Children of Ruin

Hmm. After the glorious Children of Time, this was deeply disappointing, although I am not sure if this wasn't simply because I listened to the audiobook this time (I read the first one).

After the emotional highs and low of the first book, this felt more like a dry history. In addition, the various technological leaps that the story revolved around seems less like things that naturally evolved from the behaviours of the characters (as in the first book) and more like macguffins to allow the plot to proceed.

Towards the end we are meant to believe that extremely complex ideas can be communicated between 4 very different species using 4 very different communication techniques in a high stress scenario, with one of those techniques essentially being glorified flag signals in an unfamiliar language. Then, to round things off, FTL travel is invented by an octopus essentially telling its tentacles to "get on with it and don't worry me with the details". This doesn't so much strain credibility as pulverize it.

As I say, I am not entirely sure this wasn't down to the audio performance, which seemed very flat and surprisingly academic. Based on the first book, Adrian Tchaikovsky is obviously very good at creating a believable, involving world out of unexpected situations, however this completely failed to come across in this sequel.

For anyone else interested, I strongly recommend reading this rather than listening.