Reading as a Writer: Children of Time

A coworker challenged me to read Children of Time as part of our 2-person sci-fi book club. My heart sank when I opened the cover to read the first line: I'd tried to read this book before as an audiobook on a road trip with my husband the year before. He adored this book and was excited to share it with me, and I couldn't get through a half-chapter without falling asleep. 

But, since I'd committed to reading it before realizing which book it was, I sat down to finally read it. And just like my husband suggested, I flew through it. Of course, it did take three mediums to read this--I read the first third in the physical book, then switched to audio book on another road trip, then finished it on e-book during an unexpected train delay. Separate from the experience of reading the book, I felt very lucky to have access to so many different library resources to get me through the finish line!

I probably would not have picked this book up if not for the joint cajoling of my husband and coworker. In general, I find hard sci-fi that is also serious can be a bit of a hard sell for me, especially when there are so many other books out there that are fun. However, I did enjoy this book in the end and have found myself thinking of it as I went through the weeks after. 

The most interesting thing about this book (other than the snapshot of humanity, the treatment of aging and time, and the fascinating world-building and culture-building that went into the story) was the structure itself of the spider chapters. First off, I never expected to read a book where half of the perspective chapters were by spiders. Second, I thought the way the author used the same character names and personality types to show changes in civilization over time was incredibly original. 

So: I don't know if I'll read the rest of the series, but I am glad that I finally finished this one.