Reviews

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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lachlanfinlayson's review against another edition

5.0

A great read. Just as Sue Burke’s Semiosis had me regarding Bamboo in a completely new way, and Children of Time had me looking at Spiders with a newfound respect, Children of Ruin has me thinking about Octopi in new ways. As well as further building my respect and awe of Spiders. This book is a sequel to Children of Time and it is best, thought not essential, to read that book first. Children of Ruin is great story, complex and thought provoking with a depth and richness all the way through the book.

All the main Characters are well developed, both Human and Non-Human, and the dynamic between species is always intriguing, entertaining and occasionally humorous. The Chapters set either in the present or the past, and are annotated as such. I found it useful to make a few notes on characters, locations, and so on as I was reading the book to ensure I was not loosing tracks of time or space !

I can highly recommend this book. One that will stay in my mind for a long time and will have me observing the life around me very carefully...I look forward to reading more from Mr Tchaikovsky.

evjohn13's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

buchsy's review against another edition

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3.0

It tried to do the same thing as the first book, with multiple different POV characters, seperate locations, and converging timelines. But with too many POV characters it was hard to really get too invested in any of them. And while the style was novel and exciting in the first book, it just felt a bit boring and clunky in this book.

Just felt very, “second verse same as the first” but done worse and without any of the excitement of seeing it done the first time.

It wasn’t a bad book, but it had a lot to live up to and missed the mark slightly. I think the last third of the book was easily the most engaging (although coming to a truce at the last second with a flash forward to everything working out between such different species? Wonder where we’ve seen that before…).