... well, not those you might find in the bathroom at night… this is about fictional spiders, uplifted little buggers, the protagonists in ‘Chilldren of Time’, a wonderful sci-fi by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It’s a book I read last year and I found myself … rooting for the spiders.
Besides being beautifully written, the book really draws you in - you follow the little spiders being uplifted (quite accidentally) by a man-made virus, the struggles, every new little thing they learn, the smallest achievement. The author could have chosen any other animal, something even moderately cute - he went for the spiders most people hate! By the end of the book, there’s an inevitable confrontation between the spider civilization and a desperate bunch of humans, whose tragic story we’ve also been following… and I was quite surprised to discover I don’t give a damn about the fate of the humans, fuck them, leave my spiders alone!
It is a bit disturbing to find yourself rooting for the adversary and I can only think of one reason - I already know what humans are capable of, whereas the spider civilization might turn out differently.
I was extremely happy to discover the second book in the series is out, ‘Children of Ruin’, and yes we have not abandoned the spiders… the plot is even more complicated by the uplifting of yet another species, octopuses, which I don’t like as much as spiders yet, but I’m only half-way through the book.
Please stop shaking your head… I know how it sounds, spiders, octopuses, that’s completely crazy… and such a waste of time…
We have so much trouble imagining another species being even moderately intelligent as if fucking up our world required some sort of genius qualities. We are such an arrogant species, as well as quite arrogant as individuals - no wonder many see science-fiction as a total waste of time… ‘uplifted spiders, really?’ (eye-roll)
Fiction is a form of escapism, a sci-fi world of intelligent spiders even more so, but at least there’s a bit of hope … not for us, as a species - sooner or later, we will completely fuck up this so-called civilization of ours. It’s nice to imagine another civilization taking our place… they can’t do much worse, can they?
Besides my usual pessimistic mood (and it’s only Monday morning here), if you like sci-fi, I strongly recommend this series.