Children of Strife
A new entry in the wildly successful Children of Time series from award-winning master of science fiction Adrian Tchaikovsky.
In this epic adventure, we visit a far-future after Earth fell, where ark ships had hunted for a new home. They sought lost worlds terraformed in earth’s forgotten past. We follow a ship crewed by maverick humans, spiders and a spectacularly punchy mantis shrimp captain as they rediscover one such world, and an ark.
Then human crewmate Alis wakes to discover that she, her captain and the ship’s intelligence are the only ones left on their ship. But what happened to those who left to explore the ark . . . and the world below?
Children of Strife is the extraordinary next volume set in the Children of Time universe, featuring epic adventure, first contact and the nature of intelligence among the stars.
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Adrian Tchaikovsky
In the realm of speculative fiction, where the boundaries between science and imagination blur, Adrian Tchaikovsky writes with the precision of a biologist and the curiosity of a philosopher. Known for weaving evolutionary theory into alien worlds and giving sentience to the most unexpected of creatures, he crafts stories that challenge not just what it means to be human—but what it means to be alive.
Tchaikovsky’s breakout novel, Children of Time, didn’t just introduce readers to a distant planet populated by hyper-intelligent spiders—it redefined what readers expect from space opera. Bold, cerebral, and emotionally resonant, the book went on to win the Arthur C. Clarke Award, with its sequel Children of Ruin deepening the saga’s exploration of consciousness, cooperation, and survival. In 2023, the Children of Time series earned the Hugo Award for Best Series, a fitting recognition for stories that dare to look evolution in the eye and ask: what if?
Children of Time
In a distant corner of the universe, a dying planet becomes the crucible for humanity’s greatest experiment—one that will determine whether a new civilization can rise from the ashes of a fallen empire. Children of Time is a science fiction epic that stretches across millennia, exploring the complexities of evolution, intelligence, and survival in a universe where nothing is ever as it seems.
Children of Time consists of four books and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
