Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovskey

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Jacket Blurb:  A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?

WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.

Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?

September's book group selection.

DNF

Book started out with an interesting premise - the nanovirus meant to uplift monkey's on Kern's World didn't take into account invertebrates, and when the monkeys never made it to the surface of the terraformed world, the nanovirus went to work on the spiders and ants. Centuries pass and the spiders and ants evolve moving through the various phases of societal development.

I found that aspect very interesting - a failure to take into account on exactly what what the nanovirus would and wouldn't affect. The question begs to be asked, if the monkeys had made it to the planet, would the monkeys and spiders have evolved simultaneously?

Meanwhile, after centuries of traveling through space, arc ship Gligamesh is desperately looking for a place to call home. The green planet approaching has all the set criteria...except for the crazy AI in the satellite that's destroying all of Gligamesh probes and is threatening to blow the Gligamesh out of the sky. There's a ship mutiny which goes badly, and the Gligamesh moves on. They find a grey planet, covered in some kind of fungus,

It's a story about evolution on a planet and de-evolution on a generation ship.

I made it halfway through the book and lost interest. Book group was really split on this selection; half enjoyed the book but did agree that it was a bit long. Half of us did not finish, citing it was too long and boring. The half that finished happily supplied the ending for those of us who gave up. I should also note - two of us really didn't like reading about giant spiders. ((shudder))

So, from a personal pov, I can't recommend this one, BUT...others did like it so this is one you might have to read and decide for yourself.





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