Children of Memory

De: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrado por: Mel Hudson

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.

©2023 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2023 Orbit

A Great Ride! Fantastic Sequel! I Want More!

Fantastic sequel to the first two books. The narrator was convincing and able to create the needed variety in character portrayals, all while being easy on the ears. The plot and settings were, at times, slightly confusing, as I listened to the book in 15-30 minutes time blocks. However, each listening session revealed more and more details, which all congealed into an intricately layered and smartly constructed experience. Each snip-it of the story, which I was exposed to, kept me trying to predict what all of the layers where a part of and it kept me wondering where the heck I’d end up by the story’s conclusion. The whole experience felt like I started off with my nose pressed against a giant, pointillistic painting -only able to resolve a few random dots while staring so close. But as the story played out -akin to stepping further and further away a from the tapestry of the painting’s dot-matrix details- the full meaning and beauty of the author’s work became evermore resolved. It was great ride! the character’s were interesting and the author wrapped everything in

A not Groundhog Day slog.

The last 2 hours felt like the author was just beating a dead horse.

Book 3 was more a mystery I guess. Then I figured it out but the characters were still confused. Then they figured it out and were confused on why they didn't figure it out.

I feel like all the races would have answered all the existential questions brought up long before reaching this new planet.

Wow times 10

The root of all sentience is to ponder the thought "What if?". To say "I wish this story could go on forever" might be some kind of oxymoronical-double entendre but it fits. This story and the characters in it will be a part my life from here on out. Yes you have to pay attention, and yes you kind of just have to go with it. it's like going on an Adventure.

Joyous and heartbreaking

Tchaikovsky does it again. I always admire how this author can marry the human experience into such deep sci fi.

Listen to Children of Memory.

A Thinker

This is going to be an experience for you. And it's one you should take.

Original SciFi read beautifully

I love the entire Children trilogy and the narration by Mel Hudson is perfect.
I could listen to her narrate all day and I have.

Great listen fantastic narration

Enjoyed this book very much. Many thanks for this great listen looking forward to more.

Colony world conundrum

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time is his third standalone installment in his ‘Children’ series. Many of the major characters from the first two tales band together in search of candidate colony world ships that were dispatched from Earth during its final days. They find a world with the struggling remnants of the original colonists from several centuries back. They elect to intervene but discover some strange inconsistencies. At the same time, the story jumps around in time with the both the colonists as well as the outsiders. While the world itself was supposed to have been terraformed, conditions were not optimal. The colonists have been deprecated over time and there is much fear about outsiders. All of this comes together by the end with a set of unique set of twists and turns.

Tchaikovsky reuses previous characters including spiders and an octopus as well as the consistently annoying Averna Kern, along with some new one. The character development among the colonists, especially the young girl Liff is both intriguing and compelling.

The narration is well done with excellent character distinction. Pacing is brisk.

This series has been my favorite

Far and away, a titan of his field. There are few I’ve ever known that are so enduringly substantial.

Thoughtful but a tad repetitive

With such a large scope of world building established in the first two books, it makes sense that the last book in the Children trilogy would need to become more meta than its predecessors. And although the payoff is worth it, the journey is slightly too repetitive for me to give the book five stars.

The concepts explored in this book aren’t the easiest to grasp, and the structure is challenging, but even so I didn’t need quite so many repeated explanations to get it.

It is still a solid entry into the wonderful Children trilogy, and fans will find a lot to love.