Childhood’s End Book Review

Today, we will be reviewing the classic science fiction novel Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke. How does this novel old up over 70 years later? Keep reading to read our review and see what we thought of this classic novel!

Childhood’s End Summary

The United States and the Soviet Union are racing to launch the first spacecraft into orbit when suddenly, there are alien spaceships in every major city around the world. Aliens have finally visited Earth and their superior technology has made them the new leaders of Earth.

The aliens, who are known as the Overlords, have brought peace to Earth and have left humans to their own devices for the most part. Poverty and hunger are no longer a problem and all diseases have been eradicated.

But the Overlords won’t show themselves to humans and that piques their curiousity. Rikki Stormgren, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, is the only one that gets to meet The Overlord Karellen, but never gets to see him as there is a wall between them. Why are the aliens hiding their appearance?

Besides that, humanity has a crisis at hand. With the emergence of the aliens, humanity has become relaxed and technology and the emergence of new arts and technology has stopped. What does that mean for humanity’s future and what do the Overlords really want?

Commentary

I really enjoyed this novel and loved Clarke’s take on an alien invasion. There are some crazy theories and the plot is kind of crazy to say the least. That I would say is a commentary of aliens having different wants and needs. Making humanity wonder what humans looked like was brilliant and makes you curious and when Clarke finally reveals it, you are like I should have known!

It is also a brilliant move by Clarke to call the novel Childhood’s End and the multiple meanings it can have. The ending of this novel is worth it as the buildup pays off perfectly. Novels like this make many people including me wonder what an actual alien invasion would look like.

Clarke’s First Successful Novel

The original idea for Childhood’s End started with a short story titled Guardian Angel which was then turned into a novel. Childhood’s End was published in 1953 and sold out in its first printing, moving 210,000 copies, becoming Clarke’s first successful novel.

Critics and fans loved the novel and Clarke was compared to Olaf Stapledon, C. S. Lewis, and H. G. Wells. That is high praise and looking back at Clarke’s career, it was very accurate. The novel was supposed to be adapted into a movie by none other than Stanley Kubrick but that was not to be. Instead, Kubrick decided to work with Clarke to make 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Conclusion

There are many great sci-fi novels and Clarke has a bunch of novels that can make that list. Childhood’s end is a great novel that takes an interesting approach to an alien invasion. I don’t think any other author would have taken the same approach as Clarke did with this book.

Often times, many science fiction novels make a simple topic complicated but not Clarke. He keeps the science and the explanations simple, focusing on the plot and the twists that will leave the reader in awe. It is these qualities that makes Clarke beloved by millions and an author every fan of science fiction has to read!

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