Book Thoughts: Children of Ruin
After reading Children of Time (which was seriously a masterpiece) I ran headlong into Children of Ruin hungry for more.
While the sequel isn't the science fiction masterpiece Children of Time was, I'm entirely satisfied with where Adrian Tchaikovsky is taking the series.
What Children of Ruin lacks in gripping evolutionary story (There's still some of that, it's just not as good), it makes up for in narrative and exploration of interesting concepts. The technology, biology, and psychology in the book are really fascinating, and the story does a good job continuing where the first book left off.
I absolutely loved the human characters of Baltiel and Senkovi. I feel the author perfectly captured the sometimes childlike nature of the scientist-adventurer. I also enjoyed the moral/philosophical messages the author continues to explore: different is good. I found this idea somewhat fumbled in the conclusion of the first novel, but wonderfully expanded on and demonstrated in this story.
I'm excited for the third book in the series. What started as a biological scifi has evolved into a sort of space opera -- and while we may have arrived at an almost trope-ish assembly of alien races and AIs, it hits different when you watched them all grow up.