This is the sequel to Children of Time and begins on another planet to which a colonisation expedition had been sent by Earth (before it self-destructed). This time it is octopuses that have been elevated to higher intelligence but there is also a truly alien intelligence to deal with. And the arrival of the descendants, both human and arachnid, of the characters from Children of Time soon creates a fascinating dilemma for all concerned.
Despite a rather slow and distinctly un-hooky start (Children of Time had me hooked pretty much from the first paragraphs), in which the writing just didn’t seem to flow and felt somewhat clumsy, Children of Ruin did eventually find its feet and having done that it races away to even greater heights than its predecessor. Tchaikovsky manages to find a comfortable balance between the hard sciences of biology and psychology (both of which he has studied) and a cracking first contact story that is not shy of addressing both the practicalities as well as the idealism of that situation. He develops the sentient intelligences of both octopus and spider believably and intriguingly, though I did get rather tired by the number of times he felt it necessary to remind the reader of the emotional nature of the octopuses, and then adds to that by creating a truly intriguing intelligent alien slime mould analogy, whose child-like lack of any societal conditioning and a total absence of anything remotely akin to empathy innocently creates the most horrific consequences. Beautifully encapsulated by their slightly chilling catchphrase of “We’re going on an adventure.”
These two books are very good, intelligent works of hard science fiction that manage to be both serious pieces of speculation and cracking pieces of space opera. I shall certainly be returning to the works of Mr Tchaikovsky!
4/5 stars
Despite a rather slow and distinctly un-hooky start (Children of Time had me hooked pretty much from the first paragraphs), in which the writing just didn’t seem to flow and felt somewhat clumsy, Children of Ruin did eventually find its feet and having done that it races away to even greater heights than its predecessor. Tchaikovsky manages to find a comfortable balance between the hard sciences of biology and psychology (both of which he has studied) and a cracking first contact story that is not shy of addressing both the practicalities as well as the idealism of that situation. He develops the sentient intelligences of both octopus and spider believably and intriguingly, though I did get rather tired by the number of times he felt it necessary to remind the reader of the emotional nature of the octopuses, and then adds to that by creating a truly intriguing intelligent alien slime mould analogy, whose child-like lack of any societal conditioning and a total absence of anything remotely akin to empathy innocently creates the most horrific consequences. Beautifully encapsulated by their slightly chilling catchphrase of “We’re going on an adventure.”
These two books are very good, intelligent works of hard science fiction that manage to be both serious pieces of speculation and cracking pieces of space opera. I shall certainly be returning to the works of Mr Tchaikovsky!
4/5 stars
