Children of Ruin: New intelligences arise in this epic and thrilling sequel to the Arthur C. Clake award winning Children of Time

· Tor · Narrated by Mel Hudson
4.4
13 reviews
Audiobook
15 hr 25 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

It has been waiting through the ages. Now it's time . . .


‘Asimov or Clarke might have written this’ – Stephen Baxter, co-author of The Long Earth

A scout ship discovers a human outpost lying derelict in space – and a planet better left unexplored. Set in the same universe as Children of Time, this is a thrilling narrative from the award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life – but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time. Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth.

But those ancient terraformers awoke something on Nod. Something better left undisturbed.

And it has been waiting for them.

‘Books like this are why we read science fiction’ – Ian McDonald, author of the Luna series

Children of Ruin follows Adrian Tchaikovsky's extraordinary Children of Time, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award. It is set in the same universe, with new characters and an original narrative.

* * *

Praise for the series:

‘Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human’ – Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls

‘Brilliant science fiction and far-out world-building’ – James McAvoy

‘A fabulous sense of scale that only someone as talented as Adrian Tchaikovsky can pull off’ – Peter F. Hamilton, author of Exodus: The Archimedes Engine

Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel w/c 24 August 2016

Ratings and reviews

4.4
13 reviews
Steve Austin
October 15, 2022
Great book. Similar themes to the first one in the series. Surprised that there is a follow up coming out in Nov 2022 given the ending but looking forward to it.
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Valentina Taiakina
July 5, 2025
I will not ever hear 'We are going on An Adventure" the same way ever again, and pleas stop saying it around me This trilogy is epic
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About the author

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, while And Put Away Childish Things won the BSFA Award for Best Shorter Fiction.

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