Children of Ruin

To say this is just a copy Children of Time is like saying Lord of the Rings is just a copy of Hobbit.

I wasn't very keen on reading a sequel that copies the plot of the original book, especially when that original book was a disappointment (because of how overhyped it is). But Ruin improves on everything I didn't like in the first book and then adds much more alien and fascinating first encounter into the mix, along with a sprinkle of The Thing and Arrival.

I struggled with Time mainly because I didn't like any of the characters much, Portiids were fascinating but still kind of antropomorphic in their behaviors. In contrast, “aliens” of this book are pure anarchy incarnate. Admittedly, it was stretched to the edge of suspension of belief. They are more advanced than Old Empire in certain aspects, despite not being fully conscious by human measures (they think the same of us).

But that doesn't change the fact that I couldn't stop reading this book. With Time I always had to force myself to get through human chapters because they bored me, annoyed me. Here every chapter was another fascinating piece to the puzzle. It got tedious towards the end when I was expecting some similar “twist” like in the first book and Tchaikovsky kept stretching the revelation. However, that's about my only criticism, book could've been tiny bit shorter.

I liked the characters here, not a single one annoyed me like in previous Tchaikovsky's books that I read. And I liked Kern the most? What? A ship computer that became a junkie and hides it from her crew? Sign me up!

It is true, it follows the same template as Time, but it doesn't matter here. The new setting is so interesting that it amply compensates for the rehash of certain plot twists and turns. He also plays with the culture mix of Humans and Portiids really well, the differences, the commonalities. He builds upon them.

Finally a great novel from Tchaikovsky. Until now I saw the potential, the ideas he comes up with are great but the execution in Dogs of War and Children of Time left a lot to be desired in every other aspect. Well, here it is.