Children of Ruin

4,8 stars

I am not capable of reviewing this coherently.

I loved Children of Time to the point of it being my favorite read of 2018. I've been waiting for Children of Ruin since I finished the first book, even before I knew for certain there would be a sequel. I had incredibly high hopes for this. And this didn't disappoint.

I am in awe of Tchaikovsky's ability to create cultures, and civilizations, and creatures that are at the same time familiar, alien, and completely believable. On top of that, he's just over all such an amazing writer. He's become a measuring stick for good scifi for me, and very few thing's I've read since have measured up.

This particular story followed in the foot steps of it's predecessors, but also added a show more dimension I didn't expect. I also loved the ending which gives me hope of a possible third book in the series, but at the same time wraps the story up in a way that I won't feel robbed if a third book won't happen.

100% will re-read this within the next year. show less

Who do you like best? Spiders or octopi? That is the question.

Tchaikovsky impressed me yet again. I am so happy!

The second instalment in the Children of Time series begins at the same time as book 1. Here is another human terraforming mission. They are working on one planet (a watery world) and exploring another. A scientist decides to uplift some octopi.

The timeline jumps between this mission and spider/Human explorers from book 1 who have come to this solar system and discover a cephalopod civilization. They discover something else, too. Something creepy. Something horrible. Something scary. Something very alien. (I will have a very interesting reaction to the phrase “we are going on an adventure” from now on. Heeeeelp. IYKYK.)

I show more loved the relationships between spiders and Humans and how they have developed since book 1. The octopi are amazing! Their way of being is both alien and relatable, as are the workings of their civilization. Their language is beautifully imagined.

”…could be great-hearted enough to be happy that someone else was laughing, even if they couldn’t get the joke.”

This is a novel of ideas and world building, but I thought the characters here were more impressive and had more personality than in the first book. I could read three more books just about all these species getting to know each other and learning to communicate. The whole series is really about the acceptance of something alien. (The best character arc belongs to an AI, though.)

This is a wonderfully plotted novel, at times I could not put the book down. The ending is very-very-very satisfying!

P. S. I’d love to be friends with Paul the octopus. show less

Given that we get octopuses in space, I should have loved this. But why do octopodes in space need to have a water-filled environment? They seem the perfect shape for zero-G. I enjoyed the sections with the descendants of the Children of Time characters a good deal more than the - overly long since we know what's being set up - sections about the old Empire transforming mission. The human characters are the weakest part of the narrative.

Now, this book is fun.

Things Gets Weird

Adrian Tchaikovsky is good at weird. In fact, he's probably better at weird than he is at normal. The human characters in Children of Time who wanted normal things like a home or family were functional, but the cast of Children of Ruin are brought alive by their offbeat motivations and wide assortment of idiosyncracies. Now almost every character has as much dynamism of Avrana Kern did in the first novel. Not least of all Kern herself! Personalities like a scientist that wants to transform a planet into a paradise for hyperintelligent octopuses or an AI that resorts to unethical methods to experience human emotions are exactly what Tchaikovsky's stories require, and they really flourish here.

Life show more Is a Many-Splendored Thing

While the first book was pretty good, one way it fell short for me is that human-Portiid contact is pretty limited until the very last section of the book; and even then, it's characterized on the human side by disgust and fear that forecloses deeper interactions between the two species. This book shows a humanity that has evolved beyond that past. Human chauvinism is a well-worn sci-fi trope, so it's nice to see a culture that consciously rejects that in favor of an expansive interspecies cosmopolitanism. The fact that humans are a minority group on Kern's World also produces some interesting dynamics. That's not even talking about the new species that the novel introduces. If you're looking for human-alien interactions, you won't be disappointed.

Payoff

It's really satisfying to see Tchaikovsky develop the world of this series in new directions, because he's never satisfied with retreading old ground. As a result of the build-up performed in the previous novel, this book is able to go much further afield than the last. The species it focuses on go in completely different developmental directions that the Portiids, and their alienness is felt by the main characters (both Portiid and human) in a very different way. The more Tchaikovsky writes in this world, the more complex and strange the ideas he expresses through it become. With its central themes of translation and transhumanism, this is a book delighted by discovery and the unknown, and it is an absolute pleasure to read. show less

Children of Ruin doubles everything good about the first book and drops all of the stuff I didn't like. A scientific expedition of Portiids and Humans has arrived at a star that has been broadcasting radio waves to find two new sentiences and all the hazards that encompass.

The easiest ones are uplifted octopodes, descendants of another Old Empire terraforming expedition. The octopodes have a truly bizarre cognitive framework, bifurcated between the emotional "I" of the Crown and the rational yet unspeaking tentacular Reach. Their creator left them high technology, enough to kickstart an undersea industrial base and space-faring capabilities, yet their civilization has been gripped by decades of fraught resource wars driven by show more overpopulation that their fluid and protean political system is unable to grapple with.

At least the Octopodes are neural, Earth-descendended. The other minds is the Nodians, some kind of nano-parasite that acts as an aggressively hegemonizing mindjacking swarm. With the terrifying refrain "We are going on an adventure!", Nod infected entities are deadly threats to Octopodes, as well as any humans and spiders they might encounter. It's up to a small group of Portiids, Humans, and an Avrala Kern fragment to navigate a deadly flux of mistranslation to find common ground and common peace. Children of Ruin is great work of modern space opera! show less

*Note: it is a good idea to read Book 1: Children of Time prior to reading this one as it sets up the main species understanding. This series is heavy Sci-Fi oriented re: evolution of species other than Human and Human space exploration.*

First, this is one of my favorite series in the Sci-Fi genre, hands down. I barreled through CoT and immediately started CoR [life got in the way for a while though]. The very concepts Tchaikovsky puts into these novels hold huge interest for me and the evolutionary aspects of species other than Human is amazing. This book centers around Portiid [arachnid] and human exploration of space and other planets from the planet in book one. It simultaneously uses past and present narrative to tell the story of show more the new species encountered as well as how things for the Portiids and humans are going at the same time.

Some characters are part of the species from book one on Kern’s world; evolved Portiid [arachnid] species descendants and Humans descendants from the original Human exploration unit. Between the two books, Time has passed and evolutionary and scientific advance has been made so the Portiid and Humans can interact and work together. This small unit of Portiid and Human has a unique but understandable dynamic. They interact with each other in a hierarchy built from Portiid society. There is, to a human reader, a reversal of gender domination in this series. These characters each have unique voices and attitudes which Tchaikovsky uses to great advantage.

Other characters are also human voices we’re reading as they are going about their own exploration and science but in past events. Their voices are used to tell the great need for expansion from a human perspective, the excitement of going off into space, despair, hopelessness, loneliness, and much more. One new species encountered is Cephalopods first created by a human scientist. Their story is intertwined with and eventually takes over from the “past humans” to continue forward and interact with the present Portiid/Human narrative. There is another key character that is both interesting and terrifying if you have watched any Sci-Fi movies. This character is We and they are one, they are all, and they are some. They interact with both the humans of the past narrative and the Portiids/Humans/Cephalopods of the present narrative.

The story at its base is a space exploration/first contact story; only, the main species characters aren’t Human. In fact, humans are not the end all be all in this series at all which is refreshing and we aren’t reading about a humanoid version of aliens either. Tchaikovsky has given us a completely different alien to consider. The stakes are intense and you can feel yourself sitting on the edge. Especially in the back half of the book as the four species come together.

The writing is superb. This much science-heavy jargon and explanation would normally go over people's heads but Tchaikovsky has a way of incorporating it and those twenty-dollar words with ease and readability. The smoothness of pacing allows the reader the chance to ponder the science while enjoying the character interactions and dynamics as well as interpreting the action in a way that is exciting.

This is a great series to read IMO if you’re into heavy science fiction or if you’re interested in trying sci-fi with non-human/non-humanoid mains. Enthusiastically recommended!

*All thoughts and opinions are my own. I own a copy of this book.* show less

I did not expect to read [b:Children of Ruin|40376072|Children of Ruin (Children of Time, #2)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548701599l/40376072._SX50_.jpg|62663185] in less than two days. It really is outstandingly compelling. I loved [b:Children of Time|25499718|Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431014197l/25499718._SY75_.jpg|45276208] and this sequel builds upon it brilliantly, by exploring meanwhile in another part of the galaxy. A separate expedition to a potentially habitable planet has a different legacy to that of Avrana Kern and the colony ship Gilgamesh, although there are show more certain striking parallels. The reader meets a small group of scientists sent to study and terraform, who find themselves cut off from Earth and faced with unexpected dangers. The planet they initially settle on has a lot of creatures that are fascinatingly different to terrestrial life, but do not initially appear intelligent or threatening. Then one of the crew is suddenly infected with an alien parasite that hijacks his mind. The shocking scenes of body horror that ensue are all the more powerful for being partially told from the parasite's perspective. Once again, Tchaikovsky is amazingly adept at evoking nonhuman perspectives. The spiders from [b:Children of Time|25499718|Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431014197l/25499718._SY75_.jpg|45276208] return, in established coalition with humans, and encounter new strange lifeforms.

I was absolutely delighted at the introduction of spacefaring octopi/octopodes/octopuses (different narrators use different plurals, a pleasing detail). I'm treating their presence as a spoiler because it was such a wonderful surprise for me. Like the spiders, they were dosed by the uplift virus - not that they weren't already intelligent and curious. Senkovi's experiments lead to them taking over his ship and eventually the terraformed planet. I recalled [b:The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness|22609485|The Soul of an Octopus A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness|Sy Montgomery|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1425611143l/22609485._SY75_.jpg|42099445] and [b:Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness|28116739|Other Minds The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness|Peter Godfrey-Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1606353700l/28116739._SX50_.jpg|48126419] during these sequences. Octopus society, language, and technology were all brilliantly imagined. The scenes inside their water-filled spaceships are a particular highlight. I'm now of the opinion that there should be far more space octopodes in sci-fi.

[b:Children of Ruin|40376072|Children of Ruin (Children of Time, #2)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548701599l/40376072._SX50_.jpg|62663185] continues to develop the major theme of [b:Children of Time|25499718|Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431014197l/25499718._SY75_.jpg|45276208]: communication, specifically translation, between intelligent species as crucial to any kind of peaceful coexistence or progress. The characters struggle to understand one another; the ones that survive and thrive are those that combine creative strategies and persistence in order to communicate successfully. They build upon the failed attempts of those who came before them. I find this narrative encouraging and optimistic. Tchaikovsky's future is resource constrained yet emphatically not a zero-sum game. Communication and collaboration between very different intelligences (human, spider, octopus, alien virus, and AI) bring benefits for all, while mutual incomprehension leads to conflict and extinction. Although there are plenty of human characters, the narrative is not human-centric at all. I really enjoyed the continued evolution of Avara Kern, post-human and ant-fuelled AI, and absolutely loved the new beings joining humanity and spiders among the stars. What an addictive, original, and thought-provoking space opera! show less