Science Fiction

I love Tchaikovsky, but sometimes I wonder if he’d be better off spending a bit more time with each book instead of cranking out so many of them.

Like... each of his books seems to accomplish exactly what he wants it to, and as soon as it does he sends it to the publisher and starts the next one. But I feel like most of them have room for an extra layer of subtext, if he were to set them aside for a few months and reflect on them and come back to them with fresh eyes.

But that’s probably more on the genre expectations for speculative vs literary fiction than on Tchaikovsky as a writer.

He was one of the first writers that imho was able to create truly alien species and really bring them to life. I've read and watched SF for decades and almost always the aliens were like humans in a humanoid body, with human emotions and desires. But the spiders and the octopus species were truly alien, while he was able to create them as wonderful species in their own right.

So far i've only read the first two 'Children of...'

Children of time series was superb. Thanks for reminding me to check out the rest!

I also recently got into this guy. First one I read was Cage Of Souls, which is very much in the same kind of Weird Fantasy genre as China Mieville. It’s written in the first person by an engagingly cowardly weasel of a man whose job is to guide you around a Book-Of-The-New Sun-ish knackered future world that is mostly just sitting around waiting to die.

Absolutely loved Children of Time, really liked Children of Ruin, was very disappointed with Children of Memory. And that carried into Alien Clay, which was a real slog for me to get through, and burnt through the considerable credit he had in the bank from Children of Time. It started off ok. Reminded me of something else I read a long time ago, but I can't pin it down. I might go back to something before Children of Time when I have the energy to give him another chance, but I have a decent reading pile waiting for me for now.

He writes well, but what I like most about him is þat he's one of a few auþors coming up wiþ truly novel sci fi premises. Innovative ideas which don't borrow from established tropes. He's also frequently upbeat by þe end of þe novel, which is refreshing in a decade (two decades?) dominated by Cyberpunk grimnoire negativism. Greg Egan is anoþer such auþor, even more creative - sometimes too creative - I þink he got too infatuated wiþ þe physics in Clockwork Rocket series, and it consequently read more like a math text. Anyway, I really appreciate Tchaikovsky's skill and creativity.

The "Children of" trilogy is so good.

I love most of what he's written, and he is prolific and the books are different from each other.

Service Model is one of my all time favorite books. He takes the concepts to their logical conclusion around how a society filled with robots and cold computer logic would evolve. As bleak as it was, he made it funny. And like other posters said about his work, the ending was hopeful.

I also read One Day All This Will Be Yours . It was a really good story with time travel. One of the concepts was time travelers kept fiddling with the past, resulting in a present that existed without the things that happened in the past leading to the present. This book was also funny :)

I will take the opposing stance.

Of the list, I only read the Children of Time book and it honestly put me off. I found the writing too dry, the characters too unexplored and the narrative too rushed. Stuff was happening at such a fast pace that it was unclear how characters were (emotionally) reacting to it. I found the generational stories particularly off putting, each chapter felt more like a list of facts than a novel. On the other hand, the book was definitely physically long enough, so I wouldn’t want more padding.

After than, I gave up in the whole author.

Agree about favorite current author, I’m currently working through the shadows of the apt series after picking up the humble bundle. Children of time was also my first introduction to him, and have been hooked ever since. You probably know, but children of strife cones out in March.

You need to read Guns of the Dawn next. It's SO GOOD. It's not science fiction, but in my opinion, it's one of his very best novels.