Children of Time - the best damn book I've read in ages and here's why you should read it
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 22 фев 2021
- Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky wrote the best damn sci fi I've read in a LONG time, and this little video might be able to show you why. Do you like beautifully written thematically complex wide scope stories that challenge you as a reader without talking down to you? Then Children of Time is for you. Do you prefer other stories? Children of Time is for you too. Just read it!
TWITTER @TimHickson1
INTSTAGRAM tim_hickson_hfm
MY BOOK tinyurl.com/y5mwpyyj
PATREON / hellofutureme
The moment you said that the virus infects spiders, I rushed to amazon and ordered this book, can't wait to read it!
It’s so good. You won’t regret it.
How’d you like it?
When he said spiders, my finger instantly halted its journey to the Amazon "place order" button. It curled back into my clenched fist and I trembled like a spoon full of mayo being held by a nervous virgin about to get his salad tossed for the first time.
for me the idea of spiders made me want to NOT read the book, not because spiders are scary, but because they are not interesting
@@Archonsx honestly the fact that they are spiders doesnt matter
they think and act like something spiders wouid do, but as he said, its not a character driven book, if you dont really like the spiders, think about the vast spaces and time that this book is really trying to drive home
"anthills as supercomputers"
You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention
If I had a nickel for every time I read a book featuring an ant computer, I would have 2 nickels
@@brimtastic_spastic1154 what was the other book?
@@HampusDahlstrom Discworld. I specifically saw it in Hogfather, but I think it’s in other books of the series as well
Anthill inside
"the virus infects... Spiders"
Aight, imma head out.
but they are cute!
@@heliosphaeresonnen_wind_ki5720 Elephants think we're cute, look how well that's turned out so far😅
Hahahaha about right.
Come back in a few thousand years though, the Portia Spiders civilization is pretty awesome by their space age
@@UNSCPILOT It's like they were born for space
Children of Time is such a damn good book. Honestly, it might've helped my archnaphobia a bit to read this book.
Okay, you might help. I hate spiders, every time i see one or read about one, i want to burn it with hellfire and pour acid on top of what's left and burn it again while screaming and gagging like a little bitch.
Is this book okay for my case?
@@jormungandthemidgardserpen1845 I'm arachnophobic and I'm starting it. I shall report back.
@@dillon1037 well how did it go?
@@fifthofascalante7311 Tchaikovsky has since become one of my favorite Scifi authors so pretty good.
@@dillon1037 how about the arachnophobia thing in particular?
Sounds like the perfect book for Denis Villeneuve’s next movie.
Children of Time is one of my all time favourite books but it is borderline unadaptable. If anyone can do it though, it is probably Denis
While reading this I did think about a movie adaptation, but I don't think its possible personally. The spiders society and method of communication just doesn't feel like it could be adapted for screens without making it seem a bit cartoonish.
Three body problem first.
@@robertwinslade3104 Dune was once called unadaptable
I'd love to see Denise's take on Children of time after he's done Rama, everyone should know of the adorable awesomely smart little friends
It's depressing how obscure this novel is. My favorite scifi of the last 10 years
Tu aqui?
To be fair though, if you consider just how many good novels get released every year its not all that surprising that many of them, like this one, get overlooked.
I was more surprised by some of the negative comments from those who have read it.
Eu tava aqui me perguntando que youtuber já tinha me recomendado esse livro e veja quem eu encontro nos comentários
Weird how depending on where you raise on the Internet something can be widely known of obscure. I would say this is like reddit's favourite book of the last few years.
Ei izzy acabei de ler. Por favor fala desse livro no teu canal. Aposto que teu publico vai curtir uma indicação de livro, especialmente com essa temática. 😉
All this sounds like something that a spider would say... How suspicious...
Mutherfucker….now that you mention it….notice how he only shows two hands and the camera doesn’t pan down to verify he had no other arms he is hiding!
how was i not subscribed to the second channel yet?
well, I'm here now.
OMG THIS IS MY FAVORITE MODERN SCIFI BOOK. ABSOLUTE HANDSDOWN FAVORITE
it’s got a genuinely nonhuman culture based believably on spider biology, it’s about the evolution of this nonhuman culture as well as the evolution of human spacefaring culture
ALSO! Absolutely perfect storytelling techniques! The conflict is not superficial, both sides have believably high stakes, and the amazing resolution was hinted at throughout the book
IT IS PERFECT
I live under a rock, so I didnt know this second channel existed.
I loved this book, and am glad to see others spreading the word! Every time I wonder if my own speculative writing concepts are too weird to find an audience, I remember how I was not only enthralled by uplifted spiders and their alien societies, but actually moved to tears.
Every time you say Tchaikovsky my mind jumps to the composer. I have the Nutcracker stuck in my head after watching this - fantastic!
This is literally my favorite book of all time
These two books made my head explode...totally in a good way. Loved them.
Thank you for the review - these books deserve more readers.
One of my all time favourites, it's fantastic and everyone should read it, especially people who are afraid of spiders, you're gonna gave a connection with them by the time you finish this book
Check out “A Deepness in the Sky” by Venor Vinge. I’m also certain this is where the idea for Children of Time came from
Since this happens to be my sci-fi/dystopia/cyberpunk year (starting out with Collins' prequel and Paolini's childhood dream) - I'm intrigued! Thanks.
I absolutely loved the book, and especially the ending. The way he has created the spider world is so fantastic!
I didn't like the ending at all...
****Spoiler****
The only way he could find of saving humanity was to change them genetically with a Deus ex machina. Not a very useful concept. I would have preferred a planet-of-the-ape outcome, where humans are subdued and learn from/struggle against their arachnide masters over several generations.
"the virus infects spiders"
Sorry can't do it
I can't believe you reviewed Adrian. He's my favourite author and I seriously LOVE his trilogy "the tiger and the wolf." His work is very poetic and just, ugh, beautiful. I got so excited as I (-havnt read but-) have been recommending this specific book to my bf for aggggessss now. Made him watch this with me
Have you read Shadows of the Apt?
Reading it after reading the Echoes of the Fall series is fascinating, seeing all the things that overlap from a very different perspective.
How Stepping differs from the Ancestor Art and how there are peoples who are in-between, like the Thorn-bugs or the sea-kinden, is fascinating.
Oh man, I remember this book! Made me look at our spider-bros in a whole new way.
Also a cool way of following a story through many generations.
I loved Children of Time and I had no idea that it had a sequel! Thank you!
Listened to the audiobooks of this and the sequel about a year ago. I loved every moment of them! Great writing and great narration.
I had no idea you recommended books, super excited. Your videos have helped my world building a lot so I'm excited to see what you read.
I just finished reading this book and it's SPECTACULAR! Funnily, this was my very first Sci-Fi book. I'm so glad I picked a good one, which has increased my interest in this genre. I've started Children of Ruin now :)
This is my favorite book right now and I read it because of your channel! Thank you so much
Easily one of my favourite books. Love the review. Glad to have found your channel. I think you're right about how fresh and epic it is, while being really deep and brilliantly written. (love the appearance of the dog too...)
Badass book! Can’t recommend highly enough. So happy to see a review for it on this channel.
I listened to all 9hrs of this in 2 days.and cried,and laughed and smiled more than I should at spider romance....it's a great read,my first fiction read in a long time.will be looking for children of ruin next
I finally got around to starting this. It’s amazing, thanks for the recommendation.
This video started auto playing and I felt oddly fascinated by the world you were describing, then three hours later I couldn’t get it out of my head and ended up getting the book. I cannot believe how amazing this book was, and I still can’t believe I cried for a spider when Fabian sacrificed himself in the Starnet. Also the time and effort put into building the world and the staggering amount of work required to paint such vivid descriptions of the structures the spiders built so that we feel immersed is just really quite something.
The video where you talk about worldbuilding architecture and mention the vertical webs and stuff got me to go look these books up. They’re amazing
I just finished it today. I loved it! I think the pacing was superb.
I loved the first book sooooo much, and I agree with everything you've said. I'm currently reading the second book and I would love to hear your thoughts on that too.
I would enjoy more In-depth review too, if you ever fancy doing that. Hugs
Agreed, hands-down one of the best Scifi books I've ever read.
Great book. Thank for the recommendation Tim. 🤓
I got this book for Christmas last year on your recommendation in another video, adored it, and then encouraged my friends and school librarian to read it too.
Hey Tim! I recently acquired this book after hearing you rave about how good it is. And holy moly! Its absolutely amazing so far.
I picked up a copy of this a few weeks ago but haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet. I finished a Cory Doctorow bend recently, I have to read this now! Can’t wait!
So glad you've discovered these! Breathtakingly good books, I've recommended them to people who don't 'do' scifi and they've loved them
'Semiosis' by Sue Burke plays with a few similar questions - this time looking at sentient plants - and while not as brilliant as Children of..., I still found it a good read
One of my all time favourite books, so good to see people singing it's praises
Love your work, Tim. How about reviewing China Mieville’s “Embassytown”, or as a sci-fi classic, Ursula Le Guin’s “The Left Hand of Darkness”? Some excellent world building by both authors, I believe.
Totally agree with your review. I loved Children of Time and it's one of my favorite SF books of the last 10 years. As I've read further Adrian Tchaikovsky books, he's become one of my favorite contemporary authors.
The climax and ending were SO good!
I know it's not an actual "Book", but ever since I started watching your vids a few years ago, I've always wanted you to review "The Practical Guide to Evil". Even though it's 6 books long right now, and it's the kind of story that gets better over time, if I could hear your thoughts on it's first book at least, it'd be so awsome ❤️
Thank you for all of your amazing content Tim
Love hearing you talk about one of your favorite books Tim. ^^
Also I might get it someday soon because, you sold me on it
HOW COULD I NOT KNOW YOU HAVE A SECOND CHANNEL?
Avrana really is a fascinating character, she goes through so much. And as for the sequel... tentacles!!!
And organic protomolecule
Ohh. New book to add to my reading list. Thank you.
I had heard of "organic" computers in many other stories, like Voyagers gel packs, or the Vorlons in Babylon 5 but I never thought to much about the concept until this book and wow what an eye opener! This book had me learning a lot about how analog and digital signals work and their pros and cons. I love books that fully captivate me in a wonderful story but also inspire me to learn and do research outside of story. Great books.
I'm loving these book reviews
great review, thank you
Don't think I missed your cute dog teleporting in and out from 1:38 to 1:52
Great review.
"Except, it all goes wrong". Wow what a twist
Honestly, this was a book that just kept me engaged throughout the whole thing. You just couldn’t tell where it would go for a lot of it.
Yayyyy I'm so happy to see this, I read this book about two years ago and I loved it
Edit: lol I love Children of Ruin in the background, that one was great too, but I kinda like the first one better. Though literally only because the sequel made me more sad XD
Ive had a copy of this sitting on my shelf for years without really knowing what it was about, but that first minute has really made me keen to give it a read.
This book deserves to be made into a movie. By a VERY good director....
damn, your video totally convinced me to read children of time, and i absolutely loved it, same with children of ruins, so thanks for that :)
Ok I'm sold :) Ordered it
...Yes sir, thank you for this. Been recommending this like a maniac ever since I read it. Might be the first book I'll ever give a second spin. Out of this world amazing.
The second part is also very good. Couldn't get the phrase "Let's go on an adventure..." out of my head after that....
I struggled with Time, but Ruin was excellent. Everything else if his that I have listened to have been incredible also. Walking to Aldebaran is a novella but is prob my fave of his stuff so far.
Awesome stuff. As far as sci-fi goes, Black Mirror, 1984, Animal Farm and Brave New World are my absolute favourite works. I will definitely add this to my reading list. Thanks Tim!
Just finished Children of Time off the back of watching this video when it came out. Absolutely amazing book
Agreed! It's One helluva good book! Can´t wait to read Children of Ruin! BTW, thanks for the video!
Great review @TwotheFuture (seems strange not thinking Hello Future Me 😅), both are now on my TBR - I need to read about supercomputer ant colonies now.
For thoughts on other books for you to review, I'm loving Red Rising which I'm halfway through but I've read that it's one of the worst in the series. I loved Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (it was mentioned in one of your On Writing videos, I think fight scenes, but I don't know if you've read it).
Hope you get better soon :)
Sold getting the book now, thanks
Children of Ruin was kind of a let down for me, but I agree with everything about the first book, it's amazing
This was such good sci-fi. Easy to follow, good characterizations, world building and the speculative science was very plausible.
Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series is my go to comfort reading series (Tolkien aside), I am so happy to see his talent in so many genres!
The synopsis sounded so ScyFy Original, but it was so much better than I could have anticipated.
Have to agree with you. Absolutely an amazing book. I read Dune shortly after it first came out and Children of Time gives me that same feeling. Haven't read Children of Ruin, but, it is on my TBR. Must also look into other books by Tchaikovsky as he seems to be an amazing author. I believe that he also writes Fantasy, so, I have to look into that, also.
Adrian Tchaikovsky books are my favorite. His writing style and ideas are amazing
I agree. Loved this book. Was sceptical about how he'd described a spider-run society, but it was very cool.
It's my goal to someday have my own book reviewed and hopefully recommended on this channel. For some reason, Tim's writing advice has become the benchmark I hold my work to.
Have any work available at the moment?
@@mavste5677 not yet. Work is progressing slowly, and I've been working on other projects. I haven't forgotten this though...
Would love to see a review of the third book!
Loved loved loved this book!!! Couldn't put it down, now the sequel, eh, it's a bit tedious. I heard the movie rights have been bought but how the heck are they gonna adapt it, lol, like, I contacted even fathom how
I will should it?
I thought it would be _buy it._ Ah well, at least there's a title that makes sense now.
i really really liked it. one of the books that stayed in my head for long.
Great book & follow up Children of Ruin...
Excellent characters and development
Ah yes, one of my all time favorite series!
Love, love, love this book! I've read it several times at this point but it never gets old. Side note--when I was first reading this book, my husband was also reading one by the same author completely by coincidence. We found out by realizing that both had anthropomorphized insect characters.
Seriously, one of the best books I’ve ever read. This book gets you thinking!
It’s so good. Reading the 2nd one now.
Really cool book. I am reading right now. The opening had me hoping for a spiritual prequel to Planet of the Ape. I would love it if Adrian Tchaikovsky explored a world in which Kern's original Simian plan was successful. Or a world where the virus uplifted mammals or other vertebrates. It'd be pretty cool to see planets of the elephants and the orcas
You convinced me lol^^ I guess I know what I'll get myself for Easter...
Edit: finished reading now: can confirm, the book is amazing, those spiders are just so cooooool
I just came across the boom and started reading it. It’s freaking brilliant
I love the author and as soon as I saw Adrian Tchaikovsky I rushed to this video. I’m currently reading his series Shadows of the apt it is also an amazing and fascinating steam punk sci if world but it also very much about it’s characters and how they evolve through the course of the series. Could you please do a review on the first book in the series “Empire in black and gold” . Love your content and keep it up ❤️
I just read this book because of Dominic Noble's new podcast, and it was just phenomenal. The ending had me crying.
Just finished this book and I'm obsessed, best book I've read in a while
Possibly one of my favourite books of all time, incredible.
I have stopped reading scifi for a while and read this just yesterday (thanks to this review) I was blown away. I agree some things get forced a bit, and I find hard to believe the choices they make compared to the technical feats they are able to achieve. But in the end I really enjoyed the read.
Also when I finished I found a big spider in my bathroom, lol, it was of the venomous type, sorry little spider sister.
Read/listened with Whispersync in the beginning of 2020.
To say it surprised me and blew me away would be an understatement. The moment it was revealed the nanovirus infected the spiders and other invertebrates... I was hooked. It's a wonderful book for all the reasons you said.
The best book I have read yet, left me with a post book high for some time. Now I await book three Children of Memory.
I've read both books 4 times. I wish he'd revisit this story and continue the series
Many thanks for recommending this! My wife and I had actually recently started a journey toward molting our hysterical revulsion of spiders by adopting jumping spiders. We are now tolerant of all kinds of spiders and we are in love with jumpers. This read was the perfect bookend to our journey of empathy toward our invertebrate siblings.
Got this from the library based off this review and I think I've discovered a new author to dive into.
As someone who's always been just a few steps removed from a full-blown arachnophobe, I was impressed to find myself rooting for the spiders almost instantly. It was riveting to experience many of the civilizational hurdles humanity had to overcome from an arthropod's viewpoint, with the section on the plague probably being my favourite.
As for recommendations, Annihilation is another recent sci-fi book that I think earns a spot with the all-time greats. If you like your books weird, this one's for you.
I read it and really enjoyed it. The only issue I had was the structure. The need to constantly go back and forth between the different species slows the book right down and it feels like we sometimes cut away from a plot point just to see what the spiders up to. Other than that it was really clever. I’ve got the sequel but haven’t read it yet and hope it can sort out that issue from the first one.
This was just amazing... I couldn't stop reading for 10 hours and then 3 more after a bit sleep and the ending made me cry. And tomorrow I will get the damn sequel