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?

Listening Length

16 hours and 31 minutes
Author

Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrator

Mel Hudson
Audible release date

2 May 2017
Language

English
Publisher

Audible Studios
ASIN

B071Y9TQB9
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	16 hours and 31 minutes
Author	Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrator	Mel Hudson
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	02 May 2017
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B071Y9TQB9
Best Sellers Rank	390 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 1 in Space Exploration Science Fiction 2 in First Contact Science Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 10 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction

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Top reviews from Australia

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Stella

Hard to go wrong with Spiders in Space!

Reviewed in Australia on 13 September 2020

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Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky describes the evolution of a sentient spider civilisation, following the spiders from pre-sentience through to a spider space age. And really, how can you go wrong with spiders in space?)

The novel alternates between chapters describing the spider world and , and more conventionally written chapters featuring humans trying to survive a desperate space odyssey.

The spider sequences are reported as if by an observing scientist because the spiders have spider body language, biology, and culture. Also as the spiders evolve, and as the reader gains familiarity with the arachnid world, the spider chapters become increasingly immediate. However some readers might object to the 'info dump' feel of these chapters. Personally, I have a high tolerance for the creative info dump.

The human centred chapters are more conventionally written in third person. I particularly enjoyed the human protagonist, an introverted scholarly old man who's occasionally dragged out of stasis into stupidity-based chaos.

2 people found this helpful

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A human

I never, ever thought I would cry over spiders, let alone giant space spiders, but here we are.

Reviewed in Australia on 21 April 2022

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I'm not in the habit of writing reviews, largely because I'm disinclined to think anyone would be interested in reading them. However, this book is quite singularly special.

Initially I found it very hard to get into, and it's taken me the longest to read out of all the books I've read this year. The first character we are introduced to is not very likeable, and the next is a spider. I was interested but not involved. I complained to my partner about how hard it was to find at least someone I had empathy with. I'm not sure when that changed, but it was artfully done. As the chapters switched back and forth between the remnants of humankind and the burgeoning spiderkind, across such a vast expanse of time, I became invested.

By the time I reached the climax of the story I was so invested I couldn't bear to go on. I didn't want to know how spectacularly stuffed my darlings were. I actually felt sick with worry over it. It took me about three days before I could pick it up again. There was a part of me that didn't want to find out. I am glad that I did.

Overall this is a complex and interesting book that made me feel when I didn't think I would. Actually it was more than that, the book was a journey to feeling and understanding, and I am so glad I spent the time to get there.

One person found this helpful

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I am at once enthralled and wishing for more

Reviewed in Australia on 11 January 2016

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Children of Time had me engaged from the beginning though it's subject matter has been done before - read here variation of - but it is unique enough to foster my inquiring mind as to where the author could take this arachnid/human tale should he want to serialise it. What questions I have concerning the future should be ably met by an author who knows how to engage his audience and keep them on the edge of their seats. I had stated my review with a four star rating but such is the strength of the authors words I am forced to rate it as five. No hardship that and I hope it propels said author to grant my wish of a sequel at least. Peter Eerden

2 people found this helpful

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Wendeed

Sonething a bit different!

Reviewed in Australia on 5 January 2016

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This book is truly unlike anything I have read. The author explores the concept of sentience & cultural development from somewhat unusual, but extremely detailed perspectives. I really enjoyed the way the novel switched between the increasingly desperate crew of the ark ship - the last remnants of human civilization escaping a dying planet - & the evolving civilisation on another planet.
The novel spans many generations for each civilisation & it was fascinating to witness the changes & evolution of a civilisation so alien to ours - yet in many ways, so similar. This book takes a good look at human nature & behaviour & asks the question - "can we really change?"
And, as for the spiders mentioned by another reviewer? Don't worry, it's not as bad as what you may think!!

2 people found this helpful

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Stephanie

Excellent

Reviewed in Australia on 6 May 2019

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Has an uplifting theme of interconnectivity, empathy and cooperation.

And also, space battles.

Read it!

(This is also one of the few works of fiction that actually gets the science of inheritance and evolution right. Should get an extra star for that. 6 stars out of 5!)

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Richard

Good read

Reviewed in Australia on 15 February 2021

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Interesting plot and well written booked. More swearing than was really necessary but otherwise a very good read. I thought the nanovirus effects when human meets spider were not believable.

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Rich Kell

Easily the best Sci-fi I have read in years!

Reviewed in Australia on 20 May 2019

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Funny thing about Kindle on Android. When you tap the icon, the book loads, you begin reading. The title of the novel and the novelist are nowhere to be seen.
I thought I was reading a Hamilton book thinking "wow, he has outdone himself here". Just finished the book, nope not Hamilton haha.
Thanks Adrian, the sheer scale of this story mate, brilliance sheer brilliance.
Please keep up the Sci-fi, you have a fan for life.

One person found this helpful

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Matthew Poehler

Birth, Death, and Rebirth

Reviewed in Australia on 18 May 2021

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Richly patterned and complex story, with powerful characters and plenty of action.

I am reading all of Adrian's work. A modern master of SF.

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Top reviews from other countries

matt oliver

Don't bother with this one.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 July 2018

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I bought this book (and several others) in a bit of a rush as holiday reads, and I've learnt several things from doing just that.
1- Just because Amazon has been recommending this book to me for several months does not make it a good book.
2- Having an award mentioning Arthur C Clarke does not make it a good book.
3- Viewer ratings mean nothing, including mine.
This book is boring, repetitive and ultimately unimaginative. I've managed to persist to the end but even so I can't bring myself to give it more than one star. In the future I'll stick to my normal methods of choosing books and write this one off.

99 people found this helpful

the dilettante

Really enjoyed this. With detailed and fascinating world-building and a ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 August 2017

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Really enjoyed this. With detailed and fascinating world-building and a fantastically well-drawn 'alien' perspective (and an AI viewpoint thrown in for good measure), it's long, takes its own time to get to a satisfying and surprising conclusion and I found it utterly satisfying. The freshest piece of hard sci-fi I've read in years. It's got spaceships, terraforming, conflict, suspended animation, lots of time passing and characters that you build a relationship with, despite their many unsympathetic actions. It's driven by the parallel urges to survival of at least 2 (possibly 3) different cultures/species. You may find your own allegiance shifts as you read on, as first one, then another inspires your sympathy and support. As a result, it retains your interest. One reason I kept reading was to find out who I would end up rooting for - it was impossible to know. Adrian Tchaikovsky writes good prose, with a nice line in wry observations and pithy summings-up of the worst aspects of human behaviour. Now I've read this and Spiderlight (also highly recommended), I shall explore his other work.

87 people found this helpful

Kev Partner

A masterclass of modern science fiction.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 September 2017

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Quite simply a stunning piece of work. I'm a fussy reader and have struggled to find anything to compare with the best of Asimov, Clarke, Bear and Bradbury (etc), but this book was the first I've read in a long time that I couldn't wait to get back to between reading sessions.
Who'd have thought it possible to conceive of a civilisation of spiders that feels entirely realistic in its construction and how it evolves over time? By sensitive, imaginative writing and the clever trick of reusing names, the author allows the reader to identify with arachnid characters across the centuries. In the counterpoint story, we follow a human "classicist" who is periodically awakened from suspended animation and who acts as our witness to the unravelling of society on the ark ship.
Absolutely superb from first to last with (to me) a surprising ending that was pretty satisfying. Well played indeed, Adrian.

64 people found this helpful

FallenGrace

Love the idea but it's a very slow read and I found the characters really underdeveloped.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 December 2018

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This was recommended to me by a friend who also loves science fiction and after seeing all the positive reviews and awards I took a punt on it and at first I was hooked. Children of Time is set in the far future where humanity has colonies across many moons and planets and is spreading out. As part of an experiment one particular world is having monkeys put onto the planet along with an engineered virus to speed up their evolution. There are many arguments about this particular line of experimentation as well as the direction of the human race leading to a civil war that disrupts the experiment. The monkeys never make it to the planet, the virus however does and instead effects the other species on the planet to various effects, especially the spiders.

The idea frankly is fantastic and the developing spider culture is pretty interesting. The problem is that the book is so incredibly slow yet manages to barely develop any of it's characters which is a remarkable feat to me. It spends it's time jumping between a family line of spiders all with the same name through time and a group of human refugees looking for a new home but I found it difficult to summon any interest in them. The humans never get any real development beyond superficial descriptions and interests and while the spider narrative is really interesting it never sticks with any of them long enough to form any attachments to any of them. I want a cast I can either root for or maybe even hate but Children of Time manages to make me just not care.

I got 33% of the way through and realised two things, nothing had really happened in 200 pages and that I was intentionally finding excuses not to read it. All in all I can see why people would enjoy it, the idea is excellent but it's just too slow and the characters are far too under developed for my taste. Perhaps it gets much better and I have given up prematurely but I didn't want to force myself through when I have so many other books to read.

+ Fantastic premise.
+ Spider culture is interesting.

- Characters are forgettable or don't have enough focus.
- Takes too long to actually get anywhere.

37 people found this helpful

Book Lover

It’s a story of challenge and technology and people and civilisations, and it’s definitely worth reading.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2018

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Definitely sci-fi, but good sci-fi. And this is coming from someone who definitely dislikes the This-Is-How-It-Works-In-Ten-Pages-Of-Detail that seems to plague so many of the classics. I did find it slightly heavy going (and tended to read in chapter-sized chunks) but the payoff is absolutely worth it.

It’s a story of genetics and modification and evolution, but it’s also characters. It’s humanity’s last rag-bag of peoples who have clawed their way up through the ruins of our civilisation, and done the best they can with the remnants of technology to leave a dying Earth. But when the ship Gilgamesh, carrying its cargo of humanity, reaches their best hope, they find it’s occupied – and the sentinel does not want them to land.

And down on the terraformed planet, the experiment to produce a new space-faring race is progressing – species rise and clash, adapting and moulding to their environment, facing challenges that are both similar and unexpected to humanity’s journey. But over two thousand years, what rises to meets its test isn’t what the sentinel expected.

The two strands wind nicely; the evolution of life on the planet jumps forward, generation by generation, but I loved that the names stay the same to keep a sense of continuity. And up on the Gilgamesh, it’s the same names, coming in and out of deep-sleep over the course of time. The character’s stories are as fascinating and enthralling as the technology is, and I absolutely love the part-alien, part-familiar mindset of the planetside civilisation.

And that mindset, for me, is what makes this book absolutely worthwhile – the final twist is brilliant. It’s a story of challenge and technology and people and civilisations, and it’s definitely worth reading.

29 people found this helpful

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