Children of Ruin

Adrian Tchaikovsky

May 2019 · Hachette Audio · Narrated by Mel Hudson

About this audiobook

The astonishing sequel to Children of Time, the award-winning novel of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.

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 woke something on Nod better left undisturbed.

Ratings and reviews

Definitely not as good as the first book in the series, which is a masterpiece and modern classic. This is also definitely a good book on its own and as a continuation of the series. It has some excellent ideas, but the octopods just weren't as interesting as the spiders of the first book were. I wish we could have gotten to know multiple octopus genetic lines over several generations, like we had in the first book. I love the general message of hope and acceptance that this series has, I hope that the third book continues that theme.

About the author

Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, and headed off to university in Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself, he subsequently ended up in law. Adrian has since worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds and now writes full time. He also lives in Leeds, with his wife and son. Adrian is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor. He has also trained in stage-fighting and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind -- possibly excepting his son.