Children of Memory

Adrian Tchaikovsky — 2023

The modern classic of space opera that began with Children of Time continues in this extraordinary novel of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Earth failed. In a desperate bid to escape, the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, Heorest Holt, carried its precious human cargo to a potential new paradise. Generations later, this fragile colony has managed to survive, eking out a hardy existence. Yet life is tough, and much technological knowledge has been lost. Then strangers appear. They possess unparalleled knowledge and thrilling technology – and they've arrived from another world to help humanity’s colonies. But not all is as it seems, and the price of the strangers' help may be the colony itself. Children of Memory by Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky is a far-reaching space opera spanning generations, species and galaxies.

Reviews

Joe Herrington@joeherringtoniv

Oct 21, 2024

Solid and apart from the first two books in the series. Rather than evolution, this book navigates the ethics of alternate realities and simulations. One can’t help but draw a connection to AI presently.

This review contains a spoiler

Frederik De Bosschere@freddy

Jul 8, 2024

The first book was original and a masterpiece. The sequel was lacking in imagination and poorly executed. Luckily, this third and final entry is a return to form. What for a long time seems like small scope mystery novel gets a grand philosophical finale. It's a build up that delivers in a very big way. There is some narrative messiness inherent in its premise. And the discussions around the nature of sentience are interesting but make for a weirdly paced epilogue. But still, I absolutely devoured this story, making the trilogy essential reading for any sci-fi fan.

Kevin Stofan@tankofvines

Jun 21, 2024

Tough not to give it 4, but it just wasn't as tight as the previous two. Still has some incredible themes and new characters (maybe two of my favorite in the series). Absolutely worth the read, but just slightly different than the rest of the series. I could easily read this again and have a completely different feeling about it though. Tremendous work on the series.

Max Moss@maxmm77

Apr 4, 2023

What a ride of a book. Definitely didn’t end where I thought it would, and I spent so much of the book wondering how it could be wrapped up. It’s not my favorite in the series, I think I like CoT more, but still an incredible book. There’s a really interesting theme that pops up that feels like commentary on the current AI wave we’re in, but this was definitely written before ChatGPT. So hats off to the author for his foresight there.

This review contains a spoiler

Stijn de Boer @stijnionio

Mar 10, 2023

Adrian Tchaikovsky is able to blow your mind and expand your frame of reference and then keep one-upping himself in that regard with each book he writes.

Children of Time and Children of Ruin are two of my favorite books ever: the former establishes Tchaikovsky's inspired idea to write evolutionary science fiction and executes it satisfyingly, although the story in that book is relatively simple. Children of Ruin then expands on this principle while telling a much more compelling story.

Children of Memory shifts it focus slightly away from the principles of evolution, instead telling a story about early planet colonization and philosophizing about what constitutes a person, driven by the alien life introduced in Children of Ruin.

Tchaikovsky scale is sweeping as always, telling a story spanning millennia and prompting you to question everything you know about life and its meaning. There is a section about two-thirds of the way through the novel where the book becomes a bit repetitive and which could have been edited down a bit, but apart from that, this is another banger from my favorite author currently writing.