Children of Time || book review (some spoilers)

Hi everyone. Here, I’m reviewing Adrian Tchaikovksy's award-winning Children of Time, which sets out a story of humanity's battle for control of a terraformed planet.

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MY BOOKS

DELPHINE DESCENDS -
After her family is killed and her homeworld occupied, young Kathreen Martin is sent to the distant world of Furoris for re-education. She will live the rest of her life as a serf – to be bought and sold as a commodity of the Imperial Network.
When her only chance of escape is ruined, a chance mistaken identity offers her a new life as the orphaned daughter of a First-Citizen Senator and heiress to a vast fortune.
She vows to claw her way into power to sit among the worlds’ elite. Then, with her own hands, she will reap bloody vengeance on them all.
But, to beat them she must play their game. She must become worse than them all.

BLACK MILK -
Prometheus has the chance to bring his wife back from the dead, but doing so will mean the destruction of Earth.Spanning time, planets and dimensions, Black Milk draws to a climactic point in a post-apocalyptic future, where humanity, stranded with no planet to call home, fights to survive against a post-human digital entity that pursues them through the depths of space.Five lives separated by aeons are inextricably linked by Prometheus’s actions:Ystil.3 is an AI unit sent back in time from the distant future to investigate Prometheus’s discovery...The mysterious Lydia has devoted her life to finding a planet that the last remaining humans can call home…Tom Jones (he’s a HUGE fan!) is an AI trapped inside a digital subspace, lost and desperate to find his way back to his beloved in real-time…Dr Norma Stanwyck is a neuroscientist from 24th Century Earth whose personal choices ripple throughout time...Prometheus must learn the necessity of death or the entire universe will be swallowed by his grief.
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GOODREADS:

[decadentia]

I think this is the first book review I've ever seen that wasn't just a girl/guy staring into the camera the whole time. Good effort sir, good effort. *Tips hat*

[cyborglion]

I actually like mason. sorta reminds me of arthur dent in hitchhikers. Sort of a pretty n ormal person, but has a unique perspective due to being in a strange environment, a lot of the same dry wit too. I also like how his professions shapes his world view.

[hellNo]

i finished the book recently. i believe that isa lain was not the main protagonist and hostlen was because her story would be told by the eyes of holsten. the last of the historians from our planet. he would be the one to write their adventures down. so we needed to see the story from the eyes of the observer. this is why it feels boring. it was meant to feel boring. because the observers don't usually make the decisions, but last enough to write them down.

at least this is how i felt reading the book. excellent review by the way.

[procurement]

That coldplay joke was the coldplay of jokes

[everrit]

A very god review. Loved Children of Time and thought Children of Ruin as wonderful.

[GeekonMySleeve]

Great review, Children of Time is one of my favorite more recent Sci Fi's! Have you read the sequel yet?

[ianomalley]

Kern was basically a bystander by the end. It was a real let down. Would have been fun to for her to argue for destruction of the gil while Portia and others argued for their own solution they end up enacting (a little too rapidly and without much payoff for the reader). Would have been more satisfying for me

[jamesrich]

Spider creatures.... hell no.... Darrel: you will care about I’ll read it

[Esta-Beed]

Toni Collette would play a great Kern, any thoughts?

[Antares-vjsu]

I didn't like it, i think the author never focused on a storyline and the AI events especially are confusing and very boring. This book wants to be too many things but at the end isn't great at anyone.. original yes, but not for everybody.

[kellenanthoney]

As an American reader, I want to point out that the British terms and slang were slightly off-putting and even annoying in a few places (for example maths instead of math, forwards rather than forward and in this book was the first time I've ever seen the term "piecemeal" used as much as it was). However, the actual words used did not diminish my enjoyment of this book. It is currently my favorite book. I bought it three weeks ago and read it the first time in only three days, before reading Children of Ruin (which was a much more difficult and frustrating book to read). Now I'm reading Children of Time again, more slowly this time, so I can really enjoy it and grab all the little details I missed the first time.
Details like where the Fabian lineage came from... Not Great Nest. Which I guess isn't too important, but it wasn't something I picked up on the first time I read it.

[manucitomx]

I loved this book and HATED the sequel.

[jaceacekalgoorlie]

Lost me with the stupid drum machine in the background.