Children of Strife - The Children of Time Novels
Children of Strife - The Children of Time Novels
hardback
Published:
26 March, 2026
Popular Books by Adrian Tchaikovsky
View All Books by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Description
They thought they’d found refuge.
But this paradise became their prison.
Centuries ago, a maverick terraforming team played God with a distant planet. Out of their vanity and spite, something terrible and unexpected arose.
Generations later, tormented scientist Alis is among the crew of the research vessel that rediscovers this lost outpost. But Alis wakes from nightmares of her own making to an all-too-real catastrophe on board. The rest of the crew has vanished – leaving only Cato, the belligerent mantis-shrimp captain, and Kern, the ship’s AI.
Searching for their lost fellows, Alis and Cato must venture into the darkness of the planet below. What did those ancient terraformers unleash? And will their last surviving crewmate become a greater threat than the world itself?
Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky
‘Brilliant science fiction and far-out world-building’
- James McAvoy
‘One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction’
- Christopher Paolini
‘Magnificent’
- Ian McDonald
Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel w/c 24 August 2016
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9781035057788 |
| ISBN10 | 1035057786 |
| Number Of Pages | 704 |
| Item Weight | 1000 g |
| Publisher / Reseller | Pan Macmillan |
| Format | hardback |
Media Reviews
Tchaikovsky is the break-out star of contemporary British SF * The Guardian *
Tchaikovsky is writing modern classics and you should start reading them as soon as possible -- Tade Thompson, author of Rosewater
The central concept unravels itself in a manner that is both deeply satisfying and not at all predictable. He truly is one of our finest writers of SF right now. The whole was an excellent story told with Adrian's trademark skill and flair -- James Oswald, author of The Rest is Death
[Adrian Tchaikovsky] writes incredibly enjoyable sci-fi, full of life and ideas -- Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go
Adrian Tchaikovsky: king of the spiders, master world-builder and asker of intriguing questions. His books are packed with thought-provoking ideas (as well as lots of spiders; did I mention the spiders?). One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction -- Christopher Paolini, author of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, on Shards of Earth
A thoughtful, sweeping space adventure -- SFX Magazine on Shards of Earth
Alien Clay is convincing, compelling on human and cosmic levels, and unputdownable. With work like this, Adrian Tchaikovsky is fast becoming the voice of his generation in British SF -- Stephen Baxter, author of the Xeelee Sequence, on Alien clay
GoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, has practised law and now writes full time. He’s also studied stage-fighting, perpetrated amateur dramatics and has a keen interest in entomology and table-top games. Adrian is the author of the critically acclaimed Shadows of the Apt series, the Echoes of the Fall series and other novels, novellas and short stories. Children of Time won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award, and Children of Ruin and Shards of Earth both won the British Science Fiction Award for Best Novel. The Tiger and the Wolf won the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel. Adrian’s Final Architecture series was shortlisted for a Hugo Award for Best Series, and his novels Alien Clay and Service Model have both been shortlisted for the Hugo’s Best Novel category.