Children of Ruin

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: Mel Hudson

Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Children of Ruin follows Adrian Tchaikovsky's extraordinary Children of Time, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award for Best Science Fiction Novel. It is set in the same universe, with a new cast of characters and a thrilling narrative.

It has been waiting through the ages.

Now it's time . . .

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 woke something on Nod better left undisturbed.

And it’s been waiting for them.

©2019 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd (P)2019 Macmillan Digital Audio

Critic reviews

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)

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)

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)

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

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)

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

Enjoyed

Just like the first novel, this one is excellently read and very enjoyable. For those who love science fiction, but are tired of the overused tropes and typical scenarios ... this one gives it a more intellectual and philosophical spin. Sets the imagination on fire! But you have to enjoy doing some heavy thinking (I do) and not just want an easy story jabbered at you.

Throwing all the worlds together.

Took a while to get into this instalment but after getting my mind around the different plots and time eras this becomes as enthralling as the 1st book.

Really great thought from the author to put it all together.

Epic sequel

Worth the wait - an intriguing, twisting plot which is well written and captures the same magic of the first book

I enjoyed the continuity of narrator as well

A Great Sequel

children of Ruin is a fantastic sequel to the original children of time. fascinating Beyond description. a scifi gem

A satisfying chemistry

This book shares a familiar formula from the first book, but Tchaikovsky executes it well and provides plenty of surprise and suspense. It’s got a bit more of an allegorical tone than I remember from the first, with more periods of direct exposition and summary where the first had a series of present-tense action scenarios, but it suits the groundwork the reader already has from reading the first book, and matches biblical theme throughout.

Intriguing perspectives

I really enjoy Tchaikovsky’s writing style, and the subjects he has chosen to make the center of his worlds. He has a way of capturing the minds of his characters in a scientific way that also humanizes them and makes you wonder about what it is to be human and to think and to dream. I really love his characters and Hudson does a great job bringing them to life and making each character have personality and nuance. Highly recommend especially after listening to the first book in the series.

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.