Children of Memory

February 4, 2023 9:02 PM

The ark ship Endiku left the ruins of Earth to seek a new home for its crew. They make landfall and carve out a way of life, albeit at great cost. Many years later, the granddaughter of the ship's captain swears that she saw her grandfather enter the woods, and seeks to rescue him from the fabled Witch that lives in the hills.

Book three of the Children of Time series finds a fledgling human civilization attempting to eke out life on a mostly empty world. They're found by strangers with extremely advanced-to-them technology.

posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit (7 comments total)

Ooh I forgot! Previously in this series:

• Children of Time
• Children of Ruin

posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:04 PM on February 4, 2023

I like how this series keeps entering bold new territory, both narratively and thematically. This one questions the very nature and meaning of sentience. Great writing, fascinating ideas. This may be the best-written book of the three, although I have a great fondness for the pre-eminence of the plucky spiders in the first book.
posted by kyrademon at 4:39 AM on February 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

honestly i enjoyed it but was disappointed. “it was all a dream” handwaving
posted by sixswitch at 10:00 AM on February 5, 2023

I wouldn't say that (or it's a Jacob's Ladder scenario), it's more about the nature of reality and if it can be simulated to such an extent that it created fully realised people through a dozen generations, are they any less real?
posted by Marticus at 5:31 PM on February 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I also very much enjoyed the riff on Huginn and Muninn.
posted by kyrademon at 6:01 PM on February 5, 2023

I think the author has managed to get a lot of original takes on what constitutes intelligence into his books, especially this series. I was a little confused by both the second one and by this one, during the reading, but it straightens itself out by the end. I suppose that's purposeful?
I'm always excited when a new book of his pops up, I hope he can maintain this seeming blistering pace!
posted by conifer at 7:37 AM on February 9, 2023

I liked that I had no clue what was really going on until the reveal. It really did do a very good job exploring its themes, too. I enjoyed this the best of the three. And I want more uplifted corvids!
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:02 PM on February 9, 2023