Children of Time

In this space operatic science fiction tale, Tchaikovsky does us all the favor of taking Earth out of the picture and putting into its place a group of desperate humans looking to make a life out there, some where, any where. Oh yes, it doesn’t look good for our species in this bleak vision of the future. Yet, don’t let the premise scare you away. This book is a lot of fun to read. Tchaikovsky has a nice, easy flowing style that manages to move the story along in a plot driven manner while still allowing time for reflection of deeper themes. This story has plenty of action to satisfy those who crave such things, yet it manages to pull the reader into a truly thoughtful sphere of “what if?” Thus putting the speculate into speculative fiction. This is not just a refugee romp through space. The specter of the past plays an important role in the future of the human race, and Tchaikovsky keeps the twists and turns fresh and surprising. He plays with themes such as what drives some humans to play as gods and has a bunch of references to ancient Babylonian, Sumerian and/or other myths. Mainly though, it’s humans using science to create a fertile playground for bio engineering the next sentient species. And of course, nothing ever goes wrong when that happens. (sic) Now, you may have heard this already so I don’t think I’m giving anything away to state that there are spiders in this book. Big spiders! So if you do have Arachnophobia, beware! This will either cure you through exposure or send you over the edge. I kid, of course. For me, the spiders were the most interesting part of the book as Tchaikovsky takes them on an expedited evolutionary journey the mirrors our own history in subtle ways. I really enjoyed how he explored history through alien eyes like the rise of religion, the wan and wax of disease, war, technology and other historical facets. Because evolution and innovation was sped up quite a bit, for reasons I won’t reveal, there were obvious differences to our own history that are fun to compare and contrast. Humanities story in this book is no less fascinating, and the correlation between their story and the spiders will not be lost on the reader. The science in this book allows for long periods of time to go by (through cryogenic sleep), thus history can be explored in quite a different way. This means of lengthening human lives while allowing large chunks of time to pass lets the story move at its own pace that enriches the narrative. It also helps to alleviate some of the problems with space opera in general, that eventual meet up of two groups in the vastness of space that may seem too coincidental in any other circumstance. No worries here. Tchaikovsky makes it all come together and he makes it all fun.

A book that lives up to the hype! A sci-fi story that delivers on the multi-layered and themed aspects that readers of the genre have come to expect. The book is often described as sentient spiders in space and... well, yes but that's an extremely reductive synopsis. The exploration of genetic coding and improvement and how a civilization evolves over a long time is fascinating and drives the whole plot forward over time.