
Children of Ruin
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Narrated by:
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Mel Hudson
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Written by:
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Adrian Tchaikovsky
About this listen
‘Asimov or Clarke might have written this’ – Stephen Baxter, co-author of The Long Earth
A scout ship discovers a human outpost lying derelict in space – and a planet better left unexplored. Set in the same universe as Children of Time, this is a thrilling narrative from the award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life – but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time.
Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth.
But those ancient terraformers awoke something on Nod. Something better left undisturbed.
And it has been waiting for them.
‘Books like this are why we read science fiction’ – Ian McDonald, author of the Luna series
Children of Ruin follows Adrian Tchaikovsky's extraordinary Children of Time, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award. It is set in the same universe, with new characters and an original narrative.
Praise for the series:
‘Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human’ – Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls
‘Brilliant science fiction and far-out world-building’ – James McAvoy
‘A fabulous sense of scale that only someone as talented as Adrian Tchaikovsky can pull off’ – Peter F. Hamilton, author of Exodus: The Archimedes Engine
Critic Reviews
What listeners say about Children of Ruin
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jaswant Jonnada
- 23-09-22
Not as good as the previous installment
Had high hopes after reading Children of time. The story could have been a bit more engaging
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- Jayesh Mahapatra
- 23-06-19
More spider adventures
This book definitely expanded well on its predecessor. The style of writing remains the same, but the ideas are new. Involves ideas of exploration,species engineering, inter-species communication, transhumanism and more.
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3 people found this helpful
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- NP
- 22-03-22
A spectacular sequel!
The Children of Ruin is the sequel to The Children of Time. And as you listen to the book, your understanding of the title changes. Ruin takes on new shapes and you’re left with a sense of awe.
Both the books are a mirror to today’s (real) society.
This book takes a step further than the previous one, by showing us a dystopia of ourselves. And that’s what makes this book incredible. You really understand the magnitude of the consequences we are creating for ourselves.
In terms of technical sci-fi content - the children of ruin is definitely a harder to keep up with. The concepts are more abstract compared to the first book.
The narrator - same as that of the prequel - has done a fabulous job and they brought the book to life.
Adrian is a genius. And if you are new to sci-fi like me and want a recommendation to dip your toes into this genre, then do choose this series.
You won’t regret it. You’ll go on an adventure.
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- Rana K.
- 17-11-20
Confusing
Very hard to follow the story line and confusing too . First book was way better
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- Peeyush M.
- 02-03-24
Not suitable for audiobook, too much back and forth
I wanted to like this story as I had heard a lot about it. But I found it difficult to keep up with the flow of the story as there is too much back and forth between different storylines in this book. Maybe it is better for reading but I wouldn't recommend it as an audiobook.
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- Himanshu Modi
- 17-03-20
Great story, with a lot of science-y exposition
Weaving species evolution in a science fiction story is a difficult proposition. After all, evolution, let's face it, is rather boring. Stuff happens over millions of years. And while the science itself is fascinating - both at the genetic and cellular level, and at the social level - it can be a hard story to tell.
Adrian Tchaikovsky surmounted impossible odds in the first book of this series, Children of Time. It was as much a space opera as a single book could be. With all of that evolution stuff in it.
Here, we return to the series, and explore the evolution of 2 different species - octopuses, and a micro-organism. While the spiders and humans are learning to co-exist. There's an AI in the mix too. If that sounds complex, it is. The complexity, then, is really the books undoing.
Tchaikovsky, has to dedicate reams of pages to the workings of octopods (i am just going with the nomenclature in the book. Octopuses or Octopus' or Octopi all sound too awkward) and how they talk and how they behave. There's as much focus on the spider-human communication mechanics, the AI-human mechanics - which is rather tiring. The story is still great. This scenario of two intergalactic species who have made peace with the existence of alien life, seeking out other life forms and the clash that ensues, has phenomenal potential. And I daresay, Tchaikovsky does do justice to it. But... the science part of sci-fi is just too loaded and felt like a chore. The social aspect of the new species is very different from the way the spider society emerges in book 1. But it's also very convoluted, to the point where I will freely admit that I didn't quite get it - much like the human and spider heroes in the book.
I still enjoyed some of the exposition, and the overall story arch. The narration was spectacular too. I daresay these books are probably the hardest to perform with the amount of different perspectives we get. But Mel Hudson does a fantastic job. Absolutely phenomenal. I daresay this one would have been unfinished but for Mel Hudson for me.
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