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Children of Time cover art

Children of Time

Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrated by: Mel Hudson
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Publisher's Summary

Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.

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?

©2016 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2017 Audible Ltd

What the critics say

" Children of Time is a joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human." (Patrick Ness)

Featured Article: 20 Best Sci-Fi Audiobooks for Exploring New Worlds

There is no genre that lends itself better to audio narrative than Science Fiction does. There is a magic that transports listeners to new worlds of wonder and mystery that is heightened by expert voice actors and narrators. A great writer can create an imaginative new world or dystopian civilisation, but it is up to the narrator to bring this world to life around you. We’ve gathered together 20 of the top science fiction audiobooks ranked not only for their stories but for the emotive and compelling narrative performances. Let these award winning tales and voices carry you away to worlds unknown.

What listeners say about Children of Time

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
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    4 out of 5 stars

A very unique read!

Very interesting ideas with a neat ending! I genuinely liked it and recommend it to anyone, especially those who like spiders...

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Strong Characters, Vast Time Scales

I really enjoyed this novel. The characters and thrust of history they experience are so well done they feel like they could be real.

The likeable main character experiences a dizzying array of moments throughout humanity's quest for a new home in this novel. As their plight becomes more desperate, he struggles with others' willingness to take extreme measures.

At the same time, it's exciting seeing life on the terraformed planet evolve and develop, seen through the eyes of a recurring set of characters that retain the same names, but are different individuals each time you read about them.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Quality Scifi

It is a different story than I am used to but that is what I was looking for. Was pleasantly surprised and afterwards immediately pre-ordered the next book. Looking forward to more books from this author.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Slow to catch me, but had me wanting more in the end

This book came highly recommended, and my interest in space and space travel made me think it was a good fit. It felt a little slow to start, I wasn’t sure why I needed to hear the slow progression of multiple stories, but in time i grew to enjoy all sides of what became one story. Well thought out, and a fascinating view of humans among other species and ourselves... in a future i can almost believe could come to pass...

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great book

great book. really well written. difficult to frame a different species and how they think but this author did it. worth the read/listen

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An absolutely excellent audio-book

I very much enjoyed this audio-book. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys a great story.
It enthralled me in its depth and riveting story lines. I took a chance on it when it came up in my "recommended for you" feed. I'm very glad I did. It spans multiple points of view and keeps up with a good flow. I was always happy to listen to it whenever the chance presented itself from beginning to end.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Grand Space Opera, satisfying end, A+ narration

Kept me awake way too late, for way too many days in a row - a real "page turner" of substantial length. I am happy to say I have zero complaints about the narration, which provided distinct styles without being distracting - very much as I imagine it would have "sounded" in my own internal reading voice.

Withought spilling any details, I can say this much:

Though there are few explicit signposts at the jump points, this tale which starts in a semi-distant future and spans many additional millenia is not hard to follow. Fascinating imaginative concepts - that are both all too human or intriguingly "alien" - are richly embedded throughout so there is always something fresh. In hindsight, the moral of the tale is present from the start and slowly made clearer and clearer but, to this reader, it only came fully into focus in the last chapters as a very satisfying conclusion. Although it may not be the most challenging "hardest" scifi out there (no physics textbooks needed) and allows itself some limited indulgence in classic/cheesy tropes, the overall tale was more than believable, sufficiently logical and internally consistent without any "magic". It falls cleanly on the softer end of the Hard genre. A fun story with a message that will sit with me for quite a while.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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OMG

This is distilled sci fi goodness, stop wasting your time and go listen to it

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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amazing in it's entirety.

it's just an amazing book. read or listen to it, you won't regret it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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love this book

can't get enough of this story! have listened to it over and over. so clever and captivating, really good pacing. Adrian, TPG?

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