A while back I saw a BlueSky post from Reactor magazine that asked users what modern sci-fi books or series would likely become classics. Children of Time was one of them, and one that I hadn't already read. Coincidentally, I also noticed a friend of mind had recently reviewed it on Goodreads so I decided to give it a shot. Here's the official blurb:

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning 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?

Read on for my spoiler-free review (except for the species on the planet, which some blurbs also reveal).

Overall Impression

This was a fascinating book. It feels a bit like the old sci-fi classics that really focus on a concept and go all out with it. There isn't much in terms of character and the plot is fairly straightforward, but the idea of the setting and this long journey through time experienced by two different societies is great. Despite not being a fan of insects in general it was enjoyable, though I didn't look up what Portia spiders looked like until after I finished the story.

Plot

The story is told through two main points of view. In one, we have the humans navigating a long journey through the stars. Every so often Holsten Mason, a historian, is woken up from suspension and gets to witness or participate in events separated by decades or even hundreds of years. In the other, we witness the evolution of a type of spider, among other creatures, in the planet. These are fascinating as they are alien, but relatable, and their stories are told through generations and with a bit of an omniscient view. While the characters are different between each generation, they share similar names to make it easier to remember. It was a good narrative style and it was interesting parallel thoughts between spiders and humans as they progress through their lives.

Characters

The story spans such a long time that there aren't really stable characters. There are a few long-lived humans that come out of suspension or interact through it, including Holsten Mason, Isa Lain, Avrana Kern, and others. A lot of the human side of the story is from Mason's point of view. On the spider side, we have repeated generations featuring Portia, Bianca, Fabian, and others. Portia tends to take the lead, but not always to a good end. Bianca tends to be more of a scientist and Fabian a social or cultural revolutionary.

Setting / World Building

The premise of this story is great. This is a far future story where at one point humans were advanced enough to set up terraforming stations with viruses to speed up natural evolution. Their goal of setting up livable worlds was interrupted and now, thousands of years later, the remnants of humanity have found one of these worlds. They refer to the Old Empire as the glory days of humanity with all the technological advances as such, since the remnants are barely holding on and do not have the same level of tech as before. What would otherwise be a simple landing is complicated by the fact that the planet is guarded and the planet's life has evolved differently than expected. I'm personally not a huge fan of spiders or insects in general, but it was interesting to see how society would look like if they were the dominant intelligent life forms.

Final Thoughts

This was a great book and I see why it has won awards and is generally regarded in a positive light. While the characters are basic, they are nonetheless interesting and the plot is straightforward enough to keep the focus on the setting. The setting is excellent and the way the two societies, one human, one spider, is explored is clever. I enjoyed both viewpoints and wish we had gotten more time after they merged together, but maybe that is a story for the second novel? I look forward to reading the other novels in this series and finding out.