Children of Strife review: Adrian Tchaikovsky’s new Children of Time novel is brilliant

The fourth novel in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s much acclaimed Children of the times the series is almost with us. And Children of strife is great. Before we get into that in detail, let me say that I will do my best to avoid spoilers for all four books.

Science fiction about “uplifted” species is not an original idea, but Tchaikovsky tackles it in a completely original way. As fans will know, the first book in the series (Children of the times) involved an arkship finally reaching a terraformed planet.

In theory, the world should be ready to welcome the settlers, but dear… has something gone horribly wrong? Has another species been elevated to the top spot intended for humans? I think it’s okay to mention spiders here.

In the also brilliant follow-up, Children of Ruinanother planet is mentioned, and here I just want to drop in the word “octopus”.

Tchaikovsky is a prolific writer, with many wonderful books, but this series represents the best of his work. They are instant classics, not to be missed by anyone passionate about the genre and its ability to explore ideas about our cosmos, past, present and future.

While many famous sci-fi authors make their mark with Big Physics, Tchaikovsky made his name by taking the Big Biology route. Seeing what kind of community uplifted octopuses, for example, can build is an absolute joy.

I felt the third novel in the series, Children of memorywhich went in a different direction than the first two books, was a bit of a damp squib in comparison.

However, we now have the fourth in the series and Children of strife is a real return to form. I think you can probably skip book three of the series and still understand book four, by the way, but of course don’t skip books one and two or you might find things a bit confusing. (I can imagine someone reading book four before any of the others, and ending up yelling, “What’s up with the ants?”)

Children of strife is ambitiously structured in three timelines. It regularly switches between the three, and each has its own characters.

This time, there’s a raised mantis shrimp at the center of things. Mantis shrimp, as they exist on Earth today, are carnivorous predators that really pack a punch. Imagine a jacked-up one in a spacesuit, roughly human-sized and with a taste for heavy, futuristic weapons… now that’s fun. However, some of the creatures, or at least the species, in this book will be familiar from previous volumes, which will please devoted fans of the series.

The really big new wood Children of strife is the planet itself. The world looks like it has been terraformed into something similar to Earth. In fact, it looks lovely, like a Garden of Eden… at least from a distance!

This planet is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in Tchaikovsky’s books. I think it’s fair to say, and no spoiler, that this place is not very nice. The how and why of this new planet is really well done.

The character work is also hard-hitting: the characters – human or otherwise – feel real and well-thought-out. The Big Biology is as brilliant as you’d expect. The action itself unfolds in a satisfyingly fast and logical manner.

If I were to nitpick, I would say that the last sequence in the book, planet page, is perhaps a bit long. But that is picking the tiniest nits imaginable. This book is brilliant.

Book
Children of strife
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Thu (March 26)

Emily also recommends…

Book
The Uplift Storm Trilogy
David Brin, Open Road Media

This trilogy, set in Brin’s so-called Uplift Universe, is great stuff. Think uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins, and distant space opera. The three booksBrightness Reef, Infinity’s Shore and Heaven’s reach, are all part of a continuous story.

Emily H.Wilson is the author of the Sumerians series (Inanna, Gilgamesh and Ninshubar, all published by Titan) and she is currently working on her first sci-fi novel. She is a former editor of New Scientist and you can follow her on Instagram @emilyhwilson1