Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky starting January 30, 2023.

Spot!

Looks like this thread is going to be used to read the entire series, for those that haven't read the first books before, or who want to re-read in prep for the 3rd book...

Children of Time: -- December 23rd, 2022

Children of Ruin: -- January 7th-14th, 2023

Will add start dates when they're decided on...

(I'd delete Yanique & Choko's comments, to take over the #1 comment, but I'm not entirely sure what would happen... never seen a #1 comment deleted before)

Anyone planning on rereading the first two--or reading the first two--to catch up?

I'm not sure if I will get this in time, as I am waiting for the paperback to be released in order to complete my matching set. I read the first book earlier this year, but still need to read Children of Ruin as well.

As much as I'd like to, I don't have time to re-read everything :D

I have to try and control myself... I already re-read too much... I did 125ish re-reads this year, out of 250ish books, so far...

I will be here for sure.

Maybe I'll see if there's any interest in the BR Invite thread--I've been wanting to read these books just haven't made it a priority.

I'd be interested in reading Children of Time 🙂 been on my list for a while...

Oh yay! XD

Anyone want to set a timeline for the first two books? I'd be ok with 2-3 weeks for each, and keep the Jan 30 for Children of Memory. Say... Children of Time start around Dec 23 or so?

Any other dates to toss around?

Sounds good. Although I might start a tiny bit sooner because my reading time has been sucked up by a revival of a sewing hobby so I'm significantly slower than usual.

Shiny! I'm going on a trip right around that time and am anticipating some airplane reads. :)

Haha cool! I'll be travelling in early January and each way will be on a 9 hour flight followed by an 11 hour flight! Eeek! But plenty of reading time anyway...😵

Hey! I’m excited to read this one, I’d love to start from the beginning, I’d anyone else starting from scratch too?

@Katie
Yep, it looks like we'll start reading the first two starting Dec 23 or so.

I've been wanting to read this series, but I'll have to see how things are around the holidays if it fits in. Will try though. :)

Super excited! Been wanting to try Adrian Tchaikovsky for a long time now. I just ordered pretty copies from The Broken Binding--they have a set of all three coming out with gorgeous starry-sky edging... (https://www.thebrokenbindingsub.com/p...) I'm a sucker for pretty books... and space...

I updated the comment above with start dates for 1 & 2...

Timelord Iain wrote: "I updated the comment above with start dates for 1 & 2..."

That sounds great! I’m so excited to start this one ☺️

I’ll join this one too. I just finished “Across the Green Grass Fields” #6

JL wrote: "I’ll join this one too. I just finished “Across the Green Grass Fields” #6"

I've been wanting to read the Wayward Children books! Did you mean to post on the book 7 BR page for that though?

When are we starting book 1 ?

Brian wrote: "When are we starting book 1 ?"

According to the posts at the top, December 23 for book 1~

Sweet. Thank you

Getting ready to start book 1, hopefully in another day or two. :) Anyone else ready?

I have begun~ Just finished Genesis, now beginning Pilgrimage.

(view spoiler)[So far it's okay. It always takes me a bit to get into sci-fi because of all the terms and stuff. Kern is one of those awful arrogant people that you just hope bad things will happen to. Her ego is ridiculous. Also find it kind of interesting that there seem to be two main opposing factions - Kern's lot and the NUNs (and I will never not giggle at that acronym). Is there no middle ground, where people don't subscribe to either extreme? Felt happy when Kern realises she's truly alone - probably the best kind of punishment for someone who thinks so highly of herself. Also, surely there'll be some kind of consequence for uploading part of herself into the computer?? Also also, is there going to be a planet of sentient spider people??? (hide spoiler)]

I just read the first two books a couple months ago, I'm curious what you think and will be reading your comments :)

Still reading Jasmine Throne, and probably will be taking my time over the holidays. I’ll see about catching up in January.

I'm tagging along for a re-read... not sure if I ever announced that anywhere, other than including it on my BR list...

So, this is probably just gonna be a bunch of this is awesome to relive, comments...

Anyway...

Chapter 1.3: Dr. Kern chapter: (view spoiler)[this silence, back on Earth, will finally be explored in the 3rd book that just came out, and will be out on audio when the BR time comes in January... excited to see what Earth looks like, after the "Luddite Revolution"... I find it kinda funny that the acronym is actually NUNs... since someone in the Opening Lines thread quoted Red Sister and how when fighting nuns, be sure to bring a sufficiently large army... (hide spoiler)]

Dr. Kern is clearly (view spoiler)[that egomaniac CEO that wants to populate the stars (hide spoiler)] stereotype :D

Gaea wrote: "I have begun~ Just finished Genesis, now beginning Pilgrimage.

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[silent majority, usually gets swept up in the violence of the extremes, just trying to live their lives...

And yes... this is a book about sentient spiders... all kinds of bugs, really... but spiders are the focus/winners...

I love it when authors bring unique viewpoints to their fiction... Adrian Tchaikovsky has degrees in zoology and psychology, so he brings that to alot of his works... Shadows of the Apt is all about races/factions with bug qualities/magic... (hide spoiler)]

Early Pilgrimage: I'd forgotten (view spoiler)[about these escapees from Earth's new Ice Age... puts a spin on my previous spoiler about book 3...

I knew there were some more humans in the story other than Dr. Kern and Kern AI, but I thought they were survivors of the explosion... either way, they'll play a role in the story to come...

My main interest in the story, the first time around, tho, was the spider planet stuff, and that starts to heat up here... the characters can get confusing, a bit, since the spiders grow intelligent, within their means, through genetic memory... carrying forth their knowledge from one generation to the next... so we're going to see tons of characters named Portia and Claudia and the like, but they're not the exact same spiders... (hide spoiler)]

Creature Phobias... book 2 focuses on (view spoiler)[another planet hit with the terraforming virus (maybe the one hit by the deflected shrapnel in the prologue/Genesis?... can't remember)... the main one is easier to stomach than spiders, for most people, I think... it's octopi... but it manages to find something else super creepy to focus on too (I'll leave that to be discovered)... (hide spoiler)]

End of Pilgrimage: (view spoiler)[if you think Eliza Kern is crazy now, wait until she finds out her Exultation of Primates resulted in this:



Or... slightly cuter... this:



That's probably a later generation, as they keep getting bigger thanks to the virus... but it's nice and colorful :D (hide spoiler)]

Mid-War, Early Spider Chapter/s: (view spoiler)["Girls will be girls"... Tchaikovsky is definitely making some barely veiled statements about gender norms, here...

But also, this section reminds me of Bel Dam Apocrypha, another sci-fi series set on a world run by women (in that one, perpetual drafted war has left the homelands lacking in men between the ages of 17 and 40, that aren't deserters...) (hide spoiler)]

End of Chapter 3.4: (view spoiler)[I remember being surprised, the first time I read this, to see Biance shift from a warrior to a scholar, over the generations...

But, it's also crazy to think that over 2000 years have passed, since the start of the story... (hide spoiler)]

Scholar Bianca chapter (#1?): (view spoiler)[the evolutionary advantages of incestuous reproduction, as it pertains to knowledge transference........................................................................................................................................................ yikes... (I think that's what she meant by finding suitable mates within the creche, right? (hide spoiler)]

Timelord Iain wrote: "End of Chapter 3.4: ..."

Iain, looks like you are enjoying some Christmas Day reading. (view spoiler)[Yes, the evolutionary aspect of the story is structured in a pretty interesting way, which allows the reader to maintain a connection with the characters that might not otherwise have been possible. Also one of the reasons for the title of the book. (hide spoiler)]

Dave wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "End of Chapter 3.4: ..."

Iain, looks like you are enjoying some Christmas Day reading. [spoilers removed]"

Sure am... this is a re-read for me... was a 5 star read the first time round... still is, I think...

Chapter 3.9: matters of perspective: (view spoiler)[it's a great story of discovery and adventure, for the spiders of the story... but when humans land on the planet, it quickly seems like sci-fi horror... Murder Ants, as far as the eye can see... then big spiders... can barely escape fast enough...

the human factions are just as ruthless, tho... just more understandable, out of context... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3.10: (view spoiler)[and now the spiders have a human prisoner to study... (hide spoiler)]

End of Part 3: (view spoiler)[the misunderstanding of the human prisoner is comical, and kinda sad... compared to a beetle...

It's also kinda convenient how well the human storyline of the book mirrors the spider world storyline, to line up with the division of the book into Parts... Genesis, Pilgrimage, War, Enlightenment... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4.6: (view spoiler)[I mentioned Tchaikovsky studied philosophy...

The thoughts Portia was having about the Observer here were giving me flashbacks to terminology in college philosophy classes...

Seeing how close the spiders come to extinction, during the Black Plague Phase of their evolution, has a pretty cinematic feel to it all... (hide spoiler)]

End of Part 4: (view spoiler)[talk about a disconnect, lol... Kern thought the primates would contact her when they understood the math problems...

Instead, spiders worshipped the signal as a deity/observer, refused to contact, pushed society so far that they understand their genome and how to genetically edit/access the virus that passes knowledge between generations... and THEN contacted the satellite...

If things weren't already interesting, they're about to get more interesting... :D

And things are escalating again, among the humans traveling around space, towards another conflict, obviously... (hide spoiler)]

I'm around the halfway point of the book... and start of Part 5 (had to recharge my audiobook device)... and I had to dig up the table of contents...

Of course a story about spiders would be split into 8 parts :D

Are you guys on book one or two?

Choko wrote: "Are you guys on book one or two?"

Book 1 was scheduled to start a few days ago, book 2 isn't scheduled until mid-January, and book 3 at the very end of January...

I'm the main one that's been reading... Gaea has started... everyone else is busy with the holiday or Jasmine Throne, I think...

Dave read a few months ago, and is just visiting the re-readers, I think...

EDIT: I made one small mention of book 2 & the species involved, maybe that's what caused the confusion?

Finished Part 5: I think this is one of my favorite parts of the book... (view spoiler)[watch the gender-swapped gender equality movement play out... in a harsh spider world... and the overtones of the religious Crusades...

And Kern still thinks they're primates... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6.1: OK... this is what I really love about this book... I'm just gonna keep saying that :D (view spoiler)[I've seen before, how ants are receptive to signals, and this book extends that into bioprogramming...

Which makes it all the funnier, when the concept of artificial intelligence arises, as if ants aren't already living creatures...

And now we've reached the Industrial Revolution and Aeronautics phase of development, with dirigibles and hydrogen balloons :D (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 7.1: (view spoiler)[Space Spiders building a web around a planet, and the humans think of it as a cocoon... makes me almost think of a Dyson Sphere (altho that's generally around a sun, to harness it's energy)...

Karst is starting to sound like as much of a zealot as Nguyen... Lane is at least self-aware of herself having similar thoughts, when it came to uploading her memory (and how bad an idea that would be)... (hide spoiler)]

The ending of the book is creeping up on me... sad to see it end... alot left to wrap up... 10 more chapters... 80-85% done already...

I will join a bit later today then:)))

Chapter 7.7 to end of Part 7: (view spoiler)[this is the point in the story where I really latched on to the difference a POV makes to a narrative... to the humans, this is pure alien horror... to the spiders, it's a humanitarian mission, failure of which will mean the extinction of their planet/people...

I've since brought this up a number of times in regards to unaware humans in Urban Fantasy stories, etc...

I love how it all plays out and resolves here, tho... and the real message of peace and harmony that the spiders settle on, after thousands of years of expansion and war...

The combat sequence kinda reminds me of the Garden Battle in Final Fantasy 8, for some reason... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3yng... (hide spoiler)]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Chapter 6.1: OK... this is what I really love about this book... I'm just gonna keep saying that :D ..."

(view spoiler)[Yes, I love how they utilize the ants as basically a medium for programming and running different routines. That was brilliant and a really fun concept (at least to me, as a software engineer). (hide spoiler)]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Chapter 7.7/7.8: this is the point in the story where I really latched on to the difference a POV makes to a narrative... to the humans, this is pure alien horror... to the spiders, it's a humanita..."

(view spoiler)[A comparison to FF8, that's awesome. I don't think I would have made that comparison as I was reading it, but then it's been a lot of years since I played FF8. A very underrated game though, especially in the early parts. (hide spoiler)]

Part 8: (view spoiler)[Space: The final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship, Voyager
Its 5 year mission
To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life and new civilizations
To boldly go where no man, or arachnid, has gone before... (hide spoiler)]