Books like Children of Time, according to Reddit

The read-alike list

Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with Children of Time, normalized so ubiquitous books don't dominate.

#1

Blindsight

Peter Watts

A crew of post-human specialists meets first contact and reports back that consciousness might be what's holding humanity back.

683 shared threads · praised

#2

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.

701 shared threads · mixed

#3

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.

432 shared threads · praised

#4

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.

506 shared threads · panned

#5

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.

506 shared threads · mixed

#6

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.

565 shared threads · mixed

#7

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

An envoy is sent alone to a planet where everyone is genderless most of the month, and he has to unlearn who he assumes is in charge.

377 shared threads · praised

#8

The Martian

Andy Weir

A botanist gets left for dead on Mars and has to grow food on a planet that wants him gone, one duct-taped fix at a time.

360 shared threads · mixed

#9

Ender's Game

Orson Scott Card

A six-year-old is drafted into a war academy that trains him to command a fleet, and he doesn't find out what he actually did until it's over.

320 shared threads · praised

#10

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Becky Chambers

A ragtag crew takes a multi-year tunneling job to punch a wormhole through space and mostly just has to get along with each other for the ride.

289 shared threads · praised

#11

The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin

A woman searches a dying continent for the daughter her husband stole, while the world ends again on schedule.

255 shared threads · praised

#12

The Dispossessed

Ursula K. Le Guin

A physicist from an anarchist moon colony travels to the wealthy world that exiled his people, carrying a theory that could reunite them or arm their enemies.

301 shared threads · mixed

The overlap, in numbers

Where each pairing actually shows up. Click through for the full Reddit verdict on each book.

1. #1 Blindsight by Peter Watts — 683 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
2. #2 Hyperion by Dan Simmons — 701 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
3. #3 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir — 432 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
4. #4 The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin — 506 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
5. #5 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells — 506 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
6. #6 Dune by Frank Herbert — 565 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
7. #7 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin — 377 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
8. #8 The Martian by Andy Weir — 360 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
9. #9 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card — 320 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
10. #10 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers — 289 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
11. #11 The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin — 255 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
12. #12 The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin — 301 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF