1 yr. ago • 96%

Just read Children of Time - top notch sci-fi

Just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time. One of my top reads, let alone sci-fi reads, for the past couple of years for sure. Super well-thought out concepts, good character development, and an irresistible hook that will take you out of your comfort zone when you find out that you really don't know who you are siding with!

Has anyone read this or any of Tchaikovsky's other works??

33 comments

I would say that the sequel, Children of Ruin, is actually even better. The series falls off in the third book however.

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- That third book had some interesting ideas, but really failed to create a compelling narrative. I'd much rather he compressed the entire book into a first act and then explored the implications elsewhere.
  
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  The third book is definitely slow in the middle, but overall I think it's another strong addition to the series. At first I was quite lost with the characters and setting constantly changing, but once I started seeing what was really going on I was hooked.
  
  The partners are brilliant too. Very relevant to current questions about sentience with all the AI discussions going on at the moment.
  
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- Oh shoot i didn't even know there was more. I literally just put the book down tonight digesting it all. Thank you - definitely don't want to forget the storyline if I wait too long.
  
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  You're in for a treat! The whole series is a fascinating exploration of what it means to be a person. Sci Fi at it's best. Enjoy!
  
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- Yeah children of time was my first intro to his works and I've read 2 of his series so far now. In both cases my enjoyment of them peaked really high in the first book, then dropped off as I got into the third
  
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Portia!

I loved this book! I've never read anything else by him because I had a lot of other books already on my reading list, but I plan to circle back around and read the sequel. I enjoyed the book so much that I immediately recommended it to everyone I know, but nobody actually finished it, which was super disappointing because I wanted to talk to people about it.

For your next book I recommend Hyperion, which is book one of the Hyperion Cantos. It is full of philosophy, universal theories, theology, poetry, and adventure. It's probably the craziest series I've ever read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I even got a book by Pierre Telhard DeChardin afterwards because I was so curious about some of the concepts presented in the Cantos.

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- Definitely second Hyperion.
  
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- For me it was Fabian FTW! Similar sentiments - had to resort to species googling to see where all that character building came from lol.
  
  Will add Hyperion to my list - thanks!
  
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Read his Final Architecture series recently and absolutely loved it. The characters were great, the world building was interesting and the portrayal of eldritch horrors was so well done.

Starts with the Shards of Earth, highly recommend.

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- Also a fantastic series! The first book had an awful lot of new words and concepts to get on board with, but once it got going I was hooked. The Essiel were a super fascinating species, I wish we had learnt more about them but what we do know only makes the mystery grander. Ahab was also amazing. Every scene with him in had me chuckling with his complete one sighted obsession.
  
  The dogs of war series is also good. Still sticks with me. Bees is another fascinating sentience as well.
  
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- I, too, read that series recently and loved it. However, I think the third book wasn't as great as the first two, but still good. How does children of time compare with this series? Final Architecture is the only work by the author that I have read.
  
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  As a first book, I think Children of Time is much better than Shards of Earth. I enjoyed both series but would say the third book in each was the weakest. The Final Architecture series had a slightly stronger third entry.
  
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Children of Time was my first read of Tchaikovsky and loved it. In many ways similar to Iain M Banks, but different and at least as good.. I"m about halfway through Children of Ruin, which is just as good. I'll definitely be reading more of his work.

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- Came here to say this. I love Children of Time and his other work, it struck me hard like when I started reading the Culture series.
  
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I listened to the audiobooks if that counts.

He is one of my favoured authors.

My personal top list, of what I "read"

Children of time

The doors of eden

children of ruin

shards of earth series
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- On a side note, it's funny how almost all his books' titles are like "something" of "something"
  
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  I DID notice that lol. Sounds like a pretty good, subtle titling style that people can associate to an author.
  
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- I enjoyed shards of earth series especially because I found the characters very engaging and relatable. How does it compare with his other books?
  
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- Shards of Earth is a terrific trilogy. Easily some of my favorite space opera.
  
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- The curse is that once these great authors get discovered they inevitably get movie deals and the writing starts to fall off. No genre seems untouchable nowadays, even scifi, although I do think the show producers did great justice to James S.A. Corey's, The Expanse.
  
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It's a good book. The concepts are amazing if you're into sci fi.

There were a couple places where I struggled to keep going, but the book's promise of more depth always kept me engaged enough to keep going.

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- I'm there with you, pacing slowed a bit here and there, but for good reasons. Those made for good stop points though.
  
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  Took me a good few months if not a year to get through this book but it was worth it. I'd say the concept was great but the execution was lacking. Still a great book though.
  
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Great book! I teared up a little when the satellite gets past her biases.

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Yup, solid book

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I'll look into this, excited for an author I haven't read yet

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Added it to my book list! Thanks for the recommendation

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- Me too. To the long long list...
  
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Children of Time is definitely one of the best books I've read in recent years. If anyone asks for a sci-fi recommendation, it's usually my go to!

I didn't enjoy the second book as much, but it was still a fun read. If you like fantasy, Guns of the Dawn by Tchaikovsky is also great.

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I haven't but it's on my to read list now!

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