Children of Ruin

New intelligences arise in this epic and thrilling sequel to the Arthur C. Clake award winning Children of Time

De: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrado por: Mel Hudson

It has been waiting through the ages. Now it's time . . .

A scout ship discovers a human outpost lying derelict in space – and a planet better left unexplored.

Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life – but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time. Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth.

But those ancient terraformers awoke something on Nod. Something better left undisturbed.

And it has been waiting for them.

Children of Ruin follows the extraordinary Children of Time, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award. It is set in the same universe, with new characters and an original narrative. Continue the journey with Children of Memory.

* * *

Praise for the series

‘Asimov or Clarke might have written this’
– Stephen Baxter, co-author of The Long Earth

‘Books like this are why we read science fiction’
– Ian McDonald, author of the Luna series

‘Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human’
– Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls

‘Brilliant science fiction and far-out world-building’
– James McAvoy

‘A fabulous sense of scale that only someone as talented as Adrian Tchaikovsky can pull off’
– Peter F. Hamilton, author of Exodus: The Archimedes Engine

Reseñas de la Crítica

All underpinned by great ideas. And it is crisply modern - but with the sensibility of classic science fiction. Asimov or Clarke might have written this (Stephen Baxter, author of Proxima)

You know you’re in for a ride. . . This book thoroughly engaged me. Children of Ruin is a humdinger of a book I enjoyed immensely (Neal Asher, author of the Polity series)

Magnificent. This is the big stuff – the really big stuff. Rich in wisdom and Humanity (note the 'H'), with a Stapledonian sweep and grandeur . . . Books like this are why we read science-fiction (Ian McDonald, author of Desolation Road)

Breathtaking scope and vision. Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of our finest writers (Gareth Powell, author of Stars and Bones)

Wonderful – big, thinky SF that feels classic without being mired in the past, absolutely crammed with fun ideas . . . Anyone who likes sweeping, evolutionary-scale stories will love this (Django Wexler, author of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying)

I couldn’t put it down. There is an effortless quality to Adrian’s writing and you’ve clearly got another winner on your hands (James Oswald, author of the Inspector McLean series)

A refreshing new take on post-dystopia civilizations, with the smartest evolutionary world-building you’ll ever read (Peter F. Hamilton, author of Exodus: The Archimedes Engine, on Children of Time)

Brilliant science fiction and far-out world-building (James McAvoy on Children of Time)

Children of Time is a joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human (Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls and the Chaos Walking series, on Children of Time)

This is superior stuff, tackling big themes – gods, messiahs, artificial intelligence, alienness – with brio (Financial Times on Children of Time)

The novel’s clever interrogation of the usual narrative of planetary conquest, and its thoughtful depiction of two alien civilisations attempting to understand each other, is an exemplar of classic widescreen science fiction (New Scientist on Children of Time)

Essential science fiction, a book not to be missed (SFBook on Children of Time )

An entertaining and thought-provoking novel of post humanity, survival and legacy . . . Children of Time is an enormously interesting and well drawn SF novel (SFSignal on Children of Time)

I cannot recommend it enough. It's a helluva first contact story, and that's only like its 5th most interesting feature! (Ezra Klein, New York Times columnist on Children of Time)

One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction (Christopher Paolini, author of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars)

Super hard sci-fi

Excellently written! Excellent narration! Prime production all around! This book is very science heavy with particular focus on communication with different intelligences and perspectives. A more believable scenario of different aliens from all aspects and viewpoints. Exquisite detail and imagery. Definitely one of my favorite new authors taking his place in my library next to Baxter, Reynolds, Niven and the like! I’m already hungry for MORE!

Great read

Really challenging and complex read, but well worth the time and effort. Reading first book is I think a prerequisite

deep time

there is so much here. what meeting an alien life form might look like. this series really showcases how we have alien intelligence with us now. how it could turn out and how communication could be different.

how will it be when we learn how to talk to cephalopods and have to live with the knowledge of having had them for dinner for centuries

Awesome story, mediocre narrator

It was really annoying that the nbarrator pronounced cephalopod wrong, it is pronounced ˈsefələpäd not ˈkefələpäd.

I really loved the story. Not just a sequel it explores new ideas.

good as the last one

uplifted octopuses, need I say more?

apparently I do, there's a fifteen word minimum.
I think we should do this in real life, breed cephalopods for intelligence since it's unlikely we will discover extraterrestrials anytime soon, besides, I can't imagine an alien species more fascinating than sentient octopods who communicate by flashing messages on their skin like an electronic billboard.