Children of Time

This is a story of mankind's far future, the events spread out over centuries as what appear to be the last survivors of the human race try to find a habitable planet on which to settle. Although there are few short diversions elsewhere, the main narrative flips between two viewpoints: one of a historian in his brief periods between extended spells of suspended animation, and the other of events on a planet partially terraformed years before and now host to a non-human (yet familiar) intelligence.

The former part is more traditionally told, a downbeat description of an increasingly dilapidated colony ship struggling to survive as repeated crises bring it closer to the brink. The latter, however, is actually the more interesting, revealing a long-term history of the development and growth of a very alien civilisation, contrasting with the slow downfall of the humans on board the ship. It's very much a setting and ideas book, with the characters not always as memorable as the details, but it's an impressive piece of science fiction, with the long time gaps handled well, and managing to make engaging protagonists out of, well... something we're not generally that favourable towards.