Children of Time

By Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.

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?

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Published Dec 11, 2018

416 pages

Average rating: 8.07

220 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

IdleExpatter
Jul 06, 2026
10/10 stars
What a book. I came into this one only knowing the barest detail about the plot, and I'm coming out of it feeling that I just finished a modern masterpiece. The arc of the thing is immense, and yet somehow it all holds together without feeling either too big or too skeletal. It works as both a reasonably propulsive and engaging read and a thought-provoking lingerer. Can't recommend it highly enough.
jhwarren
Oct 24, 2025
9/10 stars
Solid world building and a novel concept for a space opera. It’s a dense book, took a long time to read but I enjoyed every moment and will continue to read the series.
brenenh
Apr 22, 2026
7/10 stars
Children of Time takes you through the endless eternity of the cosmos! Reading this novel felt like the coolest timelapse that showed how even from the smallest creatures, (aka the portians) can become governors of their own world. Not including the inevitable demise of the human race as it tries to stretch through the millennia. This book was such a great read. One of those works that is great to pick up and read from time to time. Adrian Tchaikovsky put a lot of creative work into this masterpiece and it left the reader lost in time itself.
Suzanne82
Aug 16, 2025
10/10 stars
This was so much fun. What a well-explored what-if!
Ly
Jul 21, 2025
Ly

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