Children of Time is a 2015 science fiction novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
In the distant future, humanity seeks to create new habitats for itself on distant planets, terraforming them and seeding them with life. Dr. Avrana Kern is heading one such project, orbiting the tentatively named “Kern’s World”, where the plan is to release monkeys infected with a nanovirus that will accelerate their evolution. Through an act of sabotage from an anti-technology group that has also destroyed much of Earth, the monkeys are never released, and the virus instead infects a species of spider, Portia labiata. The book follows the evolution of the spiders and their eventual civilisation, as well as a remnant of humanity that fled to Kern’s World hoping to find paradise.
also children of ruin and children of memory, the sequels, are really good
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replying about trauma
I think about this all the time. Insane that we’re expected to go through life and deal all the things non-traumatized people struggle with as if we’re not trying to also put together and build up ourselves from nothing but a completely shattered foundation. And worst of all, this massive, gaping wound we’re stuck trying to heal is basically completely invisible. It’s not like we’re walking around with casts on or bandages or something like that, so all the ways we struggle can just get written off as being lazy or irresponsible or whatever the fuck people tend to assume. I feel like the only humane way to treat trauma would be to give people at least a few years off of any responsibility so they can just focus on healing, because the stress of trying to do that while juggling a “normal life” feels like it only aggrevates the wound and is generally unproductive in both areas.