[FGM]∎ [PDF] Children of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 9781447273288 Books

Children of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 9781447273288 Books

Download As PDF : Children of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 9781447273288 Books

Children of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 9781447273288 Books

This book totally surprised me. there are basically two story lines running side by side. one explores a new civilization as it develops literally from the ground up. that while the other story line provides a perspective on a developed society which turns inward and barbaric. both in the same time frame, same extra-solar planetary system. the science, tech, anthropology and sociological aspects are so exceedingly well integrated into the work, just wow!

i have been an avid reader of science fiction my entire life. a gift my father passed on down to me. it is exceedingly rare for me to come across a book that is so unique in both the subject matter and how it portrays the 'big picture.' anyone who enjoys smart thought provoking science fiction will absolutely be thrilled by this book.


Tags : Children of Time [Adrian Tchaikovsky] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV><P>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,Adrian Tchaikovsky,Children of Time,Pan Macmillan,1447273281,Science Fiction - Space Opera,FICTION Science Fiction Space Opera,Fiction,Fiction-Science Fiction,GENERAL,General Adult,Great BritainBritish Isles,Science Fiction,Space opera

Children of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 9781447273288 Books Reviews

No Spoilers - I'm writing this from a high level because I think this book is best read without knowing anything about it. I don't write many book reviews, but this one deserves some comments. Not many people take this kind of subject matter on anymore. This book is ambitious to say the least, and although it is not perfect, it is definitely one of the better true science fiction books I've read in many years. While not an avid reader, I probably do 25-35 books a year, predominately in the hard science fiction genre, and my passion is for first contact or books that deal with alien cultures. These seem to be hard to come by in recent years, especially when dealing with alternate psychology and ethnocentric alien subject matter.

I believe that this book represents the author's first trip into the science fiction realm, being predominately a fantasy author prior to this, but man - does he do a great job. If you want to read something with alternate views from an alien perspective, this is a good read for you. Just enough science thrown in to make it very interesting, but not enough to throw off readers who aren't into that. (I could have gone with a lot more science, but I won't complain.)

The story itself is on the higher end of good, but not great. I never felt a lot of emotional ties to the characters, especially the humans. I would have liked to have seen some more detail in the primary alien protagonist Portia, I think this could have helped with the emotional ties into the story. I would have also like to see more of a hero on the Human side of things. However, I don't disagree with the authors perception of humans - it is just a bitter reality to read through parts of the book where you feel the humans could be better people than they are.

I really liked the ending. It was one of the rare book that I was unhappy to see ending - even at 600 pages. I'm really hoping to see a follow up to this. I'm definitely adding this very talented author to my favorites list.
Best hard science fiction book I've read in over 10 years. When I initially purchased the book for my Paperwhite, I didn't look at the page count and just stated reading. Two and a half days and 600 plus pages later (I do have to work), I finished this wonderful book. It's one of those books you cannot put down. I wont say anything about the story line because I hate spoilers, even little ones, all I will say is that if you like hard science fiction, you will love this book. Keep writing books like this Adrian.
Tens of thousands of years after Earth has self-destructed in a horrific civil war, humanity has once again reached for the stars. In the Old Empire, which spanned Earth and several of the solar system's gas giant moons, near-lightspeed interstellar ships had begun to spread through the galaxy, terraforming the most likely planets where Homo sapiens might find new homes. Now, the technology of the Empire has been lost to time, mere hints of it accessible only to the classicists who labor to translate the old, dead languages of the meager records that survived the Empire's destruction. But the toxic wastes the war left behind have gradually rendered Earth lifeless. Now humankind cannot rebuild where it has lived for millions of years. The remnants of the human race have set out to relocate elsewhere in starships, each of which houses a half-million people in stasis. In Adrian Tchaikovsky's outstanding science fiction epic, Children of Time, one of those immense lifeboats is approaching the nearest terraformed planet after a journey of nearly 2,000 years. What they will encounter there is a nightmare the unintended consequences of a biological experiment carried out by a lone survivor of the Old Empire Doctor Avrana Kern.

In fact, it was Kern's vision that was the proximate cause of the civil war that destroyed the empire. She had set out for the newly green planet with thousands of monkeys, intending to release them on the surface to build a new, untainted civilization made possible by a nanovirus that will speed up their evolution into thinking beings. Through accelerated evolution, Kern is convinced they will achieve what had eluded the human race civilization without war. Aided by "the virus that would accelerate the monkeys along their way—they would stride, in a mere century or two, across physical and mental distances that had taken humanity millions of long and hostile years." Kern is, of course, quite mad. Her plan had triggered massive opposition and ultimately civil war within the Empire. And the scheme goes awry no sooner has her ship arrived in orbit around the green planet. Accelerated evolution will take root on the surface, because the nanovirus has been released, but not among the monkeys. The monkeys are all dead. The beneficiaries are the invertebrates introduced through terraforming and already living in large numbers on the planet spiders, ants, shrimp, beetles.

Tchaikovsky skillfully advances the threads of his tale through short, alternating chapters set on the planet's surface among the evolving spider population and on board the lifeboat bearing the remnants of humanity. A clash is inevitable. What remains to be seen is which species will dominate the others, and with what consequences.

Adrian Tchaikovsky (or Czajkowski) is a Polish-British fantasy writer best known for the 10-book Shadows of the Apt series. Children of Time is his sole science fiction work in novel form.
Yeah, it was very well written, original, and earned its awards. But it's also one of the most depressing books I've read in years. So be sure you're in the mood for a downer about how human beings suck, and how everything we touch is destined to end in senseless violence.

Six hundred pages, a story that spans thousands of years, and every single character we meet is in it for themselves. There literally isn't anyone, human or alien, I'd trust to water my plants while I went on vacation, much less to watch my back in a dangerous situation. And the characters feel that way about each other, too.

I'm not sorry I read it, but now I need to go find something lightweight and fun to cleanse my palate.
This book totally surprised me. there are basically two story lines running side by side. one explores a new civilization as it develops literally from the ground up. that while the other story line provides a perspective on a developed society which turns inward and barbaric. both in the same time frame, same extra-solar planetary system. the science, tech, anthropology and sociological aspects are so exceedingly well integrated into the work, just wow!

i have been an avid reader of science fiction my entire life. a gift my father passed on down to me. it is exceedingly rare for me to come across a book that is so unique in both the subject matter and how it portrays the 'big picture.' anyone who enjoys smart thought provoking science fiction will absolutely be thrilled by this book.