Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Children of Strife” is the latest novel in his “Children of Time” series, and it’s delightfully weird.

Fair warning: this is not a standalone novel, and it’d make for an extremely confusing entry point for new readers. This novel combines every single sentient species (well, almost) featured in previous books, as well as a surprise appearance of a species that had been just barely mentioned much earlier.

Unlike the previous books, which mostly took place in one timeline, “Children of Strife” takes place in three different (but overlapping!) timelines. I especially liked a Machiavellian new character who will hopefully star in her own prequel. The way the timelines overlapped in alternating chapters reminded me a lot of the first season of Westworld, which was filled with delicious misdirections and surprises.

It’s hard to describe the premise of the book without spoiling it… Let’s just say it deals not so much with any one particular species, but with big questions of identity and consent and immortality and being very very careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.

A lot of the themes in the book make fun of billionaires and particularly the self-absorbed idiots that were glorified in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.” There’s also lots of interesting commentary on AIs, on being able to choose your own identity, and a lot of other hot topics. I must also add that the book has quite a few genuine LOL moments – not something you see often in hard sci-fi! I got a review copy, so I’m honour-bound not to quote anything in it (things may change before the publication day), but take my word for it – it’s pretty funny.

If you enjoyed Inception or Red Dwarf or Matrix or any of the previous novels in the series, you’ll love this one – and that’s all I’ll say, eh. I give this novel a solid five stars.

Kudos and thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of the novel in exchange for an unbiased review!

Release date: March 17, 2026

Preorder it over here.