Children of Time: Children of Time Book 1

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Jun 2015 · Tor UK

About this ebook

WINNER OF THE 2016 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD

A race for survival among the stars ... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?

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?

PRAISE FOR CHILDREN OF TIME

"A refreshingly new take on post-dystopia civilizations, with the smartest evolutionary worldbuilding you'll ever read" Peter F. Hamilton

"This is superior stuff, tackling big themes - gods, messiahs, artificial intelligence, alienness - with brio" Financial Times

"Like a Stephen Baxter novel with an epic sweep of history ... added to a broad cast of a Peter Hamilton Space Opera and the narrative drive of, say, a David Brin or a Greg Bear old style SF novel, Children of Time soon got me hooked." SFF World

"Children of Time has that essence of the classic science fiction novels, that sense of wonder and unfettered imagination but combined with this is the charm of a writer who really knows how to entertain ... Essential science fiction, a book not to be missed." SF Book

Ratings and reviews

Children of Time is one of the most incredible, thought provoking, most beautiful books I have ever read. There is never any point where one doesn't put the book down in total mind-blowing wonderment at the complexity and intellect that this book holds... Even now, hours after putting it down, I am left speechless...

I've never read anything like it. The paths of the different focal points in the story shift in an almost seemless narrative. Gaps in time that could have made the whole work seem fragmented, just leave you wanting to read the rest to get back to a different group, and loving the progression of the story your reading about in the meantime. An excellent book, its definitely put it's author on my radar!

Mostly white noise. It's a good distraction from the daily commute. It is well written and refined. Sadly is just boring. The story was over in the first few pages.

About the author

Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind, possibly excepting his son.