Children of Time
ISBN: 9781447273301
Description
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?
Reviewed on 27th October 2019
Children of Time is a hard sci-fi novel set in a future where space travel and genetic engineering are the norm, and scientists are starting to think about seeding terraformed planets with the seeds of intelligent life for purposes that are not particularly moral. The book was lent to me by a friend who found it unreadable due to the presence of giant spiders.
I came to really like the way the story evolves over time - following multiple plot lines that each move through time at different paces, yet still mirror each other in various aspects. The use of the spiders was slightly tricky to get my head around at first, but following the world building here was fascinating, and probably my favourite part of the story.
I enjoyed the book and will probably seek out the sequel sometime - although I had to tell my friend that they were correct not to read it.