Jan Helms reviewed Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Great world building, weak characters
4 stars
Very intriguing story and great world-building on the green planet. I was really fascinated by the cities and technologies made from silk.
But I never felt too much sympathy with the protagonists, because they either only came up for a short period and then disappeared in time, repeating the same names (Portia) for different characters didn't help. Or because they were not very likeable. There was hardly any backstory on the crew of the ship, and emotional storylines like the relationship of classicist and engineer were rather subdued, never made it into my heart. The storyline was foreseeable in many parts, even the rather abrupt ending. I found myself skipping lines and paragraphs towards the end.
This may sound negative, and honestly, the book leaves me somehow unsatisfied, even though I can't point out a singular reason. Nevertheless, I would recommend reading it, it's entertaining and gripping in most parts, …
Very intriguing story and great world-building on the green planet. I was really fascinated by the cities and technologies made from silk.
But I never felt too much sympathy with the protagonists, because they either only came up for a short period and then disappeared in time, repeating the same names (Portia) for different characters didn't help. Or because they were not very likeable. There was hardly any backstory on the crew of the ship, and emotional storylines like the relationship of classicist and engineer were rather subdued, never made it into my heart. The storyline was foreseeable in many parts, even the rather abrupt ending. I found myself skipping lines and paragraphs towards the end.
This may sound negative, and honestly, the book leaves me somehow unsatisfied, even though I can't point out a singular reason. Nevertheless, I would recommend reading it, it's entertaining and gripping in most parts, and as said before, the world-building is full of original, great ideas.
