Books review: Children of Time / We Have Always Lived in the Castle / The Song of Achilles

This blog has been a little abandoned over the last few weeks and since I’m not seeing more time on the horizon I’ve decided to try and write shorter reviews and post them two or three at once! Not sure I’ll stick with it forever but for now I think this is the way I’ll manage to keep posting in a more regular manner.

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Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Synopsis:
Who will inherit this new Earth?
The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age – a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind’s worst nightmare.
Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?

I had seen a lot of praise from people I trust for this novel, which even won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel. I couldn’t say I didn’t love it or was disappointed because it is indeed a great work. Though it didn’t gripped me like I hoped it would. Maybe because I read some other multi generational spaceship stories right before that I loved better?

It focuses on the ship and the planet: on one human character (a kind of historian) that is awaken at different points in time in the ship’s millennia-lenght voyage, witness to the way humans deal with crisis, and on the spiders and sometimes their guardian (part human part AI.) It was great to see their evolution both in their society and technology, but I never really felt myself rooting for anyone. While it is a theme of the book to make you empathise with everyone and make it hard to take a side, it felt more like watching a documentary to me. I was entertained and had to be because this is a very long book that felt even longer when reading it.

I feel bad for not liking it because it has a lot of cool elements but it just wasn’t one for me.

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We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson

Read in French, translation by  Jean-Paul Gratias at Rivages/Noir

Synopsis:
Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn’t leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family.

I first took an interest in the title when seeing the new orange cover last fall and was able to read it when I found it in french at my library.
This was a creepy book, told from the point of view of an eighteen years old, though she sounded more like a child.
A short read that had me intrigued at what was really going on and what had really happened for the read of the family to die so suddenly.
At times bizzare, at times really sad, I was really rooting for the sisters. This had a strange atmosphere, like a tale of some sorts.

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The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

Synopsis:
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, the boys develop a tender friendship, a bond which blossoms into something deeper as they grow into young men.

But when Helen of Sparta is kidnapped, Achilles is dispatched to distant Troy to fulfil his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

At first I thought this was going to be from the point of view of Achilles but, silly me, this is actually from the one of Patroclus. This is great because he is such a nice and kind character!

While the book didn’t have me in tears like so many people told me it would, I still was moved by this story. While I knew most of the elements of it, Miller managed to breath humanity into these characters. Patroclus, Chirron and Briseis were my favourite ❤
Maybe the author made it all seem a bit more gentle than previous iteration of the tale, but I’m glad of that in a way. The many rapes and killings aren’t really forgotten but aren’t too graphic, but still shook me a lot. I think the image of Achilles is kinder because it is told through the eyes of Patroclus who loves him deeply, but I also liked that Patroclus doesn’t close his eyes on the horror Achilles commits.
Overall I’m glad I finally decided to get this book from the library, a great 4/5 read.

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I’ll be sure to read Miller’s latest, Circe, as well as a recent one from the point of view of Briseis, The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker.