Children of Ruin

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: Mel Hudson

Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

The astonishing sequel to Children of Time, the award-winning novel of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.

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.

For more from Adrian Tchaikovsky, check out:
Children of Time

©2019 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"Children of Ruin is 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)

"A novel of sublime plot twists and spectacular set pieces, 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. A hugely satisfying sequel." (Stephen Baxter)

"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)

Not ideal for audiobook format

I wish I had not purchased this book. (note: I loved book 1)
The story is fine, but the time jumps and other details in the narrative are too easy to miss, leaving one playing catchup on various parts of the story.

The story itself is decent, but hardly a "must listen" after Book One, which is absolute perfection. This story gets lost in the tech weeds a bit, and of course the jumping back and forth in time with nothing but a single word to note the transition makes for a confusing and frustrating experience

As a solo book, book one is a 5-star experience.
As a two book series, the end result is just a resounding meh.
Book 2 drags the whole experience down and is not even half as compelling as Book One.

If you are a completionist you aren't going to listen to this review anyway, this is meant for those who want to avoid mediocrity and retain the untainted amazement and wonder of the first book.

Exceptional Deep Sci-Fi

If you're looking for a book that makes you think, wonder, imagine and marvel, you cannot find a better series. Outstanding world building, excellent interweaving of plausible science with near-magical technology and deftly managed scope.

If you're looking for an easy-listening, laser-beams-and-hyperdrives book, this isn't it. But you should still read it, because this novel is both thoughtful and suspenseful, intellectual and exciting. You do have to listen carefully, however; rhere were a few times I found myself having to scrub back through a chapter during which I'd been distracted and missed a key event.

Performance is good. Never really noticed the narrator one way or the other, which to me is it's own kind of understated excellence.

Absolutely worth a credit or full price. But definitely start with Children of Time if you haven't yet read it. I imagine the overall plot might seem like a pretty big leap otherwise.

we're going on an adventure!

I'm not much of a review writer, but this book is unreal. Tchaikovsky has imagined and created something truly alien with this tale. it's brilliant, but at times incomprehensible, and i never would have imagined i would describe a incomprehensible story elements as a good thing, but here it only adds to the richness of the story. bravo!

A perfect sequel!

Another fantastic entry! Adrian captures the essence of Sci-fi in a way seldom seen since Star Trek first aired, and Mel Hudson brings unique, alien intelligences to life with skill and flair.

This is a little high-minded compared to the first book in the series, with a little less emphasis on individual characters, but don't let that dissuade you.

10/10!

99% buildup 1% resolution

Let me start off by saying I loved loved loved this author's previous book. It dealt with deep themes, had strong characters and investigated the concept of legacy in a really cool and new way. But for all that I really didn't think it was a book crying out for a sequel. It did what it did and resolved itself in a satisfactory manner so from the jump this book had to justify its existence for me. Why do I need to read this? What does it add to the story?

Annnnnnd it sort of succeeds? Adrian remains masterful at conceiving and explaining alien modes of thought and I must say that most everything good in his previous book continues on here. Except for the characters. There isn't really much character in this book. By that I mean that the problems they're dealing with are so huge and so dire that there is very little time for us to get a sense of the cast's personality. They're all just people working to fix a problem with barely room to breathe.

And lastly as my title suggests the ending to this book is extremely rushed. 3 hours from the end I had the thought "How the heck is he going to tie up all these loose ends?!" Then it was 2 hours, then 1. Then BAM! He rushes the resolution in the last 40 minutes of the book. It honestly feels like a missed opportunity.

So yeah, a very qualified asterisk asterisk, if you liked his last book, recommendation.

The Next Installment of the Children of Time

For a story that picks up on where book 1 leaves off, I was alarmed to see such a slide in continuity. The stort itself evolves beautifully but at several moments seems to lunge forwards across vast gulfs of time with little to no evidence beyond a single, pivotal sentence, which can leave the listening reader lost and unsure, without what I'm sure would be a page break or paragraph to lend the story its shape.
Great second book, though.

Good story with one small pronunciation issue

I thought this was an exceptional sequel that touched on paths and ideas different from the original book enough that it felt like a fresh new thought. Even picking up one what is obviously not a “happily-ever-after” story from book one but a marriage of two species trying to sort out working together.
My lone complaint is with the readers terrible ... repeated ... mispronunciations of cephalopods. There is no hard keh sound even in the American or British pronunciation. It is always seh. It detracts from what is supposed to be science fiction. If you can’t get the science part right it takes away from the fiction.
It doesn’t stop me from enjoying hearing the book but it does break my concentration every time.

fantastic adventure!

I sincerely hope we can expect a third book. While very different from "Children of Time" it is a worthy sequel that is every bit as intriguing.

always enjoyable on new perspectives

I loved the Children of Time prequel book and the different view points Adrian utilizes to tell the story. The new creatures and characters are excellent additions. The different species thought processes, wants and desires are perfectly alien. I dont want to reveal to much but the interactions between the aliens with humans are the best parts of the book. You can feel the frustration of the characters as they try to communicate and understand each other.

Inventive but tedious

I credit the author with an impressive imagination. However, the presentation seemed to emphasize plot complexity over character development. As such, it was hard for me to follow the story on occasion. The narrator speaks articulately but her range of character voices seemed limited. I never made a strong emotional connection to the story. I did enjoy the author’s previous book - but this one had a few too many moving parts. Regardless, there are interesting aspects to the worlds described herein.