Children of Time
The 10th Anniversary Edition of the Arthur C. Clarke Award winning science fiction novel
Published on 13. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
672 pages
978-1-0350-7619-2 (ISBN)
Description
Humanity is overrated.The tenth anniversary edition of Adrian Tchaikovsky's critically acclaimed Children of Time - an epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Winner of the 30th anniversary Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel.
Contains the short story 'Bearable' exclusive to this edition.
Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.
Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
Continue the journey with Children of Ruin, Children of Memory and Children of Strife.
* * *
Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky
'Children of Time is a joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human' - Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls.
'No one has an an imagination like Adrian Tchaikovsky' - Jim Al-Khalili, presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific
'Tchaikovsky is the break-out star of contemporary British SF' - The Guardian
Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel w/c 24 August 2016
Contains the short story 'Bearable' exclusive to this edition.
Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.
Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
Continue the journey with Children of Ruin, Children of Memory and Children of Strife.
* * *
Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky
'Children of Time is a joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human' - Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls.
'No one has an an imagination like Adrian Tchaikovsky' - Jim Al-Khalili, presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific
'Tchaikovsky is the break-out star of contemporary British SF' - The Guardian
Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel w/c 24 August 2016
Reviews / Votes
Brilliant science fiction and far out world building. -- James McAvoy No one has an imagination like Adrian Tchaikovsky -- Jim Al-Khalili, presenter of BBC Radio 4's <i>The Life Scientific</i> Children of Time is a joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human. -- Patrick Ness, author of <i>A Monster Calls</i> Has a fabulous sense of scale that only someone as talented as Adrian Tchaikovsky can pull off . . . Very much recommended. -- Peter F. Hamilton, author of <i>Pandora's Star</i> and <i>EXODUS: The Archimedes Engine</i> I swear the man is some kind of genius -- Peter Watts, author of <i>Blindsight</i> This is superior stuff, tackling big themes - gods, messiahs, artificial intelligence, alienness - with brio * Financial Times * I cannot recommend it enough. It's a helluva first contact story, and that's only like its 5th most interesting feature! -- Ezra Klein, <i>New York Times </i>columnist Tchaikovsky is the break-out star of contemporary British SF * The Guardian * A huge talent, writing at the peak of his powers * New Scientist * One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction -- Christopher Paolini, author of <i>To Sleep in a Sea of Stars</i> All underpinned by great ideas. And it is crisply modern - but with the sensibility of classic science fiction. Asimov or Clarke might have written this -- Stephen Baxter, author of <i>Proxima</i>, on <i>Children of Ruin</i>More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
450 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0350-7619-2 (9781035076192)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Children of Time
Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
E-Book
06/2015
Pan Books
€15.99
Available for download
Person
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.
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.