Childhoods End – Arthur C. Clarke

Childhoods End – Arthur C. Clarke

The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city–intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify Earth, eliminate poverty, and end war. With little rebellion, humankind agreed, and a golden age began.

But at what cost? With the advent of peace, man ceases to strive for creative greatness, and a malaise settles over the human race. To those who resist, it becomes evident that the Overlords have an agenda of their own. As civilization approaches the crossroads, will the Overlords spell the end for humankind . . . or the beginning?

My Review of Childhoods End

Funny, I was on a self-imposed reading ban this time last year so I could finish my master’s. I kept reading books. Now that I have finished, I have stopped reading!
I have switched jobs around, been busy with life but am finally ready to get back to the swing of reading. So I started with one I have been wanting to read for years. Childhoods end.

I love classic sci-fi and this one was just BRILLIANT! I loved the 1950’s take on the distant future. Thankfully, I had not been tainted by knowing the story beforehand or the twists and turns, I just jumped on in and was rewarded with a rich, thought provoking book that has stuck with me since reading it!

From the heavens they came, appearing all over the world in giant space ships. Flash forward 5 years and the world is a utopia. No more wars or famine. The overlords have seen to that! But is utopia really dystopia? And why are the overlords there in the first place? What is the ultimate goal?

You can easily see how this work has influenced many of the modern favourites of first contact / alien invasion fiction. It felt like I was reading the grandfather of Independence Day and contact. I felt silly that I had not read this sooner, perhaps it would have given me a greater appreciation for the modern ones also.

I love books that provoke existential thoughts like this one does. For some reason science fiction speaks this way to me like no other genre can. I can read thought provoking books, philosophy, historical fiction and drama… but there is something about science fiction, something about other worlds, other beings and space travel that makes you realise how small you are in the grand scheme of the universe.

I just loved it! There is nothing bad to say. I enjoyed every page and it was an absolute pleasure to read! Blows my mind that it was written in the 50’s! Before we had even made it to the moon!

Absolutely fantastic!

(5 / 5)

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