Children of Memory

I loved Children Of Time, and was a bit cooler towards Children Of Ruin, so this one had the potential to swing the series either way for me. It turns out this isn't really the right way to look at it. It's a different beast from those two books, set in the same universe with some returning characters, but the uplift elements are almost incidental. For the first third or so, I thought I was going to be looking at a two-star review. The book initially appeared to be a mess, over obscure and unsympathetic. But soon the realisation came that the author has been putting pieces in place to spring his trap, and as what exactly is going on began to come into focus my enjoyment levels shot up. If you can persevere through the opening then there are worthwhile rewards here.

It's not a lovable book, suffused as it is with pessimism and a cynical (you might say realistic) view of human nature. But it is a clever one, with an excellent SFnal mystery at its heart. I get the feeling this is one I will enjoy having read more than I did actually reading it.