Book Review of the Month: Children of Time
Michael Maag reviews the best and worst science fiction novels so you know what you should - or shouldn’t - read next.
“Children of Time”
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
What is the book about?
An epic space opera spanning thousands of years of future history. The last humans have left a dying earth for a planet that was to be terraformed for them by a mission from long ago. Hundreds of thousands of cryogenically frozen humans are cargo on the spaceship Gilgamesh, which is crewed by those woken from stasis only when deemed necessary by the onboard artificial intelligence. Fighting the ravages of time and entropy, the crew awakens to nurse the ship to its destination. However, a distress beacon forbids anyone to approach the world.
Captain Kern and her crew are starting the terraforming and are planning to seed the planet with monkeys to be used as servants when the future humans arrive. A nano virus is sent to the planet to accelerate evolution of the primates, but a rebellion among the crew ends the dubious plan by destroying the seed ships with the primates. Captain Kern, the only survivor of the battle, uploads her consciousness into her AI and descends into cryo sleep to await rescue. Meanwhile, the nano virus has uplifted spiders and ants on the planet, leading to an evolving arachnid society.
200 years later, the Gilgamesh arrives seeking a new home for its cargo. They encounter Kern and her evolved AI, Eliza, who view the newcomers as a threat to their experiment on the planet below.
The novel follows two storylines: the spiders' evolutionary journey and the human struggle on the Gilgamesh. As the humans deteriorate, the spiders continue to evolve. When the two groups finally meet at Kern's World, tensions escalate as the spiders fiercely protect their planet with ingenuity and alien cunning.
On a scale from one to five, how much did you like this book?
Ranking: Four Stars
It is an epic read at 600 pages, but worth the investment. The imaginative evolution of the spiders on Kern’s world was fascinating and interesting. The merging of humans and their AI machines led to bizarre outcomes. Entropy and human nature conspire to make things harder than they ought to be. Sounds familiar, right? Ultimately, I found myself rooting for the spiders in the final battle for the planet.
Is this book worth reading or can the content be covered in a book review?
This is a luxury read. I suggest reading it on vacation or as your guilty pleasure before going to bed.
What is the best or worst quote, chapter or item in the book?
“That is the problem with ignorance. You can never truly know the extent of what you are ignorant about.”