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“Life is not perfect, individuals will always be flawed, but empathy – the sheer inability to see those around them as anything other than people too – conquers all, in the end.”

Release Date: June 4th, 2015

Genre(s): Science-fiction, Space opera

Publisher: Orbit

Pages: 600

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Synopsis

Children of Time is a science-fiction novel about humankind’s quest to find a new home, and the mysteries of the planet they seek to live on. After planet Earth becomes uninhabitable, the last of humankind is lucky to discover a planet that perfectly suitable for life. But in the time that it has taken them to migrate, new masters have turned the planet into the worst possible scenario for humankind. Who is the rightful inhabitant of the planet – and are the risks to inhabit it still worth it?

Review

Children of Time was sold to me on the sole premise that it was about spiders in space. And I might be in the minority of people that are at least slightly fascinated by spiders, but just knowing that was all I needed to pick up this book. And I have to say, I really liked this one! I’m glad that I bought both books at once so I can dive into Children of Ruin once I’m done writing this review.

While doing some quick research on this book before deciding to read it, I noticed some people classifying it as space opera while others called it hard sci-fi. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this, but I would classify this as space opera. There are some technical explanations and research done here and there, but not to the point where I would personally classify it as hard sci-fi.

Another reason why I say this is because of the focus on the human condition and the flaws of humankind itself. From the start, you can tell that the crew is not a set of likable characters. Children of Time is very much a speculative story of where we’ll end up if we continue the behaviors that we currently exhibit, and I found this so interesting. I’m pretty particular about unlikable characters, since they’re so hard to pull off while still creating interest in the story overall. But Children of Time has that fly-on-the-wall style of writing – as readers, we’re here to observe. And much of the observations are about the ignorance of these characters and the speculation of what they’ve done in the past to get here.

You also have the same thing happening with the other perspective on the spider-inhabited planet. You get to hear about their stories, their fears, and their plans to protect their home. Another interesting aspect of the plot here was why there’s spiders on the planet in the first place, which I found fascinating. But going back to the character POV’s, I absolutely love this type of writing, because it doesn’t force the reader to pick sides (or at least for a while). Instead, there are primarily other aspects for you to analyze, and I found that to be perfect for this book. (And then you end up rooting for one side – and not the one you would think!)

 I also liked the way this book tackles first contact and discovering new species. As a Star Trek fan, I’m used to the crew treating different species with open arms and the importance of inclusion. That being said, the reverse happening in this book was so interesting to read. The views that they have towards what’s different from them contribute to their failures in the past and present and that’s highlighted in such a unique way. I’m curious to see the continuation of this in the second book.

Despite my love for the execution of Children of Time, I do wish we got to see more individuality with the characters. Throughout this novel, I felt that I was fusing all of the human opinions and all of the spider opinions together. There was some exploration of nuance with the characters’ opinions, but I feel like this book could have gone further with it.

Regardless, I’m glad that I finally picked up Children of Time. This is a great pick for fans of space opera and speculative fiction. I also noticed that this book has reached a lot of readers’ interest that don’t read a lot of sci-fi, and have yet to read this book because it looks like a really dense book. If you’re not used to reading sci-fi there might be a couple of things here and there that you might not be used to with the genre, but otherwise, I think this is a great pick for those wanting to read sci-fi. The thickness of this book might be intimidating to some, but if you’re like me, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you read this.