Released: June 4th 2015
Genre: Science Fiction
Number of Pages: 600
Adrian Tchaikovsky, a specialist in fantasy, is best known for the Shadows of the Apt Series. Children of Time is arguably his most ambitious science fiction outing, making use of two well-defined perspectives to relay a tussle over a new inhabitable planet.
The narrative unfolds over the course of thousands of years, following two perspectives; the first is the humans aboard the ark ship, the Gilgamesh. This last remnant of humanity, having left their ruined home, must find a new planet to inhabit or extinction is inevitable. Yet doing so is hampered by infighting, ship mutinies and an overall unwillingness to get along. It’s the worst aspects of humanity that constant rear their heads; an often-grim depiction that highlights what happened to the original planet. We mainly a key crew comprised of classicist and cultural officer Holsten, chief engineer Lain, science officer Vitas and security head Karst. Amid catastrophe, these characters hold the survival of the human species in their hands, which leads to a healthy dose of dramatic tension. Even so, Children of Time sometimes has trouble balancing these main human characters together; with most of the action happening from Holsten’s perspective, the book could have delivered the thoughts of other characters to deepen their individual perspectives.
However, the second story thread is far more intriguing; we follow a new species of primitive spiders that slowly grow and change into something far more intelligent and resourceful. While the evolutionary process takes millennia, the book does an excellent job of drawing us into their side of the story. We see primal tribes turn to society, then society turn to research and invention. In short, the spiders go through their own and seeing them learn and communicate is deeply fascinating, despite them not having much character on their own. The named spiders, Portia, Bianca and Fabian, have many incarnations and fulfil the roles of military, priest and science respectively.
With the two sides established, Tchaikovsky plays humans and spiders off each other, swapping perspectives while homing in on their mannerisms and tendencies; while the humans are often prone to infighting, the spiders are more ingenious, finding solutions to their predicaments and pushing forward. This contrast of evolution and devolution forms the heart of the story, as the flaws and strengths of the two species come into play. The new planet discovered by the humans and inhabited by the spiders is expertly crafted; the changes over time and the intake of new knowledge delivers a consistent forward progression. It’s deeply organic style in which the spiders adapt the planet to their own needs, becoming one with it in the process.
Recommended?
Yes. In many ways Children of Time appeals to both general readers as well as science fiction fans. The human characters aren’t always so well-rounded, but the novel still creates an intoxicating, fascinating future that compels. The life that flourishes on the new Earth has a great progression to it, which creates build-up to the ultimate climax.
Children of Time went on to win the Arthur Clarke Award for best science fiction novel in 2016. Currently, a sequel named Children in Ruin is set for release on May 14th, 2019. The original book is pegged for a film adaptation which has great potential for a visionary director to come in and make it work on the big screen.