Another corker from Tchaikovsky in the Children of Time series. He write so cinematically, and there were chapters here where I felt like I was watching a sci-fi horror film, cringing as wildly dramatic scenes played out. And there were other times (many more times) when I was suprisingly deeply moved by the stories of human and “alien” intelligences trying and often failing to understand one another and communicate. Linguistics and translation plays a pretty major role here, which I always find satisifying. And the treatment of even the most seemingly unknowable entities is insightful and, ultimately, sensitive. These books punch far above their weight.

Further reading…