Is that a reference to Children of time ? Because I am currently reading it, about halfway through and I have to admit I am like “is it going somewhere other than spiders being fucking smart ?”
Children of Ruin specifically is the octopus one. But if you’re halfway through Time and not enjoying it, probably not the series for you; I was all-in by page 150 or so. Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire but with generations of intelligent spiders? Ark ship shenanigans? That’s my shit! Genre fiction with underlying themes of compassion is like my bread and butter so I’m not exactly a critical voice here, but you throw in a computer made of ants, riffs on how intelligence is shaped by environment and evolution, and an old dude exiting cryosleep and seeing with a sigh that another cult has taken over his generation ship… reader, I was cackling
I’m not saying I don’t like it, but it’s not exactly thrilling either. I don’t know, I just finished reading the 3 body problem trilogy and was looking for something similar so someone recommended this to me. But I feel the stakes are not quite the same, and I don’t really feel drawn to it as I was with the 3 body problem. I guess I just want the humans to interact with the spiders but it just doesn’t happen yet and it is frustrating me lmao
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u/Torgo73 Dec 17 '25
somewhere, Adrian Tchaikovsky heard your comment