Book · 2015
Children of Time
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
A terraforming experiment goes wrong, a nanovirus lands on spiders instead of monkeys, and evolution builds a civilization nobody planned for.
What does Reddit think of Children of Time?
Children of Time is r/printSF's default answer at this point: 3977 of 4595 total mentions, next to 411 on r/suggestmeabook and 203 on r/Fantasy. Growth has been almost uninterrupted, 412 mentions in 2019 climbing to 840 in 2024, easing only slightly to 723 in 2025. The pitch barely varies: chapters alternate between humans and sentient spiders, and one commenter (↑191) preempts the obvious objection directly, "not 100% non-human, but it IS 100% a great book." Threads treat Adrian Tchaikovsky as mid-hot-streak, with a recommender (↑198) calling him an extremely hot streak author right now, alongside Ann Leckie. It shows up constantly in list-style comment dumps alongside Dark Matter and All Systems Red rather than getting a thread of its own. There isn't real dissent in the sample. The question here isn't whether it's good, every metric says yes, it's whether printSF talks about anything else.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · nonhuman perspective SF
- · evolutionary time-scale storytelling
- · spider civilization
- · the Tchaikovsky hot streak
Common praise
- + One commenter (↑191) preempts the obvious complaint directly: not fully non-human, but '100% a great book.'
- + Recommenders describe Tchaikovsky as mid-hot-streak (↑198), naming this alongside Ann Leckie as evidence.
- + It keeps appearing inside larger best-of-genre list dumps rather than needing its own dedicated thread to get recommended.
Common criticism
- − The sample shows almost no independent discussion; it mostly rides along inside bigger recommendation-list comments rather than generating its own threads.
- − Nobody in the quotes pushes back on it, which for a 4595-mention book is itself worth noting; the contested angle just isn't in the data.
Who it's for
If you already live in r/printSF, you've probably seen this one three times this month; 3977 of its 4595 mentions happen there. Come for a spider civilization built out believably across generations, not a single adventuring cast. Anyone worried about a non-human-heavy cast should read the preemptive defense in the threads (↑191) before writing it off. It keeps riding shotgun in list comments next to Dark Matter and All Systems Red, so if you liked either of those, this is the next stop.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Children of Time?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“Probably the best example I've seen is the Children of Time trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Brilliant. I can honestly only think of one other in Chronicles of Elantra, and its really well done but the race is only introduced in the 18th book or so in the series. Really enjoying the race, though!
“Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
“Let me save you a click... Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch All Systems Red, by Martha Wells Recursion, by Blake Crouch The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chamber Wool, by Hugh Howey Red Rising, by Pierce Brown Exhalation, by Ted Chiang We Are Legion, by Denn…
“Jeff VanderMeer is really likely to be a real hall-of-famer, and, and I think Adrian Tchaikovskyn is on an extremely hot streak right now with the Children of Time books (and others), as is Ann Leckie, who I tend to see as LeGuin 2.0. I've this very sneaky suspicion that Arkady Martine, Becky Ch…
“Children of Time. Each chapter flips between humans and sentient spiders. So it's not 100% non-human, but it IS 100% a great book.
“I have had similar thoughts: He publishes lots of reliably good books, and occasionally great ones. Maybe if he slowed down his output he would put out reliably great ones? Here’s the thing though: Firstly, what the hell do I know? Maybe his output is better because he writes more. Maybe if he spen…
“75 - The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey 74 - The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal 73 - Redshirts, by John Scalzi 72 - Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino 71 - The Ten Percent Thief, by Lavanya Lakshminarayan 70 - Midnight Robber, by Nalo Hopkinson 69 - Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson 68 …
“Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Convinced? Pick up Children of Time
Readers also mention
All books like Children of Time →Books that share discussion threads with Children of Time — counted from the comments, not curated.
Blindsight
Peter Watts
A crew of post-human specialists meets first contact and reports back that consciousness might be what's holding humanity back.
Hyperion
Dan Simmons
Seven pilgrims journey toward a monster that grants one wish and kills everyone else, and each tells the story of why they came.
Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir
A high-school teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there and one job left: save Earth.
The Three-Body Problem
Liu Cixin
A Chinese radio astronomer's decades-old reply to an alien signal puts Earth on a collision course with an invasion fleet centuries out.
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)
Martha Wells
A security robot hacks its own governor module, gains free will, and spends its days streaming soap operas instead of killing anyone.
Dune
Frank Herbert
A duke's son survives his family's betrayal on a desert planet and becomes the prophet who leads its people to war.
Children of Time — frequently asked
Is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky worth it if I don't like nonhuman protagonists?+
One commenter (↑191) addresses this exact worry directly: 'not 100% non-human, but it IS 100% a great book,' framing the alternating human-spider structure as a feature rather than a barrier.
Why does r/printSF recommend Children of Time so often?+
Because it dominates the subreddit's genre conversation, 3977 of 4595 total mentions, and shows up constantly inside larger best-of-SF list comments alongside Dark Matter and All Systems Red rather than needing a dedicated thread.
Is Children of Time part of Adrian Tchaikovsky's best work?+
Threads treat it that way. One recommender (↑198) calls Tchaikovsky an author on 'an extremely hot streak right now,' citing this book specifically alongside comparisons to Ann Leckie.
What books pair well with Children of Time?+
It shows up in the same recommendation-list comments as Dark Matter, All Systems Red, Recursion, and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (↑218), suggesting readers group it with accessible, idea-driven SF rather than harder genre staples.