Not sure how I feel about this one yet! It really captivated me at moments but I am not sure if the total delivery worked for me.

(1953)In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind's largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development-and their purpose is to dominate the Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly beneficial-end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age-or so it seems.But it comes at a price. Without conflict, humanity ceases to work toward creative achievement, and culture stagnates. And as the years pass, it becomes more and more clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race-that may not be as beneficial as it seems.Originally published in 1953, Childhood's End is Clarke's first successful novel-and is considered a classic of science fiction literature. Its dominating theme of transcendent evolution appears in many of Clarke's later works, including the Space Odyssey series. In 2004, the book was nominated for the Retro Hugo Award for Best Novel.

A fascinating book, with an ending that was completely unexpected. The 2nd half of the book is better than the first. I won’t spoil it, but the last act turned this from a three-star to a four-star experience for me.

It’s dated, and lacks any meaningful female characters. Infused with the sensibilities of the time in which it was written, it’s still worth reading. ( )

The two most powerful nations on Earth are reaching for the stars when suddenly the stars reach down, and everyone waits. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke is one of the most important novels of “the golden age of science fiction” with its surprising twist and interesting ending.

Given the time the book was published and how Clarke projected the “future” timeframe that the story took place, it didn’t hurt the overall story. The benevolent alien contact trope, but with a unique hidden agenda twist was good as well. The surprise twist of the appearance of the aliens was cool, though the later explanation at the end about how their appearance was ingrained in human consciousness was disappointing though it went with the ending of the book. Clarke’s point-of-view characters were a bit flat just there to move the narrative along, which overall was fine. Yet it was Clarke’s prologue for the 1990 edition—which I read—unfortunately undermined the story even before I had begun that I wish that Clark had decided to make it an epilogue. Overall, I thought this novel was okay, I wasn’t dissuaded from reading other of Clarke’s works.

Childhood’s End is one of science fiction’s most important works from its golden age and put Arthur C. Clarke on the literary map. ( )

So good. So, so good ( )

Confessional: this review will be very brief. As I have said before, I am not a fan of science fiction. Boo. The first section of Childhood's End is based on a short story called "Guardian Angel". Earth is controlled by the Overlords. They provide security, peace and prosperity but their interests lie in human psychology, mysticism, telepathy, the occult, second sight, and psychic phenomena. Fact meets fiction. The other aspects of Childhood's End I found curious were the social commentaries Clarke was making about the human race. When we cannot pronounce a name that is unfamiliar to use (like Thanthalteresco) we come up with nicknames (like the Inspector). The Overlords are like parents, banning something (space) because they think their children (humans) are not ready for it. My favorite part was when Jan Rodricks, a Cape Town engineering student, pulled a Trojan Horse stunt and stowed away in a giant whale replica to visit the Overlords on their turf.
The moral of the story could be that without conflict there is no passion. Without passion there is only apathy and with apathy comes boredom. With boredom comes the need to rile things up. ( )

Billed as one of his best works along with the short story The Final Theorem, it offers a version of the last days of humanity, but doesn’t evoke the same mystery and wonder as the Odyssey series. Perhaps in part because of being far more locked into older sci fi tropes and social observations that felt extremely dated. ( )

I love the concepts but I wish it could have been a larger book with more background on the paranormal part and more character development for those involved. ( )

A science-fiction masterpiece. This simply must be part of any sci-fi buff's library. ( )

It's not surprising that this book is part of the 'Gollancz SF Masterworks' series.   It really is a must read for all sci-fi fans as one of those early sci-fi books that set the standard for others to follow.

The prophetic nature of this book, while quite nail-on-head in some ways, is quite funny at times as to how short it actually fell.   For example, Arthur thought that it would take aliens to bring an end to wars, giving humanity peace ever lasting before we gave up striving to improve our lives and instead spending hours every day watching pointless programs on TV...

Do you realize that every day something like five hundred hours of radio and TV pour out over the various channels?   If you went without sleep and did nothing else, you could follow less than a twentieth of the entertainment that’s available at the turn of a switch!   No wonder that people are becoming passive sponges -- absorbing but never creating.   Did you know that the average viewing time per person is now three hours a day?   Soon people won’t be living their own lives any more.   It will be a full-time job keeping up with the various family serials on TV!

And yet here we are 60 years after this book was published and while no aliens have given us peace on earth and eternal leisure people are watching far more TV than Arthur predicted for our age of enlightenment.   The 2018 veiwing figures for the UK is an average of over 4 hours a day.   And that's the average.   Some people are watching far more than that as people like myself have no television at all and haven't had for over 20 years.

No it's not taking aliens to bring an end to Homo sapiens, the wise man is doing a really good job of its own demise without any outside assistance whatsoever...

‘In a few years, it will all be over, and the human race will have divided in twain.   There is no way back, and no future for the world you know.   All the hopes and dreams of your race are ended now.   You have given birth to your successors, and it is your tragedy that you will never understand them -- will never even be able to communicate with their minds.   Indeed, they will not possess minds as you know them.   They will be a single entity, as you yourselves are the sums of your myriad cells.   You will not think them human, and you will be right.

Yes, we are becoming two separate species, with the old conservative Homo sapiens stuck in their ways, trying in vain to hold the world back while the progressive and future looking people are slowly evolving beyond the comprehension of those who cling to their ancient rights.   It won't be long now before Homo sapiens becomes extinct, because, as Arthur says, the stars are not for man.

All that said, it's a great book.   Wonderfully written, thought provoking, intelligent sci-fi for progressive and future looking people who look towards the stars instead of into televisions. ( )

I loved this tale of the earth being taken over, albeit benignly, by a group of aliens called The Overlords. A nice twist about a third of the way through, lots of thoughtful speculation about what motivates men to create and explore. I didn’t find it preachy or too much a product of its time. Highly recommended, even if you’re not an SF fan. ( )

First sci-fi book I've read in years (unless you count Vonnegut) and it's a good one. Very high level perspective in the book, that shows the effect of a utopia/dystopia (depending on perspective) on the human population. Very interesting and well written, but lacks an engaging plot for the first half so it's a bit of a slower read.

Learning more about the Overlords, bit by bit, was intoxicating. The last half was incredible, and the ending was powerful. ( )

Interesting concept, though obviously a bit dated. The supernatural twist was a big surprise. ( )

Wow, what a read. ( )

Just as you think you're getting into the story... it gets weird. ( )

An absolutely stunning novel. I'm very much looking forward to the mini-series. ( )

Good solid listen.... ( )

O ser humano, deixado aos seus próprios desígnios, muito provavelmente perecerá. O desejo de acumulação inútil e demonstração de poder dispendioso e violenta, de um grupo ao outro, deve nos levar a derrocada final. Mas e se uma autarquia benigna alienígena intervir? Que tipo de tentativas de sabotagem faríamos, e sentimentos irracionais levantaríamos para tentar escapar da paz e da boa vida? Que honra mesquinha manteremos para com nossos deuses já ultrapassados? Ou abraçaremos os problemas do futuro - os problemas do comum, da boa vida, da possibilidade de ter sustentabilidade? Há uma espécie de grande tarefa comum, mas como a união nunca viria internamente, ela é forçada, fomentada, para que deixamos nossa infância. E nesse caminho a educação é a base para enfrentar as benesses da renda básica universal e perceber que sustentar aqueles corajosos o suficiente para não trabalhar é bastante melhor do que lutar contra classes desnecessárias de burocratas e outros trabalhadores inúteis sugadores de tempo. Faltam guerras, grandes intrigas e mesquinharia, mas há muito o que pensar e pesquisar. Só que a figura imponente dos overlords parece dizer: "para que? Nós já resolvemos isso há tempo". E todo esse mistério, que escondem? As coisas ficarão então chatas, os mistérios eternos? Ou seguiremos a jornada, deixando para trás o que for necessário? E então, o final extremamente emocionante do livro de Clarke... ( )

Es, sin duda, una de sus mejores y más importantes novelas de Clarke. Esencial para cualquier lector de ciencia ficción. Publicada en 1953, sigue conservando toda su frescura.
La obra tiene un trasfondo muy filosófico. No es sólo el primer contacto de la humanidad, sino que realmente, se trata de una reflexión sobre la evolución del hombre, las dictaduras benevolentes, la religión, el desarrollo y el futuro de nuestra especie y nuestro lugar en el universo.
El fin de la infancia fascina como libro. Es muy bueno. Pero también causa una tremenda sensación de desasosiego. Puede que Clark viera la evolución de la humanidad hacia un ente mental universal alienígena como algo esperanzador.


( )

I struggled a bit with this at first, but once I got into it, I really got into it. A towering work of imagination, truly excellent. ( )

Another high school Important Book. I lived with this in my head for a year or so. Clarke is like Phil Dick--a good man with the bones of a story, good at ringing them in resonant ways. ( )

Accidentally hit "remove from shelves" so I am rewriting the review...

A lot of amazing ideas in this book. Really ahead of it's time in a lot of ways. However, I wasn't crazy about all the different perspectives and the story fell apart at the end. Feel like it needed another draft. ( )

I started off thinking that I was not the right person to enjoy this book, but ultimately it drew me in. If you want to read it but you can’t stand it, I would skip the first third. To me it was basically a book about colonialism. In terms of the plot, it reminded me a bit of Octavia E. Butler’s _Dawn_ or “The Space Traders” by Derrick Bell, except initially it seemed to be from the POV that superior colonizers will make the world better. But ultimately it turns out everyone loses and both the colonizers and the “natives” (in this case, humans) are being compelled by a mysterious mental third force that no one can understand. I’m glad I read this interesting and imaginative sf classic despite the oink oink sexist and racist mindset of its day. ( )

An excellent novel from the early 1950s, Childhood’s End is more about ideas than hard scifi. In the 1950s Britain and the USA were relatively egalitarian societies with good wages. For the first time labour saving devices were available for the mass market, and the passive entertainment given by television was new and worrying. People like Clark realised the danger of being amused to death (as Roger Waters would later put it). Then there was the existential threat of the bomb, and in Childhood’s End the human race is hell bent on destroying itself through nuclear war but saved by the intervention of benevolent aliens: the Overlords. In fact it is the overlord in charge of Earth, Karellen that makes this claim. The Overlords are beings with superior minds and technology. But what are their aims? The reader can’t believe they won’t end up being evil - especially when Clark reveals what they look like. The Overlords delay showing themselves because their appearance will induce dread in humans. They have time to prepare for this unveiling though, and much like the Chinese Communist Party, they know that:

“Fifty years is ample time in which to change a world and its people almost beyond recognition. All that is required for the task are a sound knowledge of social engineering, a clear sight of the intended goal – and power.”

Clark's prose is precise and rather even in tone, he’s only lyrical when talking about the strange geography of far away planets. His characters are there to wrestle with ideas, but there is just enough development and background given. The Overlords' technology and planet are not fully explained, unlike with the Trisolarans in “The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin, a twenty-first century scifi masterwork that owes a lot to Childhood’s End.

The Overlords study us like anthropologists among a primitive tribe up the Amazon River. Surprisingly, they are interested in the paranormal; their reason for being on Earth, while not the greatest plot twist of all time, is not what we might expect. In their study of human history they realise their role is something like that of the Roman or British Empires - yet more altruistic. There is one thing about humanity they can’t understand: art, something they do not have. This hints that we, despite our backwardness, can go further than the Overlords ever have. In the Pacific Islands a group of artists set up a colony called Athens to offset the damage Overlord rule is doing to the human race. Yes there is no more war, no more poverty, but:

“ The world’s now placid, featureless, and culturally dead: nothing really new has been created since the Overlords came.”

Humans once again will be creative and productive in this colony:

“‘Here,’ he continued, ‘we do not suffer from the ancient obsession that leisure is wicked. But we do not consider that it is enough to be passive receptors.”

In Athens a change will happen, something the Overlords have been waiting for.

When it comes to predicting the future - Clark does talk about something very similar to virtual reality and his safer but homogenised world has come about to some extent. Childhood’s End packs a lot into just over two hundred pages, I’m sure many other writers would have drawn this plot out to over 400. It’s very well put together; a real page turner that holds up well in 2020 and gets you thinking. ( )

This is another awe inspiring novel by the British SF master. Mysterious aliens appear in the sky over Earth and somehow become benevolent dictators over the whole planet. But the aliens' own motives are not at all straightforward, neither as benevolent as many humans take them to be, yet at the same time not evil in the normal sense of the word. The denouement was sad and wonderful (in the literal sense of inspiring wonder), and very thought provoking about the role of different species towards each other. I didn't think this novel was quite as consistently wonderful as The CIty and the Stars or Rendezvous with Rama as I thought it sagged just a little in the middle, but the initial chapters were intriguing and the final few mind boggling in their implications for both the human race and their new alien overlords. A great read. ( )