Alien Clay is a fascinating tale of exobiology and humanity’s resistance to anything that challenges the orthodoxy. I flew through the pages of this one and wish I could go back to explore more of the world of Kiln. Definitely give me some vibes of Scavenger’s Reign.

Professor Arton Daghdev is a xenobiologist who is shipped out (along with other political dissenters) on an expedition mission to the strange and deadly planet of Kiln. There he’s tasked with investigating the ruins of an alien civilization whose inhabitants mysteriously vanished without a trace.

Alien Clay is Adrian Tchaikovsky’s newest and mind-blowingly brilliant sci-fi novel that further solidifies him as a titan of the genre.

In line with his previous works, the worldbuilding is extensive and well-thought out, which comes as a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, Tchaikovsky excels at creating believable planets and complex politics. On the other hand, the info-dumping does break up the story's momentum at times.

As a result, the story gets off to a slower start. It's not until roughly a quarter in that we get a terrifying glimpse of the body horror and cosmic horror of the planet. Then it takes around half of the novel to finally get to the exploration of the ruins. This is where things get really interesting and where I truly became hooked.

So overall, if you adore stories with science teams on deadly missions (i.e. Prometheus and Annihilation) where the environment seeps into the characters and slowly transforms them inside and out, I cannot recommend this one enough.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book about humans who have suffered under, and resisted, a dystopian world on Earth, and are subsequently sent to an alien planet to work as prison labor. The story opens with the MC being resuscitated after a 30 year life suspension, and then plunging toward the new to him planet. Soon we find out that many of the folks sent to this planet were sent there because of their revolutionary and heretical works on Earth, as their new home is host to structures that were built by intelligent beings of some type, who are no where to be found.

While reading this, I never quite knew where the story was heading, in the best way. It was constantly unfolding one step at a time, while I was following along one step behind. This worked really well in some moments, as I frantically turned pages eager to find out what happened next. In other situations I felt a little left behind, which led to disinterest.

Still, overall, I found this to be a fascinating novel that moved in places and addressed concepts I would have never expected. It was a vibrant world with a strong story to tell.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of the most creative writers in sci-fi and fantasy today. His works are always filled with biological concepts and unique reinterpretations of how humans (and aliens) might interact. Alien Clay is no exception.

Tchaikovsky has created a fantastical alien planet that Earth humans are sent to turn into a penal colony for political dissidents of the now ruling governmental body on Earth - the Mandate. On this new planet - Kiln - are the jailers and the prisoners, who work as forced labor, to uncover the origins of ancient ruins on the planet. We follow the experiences of one of these dissidents - Arton Daghdev, a biologist/ecologist - from his first landing on the planet. Tchaikovsky has written a creative and inventive take on alien first contact and I highly recommend this stand-alone novel.

“It has a body that’s all long spines like a sea urchin, with a lot of legs projecting off from this at all angles, studded with thorns and hooks. There’s no front or back, or visible sense organs. Or probably all of it hosts the little independent units that gather sensory info.”

“ …the thing comes shouldering between the trees, like some gentrified local, demanding you move your food truck out of their nice clean neighborhood.”

Professor Arton Daghdev has run afoul of an authoritarian regime and is exiled from Earth to a prison camp on Kiln. Everyone sent there is basically expected to be killed by one of the many, many dangers on Kiln. But there are also people there who are trying to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of the civilization that used to inhabit Kiln.

The story is told from the pov of Arton, and I enjoyed his light touch. I also liked the creatures. The science and world building were my favorite parts of the book. I was much less interested in the politics, and that took up a lot of the book. This book is complete but there is room for a sequel, although the author has said that he has no plans to continue the story.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

This eco-horror started off a bit slow, but once the story got going, it never stopped, and I would definitely recommend this one to sci-fi fans!

(Minor spoilers about the premise are ahead in this paragraph, so skip ahead if you want to go in knowing nothing at the beginning just like the main character.) The premise reminded me of Holes if it were written as adult sci-fi. The story starts out with the main character arriving at a prison camp outpost planet. The camp itself functions as an experimental research facility that studies alien life, and the main character was sent there due to his previous expertise in the field. We also very quickly find out that he himself is a prisoner who was caught as having spread revolutionary ideals under the totalitarian regime that governs the human society.

Overall, this book explored an interesting juxtaposition of ideas and themes, and I think many sci-fi fans will enjoy the exploration of ideas even if they don’t enjoy the story itself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

Thank you Orbit and NetGalley for providing me an advanced reader copy of Alien Clay.

Alien Clay is an epistolary novel following the life of Arton Daghdev post political revolution. Arton was a professor on earth whose opinions and actions against the ever oppressive Mandate landed him a one way ticket to the alien planet Kiln. Kiln is a planet with alien life that earth is studying but it is 30 years away from earth. Who would volunteer to go? No one, really. So why not send those who the Mandate want to see dead? Kiln’s ecosystem is hostile at best and deadly at worst but are these the only ways to live? As Arton is adjusting to his new way of life he is exposed to the abusive security, the chaotic planet, and the unknown. This book will have you trying to guess what the ending will be the whole time.

Overall, this book was an experience. I wouldn’t say it’s the best book I’ve read but certainly not the worst! The language in this book sets an expectation of having an extensive vocabulary as it is written from what feels like a PhD level research paper rather than a sci-fi novel. The author goes into extensive world building at a deep scientific level as you read through this first person narrative. The pacing is well done but VERY slow making the book drag a bit. I personally believe this book falls more into the sci-fi horror genre. Some of the scenes described in detail in the book are GRUESOME. Because the book is written as an epistolary, it does feel a bit disjointed at times as the narrator leaps from one point to the next, often times changing the time period and setting on a whim. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of things I would change about this novel but the way I would LOVE to see this turned into a movie would have me screaming, “TAKE MY MONEY!!!” In the end, I would give this book 3/5 stars solely due to the pacing and the language used in this book. It’s not super accessible but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good time if you can keep up!

Alien Clay is pure scifi speculative fiction. Sent from a paranoid, fractured Earth to live out his days on another planet in a biodome with a culture reminiscent of a gulag, Professor Arton Daghdev is both a scientist and a revolutionary. He is also, unfortunately, not a particularly reliable narrator, withholding information from the reader as he sees fit. His narration is very stream-of-consciousness, and his tone often feels belittling. He is a man of science, yet this novel is actually extremely critical of science and often preachy. There were moments when this book touched concepts of a four star rating, but ultimately there are too many areas where the book takes too long to make its point. There is so much explaining and talking that the action gets muddled. The piecemeal way information is shared from our narrator is often frustrating, in my opinion.
One thing I can wholeheartedly praise is the LGBTQIA+ representation. Ilmus Itrin is subtly complex and interesting as a character, and I appreciated they were one of the most visible side characters present.
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for this ARC!

A science professor (Anton) is shipped off Earth with a cohort of others for being a dissident against the new "Mandate." They are desiccated and spend 30 years on a space ship before being revived and sent into labor camps on a distant planet. Do you wake up from the voyage? This is the first thing that might kill you, there will be others.

This new planet has been studied for decades, with its alien flora and fauna. There are also structures with what may be writing on them. They are no closer to decoding the secrets of the planet now then when they first started, but many people have labored and died in the decades in between.

Since this is written from 1st person POV and from sometime in the future, you are only given a very specific perspective. I found the world very interesting but the plot seemed slow moving until about 75% when things start to come out. All in all, I enjoyed it as a standalone scifi.

Trigger/content warnings: Death, violence, murder, mentions of past torture, forced labor

3.5

At the beginning of this book, I wasn't sure if I would like it but by the end, it was a worthwhile read.
In summary, Part 1: boring. Part 2: good. Part 3: great.

Things I liked:
-The main character was interesting, flawed, and well written.
-As always, the worldbuilding/science is one of the best parts of the books. I loved the descriptions of the flora and fauna and how everything worked on the planet.
-Later in the book, I really liked the vibes and atmosphere that was developing and the tension played out very well.

Things I didn't like:
-The side characters were not very exciting. I think the first person perspective really limited what we learned about them so therefore I didn't care about any of them.
-Part 1 was too slow and it didn't really feel like some of it mattered overall. I kinda wish we had spent more time focusing on other elements and have the more interesting plot pieces start earlier.
-There was some repetitive language in the book with regards to the biology of the planet. it was phrased a bit differently every time but I was like, "how many different metaphors can one man write about this type of system. OMG I get it."

Thank you to Adrian Tchaikovsky, Orbit, and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of Alien Clay in exchange for my honest review.

Alien Clay is a unique science fiction novel that takes place on the mysterious world of Kiln amongst the ruins of an alien civilization. On Kiln there is a prison colony, where the mandate, who rules earth, sends their prisoners. Amongst those prisoners is Professor Arton Daghdev, who gets sent to Kiln on account of his political activism. There he will remain until he either reaches old age, or more likely, gets killed by the planet itself. Kiln's ecosystem is not only completely different from Earth, but is ravenous, and interacts with the human body in chaotic ways that eventually drives its inhabitants insane. Trapped under an oppressive regime on a deadly planet, Arton is forced to do what he must to survive. But are the old days of his political activism truly behind him?

Alien Clay is both unique and really interesting. I will say, that part one went by really slowly for me. In order to get acquainted with all of the necessary information, numerous chapters of information dumping is necessary. I will say that those chapters made it difficult to get into the book at times, but stick with it. Just as I hit the point where I was considering only reading a couple chapters a day until I finished the book it got good. The information dumping is necessary and done in a way that it takes you awhile to realize that that is what is happening. Kiln itself is so unique and the society that is created in the labor camp, and on earth itself is something that I have not experienced before. The world building was top tier. This is largely a plot driven book that is both fast paced and slow paced at the same time. There is not a significant amount of character development, but that is more because this book is Arton telling the story back to the readers. It is a unique way to tell a story and despite it being uncommon, I truly enjoyed how it was told. The one thing that I struggled with was grasping all of the scientific information that was necessary. A lot of it did go over my head which makes it hard to truly summarize the story to the best of my ability. I did enjoy it, but I am sure there a details that I missed. In a year (when it is not so fresh in my head) I want to go back and listen to this book as an audiobook. I think that will heighten my enjoyment of it as sometimes listening to the story makes it easier to digest the more challenging information being presented. I will say that this is a great book for all science fiction readers, but if this is the first time someone reads a science fiction book, I recommend starting elsewhere as this one is dense.

I unfortunately had to DNF this book. This one had a super promising premise, but fell flat in execution. I felt like the tone was what really lost me.

I came in expecting a space horror with a similar vibe to Vandermeer’s Annihilation, but instead got a goofy perspective that completely took me out of the story.

Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite authors, and this isnt one of my favorites by him, but it still very good. I liked the alien ecology of this one so much! I hope it someday gets a sequel.

If I had a nickel for every 2024 sci-fi release about scientific research being done by prisoners transported to a hostile alien planet ... I'd have two nickels. It's not a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Beyond the 10,000 foot view, there isn't actually a whole lot in common between this book and <i>The Mercy of Gods</i>. There is no malevolent alien civilization kidnapping researchers; rather, the book is set in a human-run penal colony -- the central human polity, known as the Mandate, has a general strategy of taking political dissidents and shipping them off (freeze dried and reconstituted on arrival) to serve as grunt labor in the handful of alien worlds we've tried to settle. For a certain value of "settle" -- most exoplanets are horrifically ill-suited for human life, but, well, being sent there *is* a punishment after all, more an exile to Siberia than a transportation to Australia.

Our POV character, Arton Daghdev, ends up on "Kiln", one of the planets more friendly to life, by virtue of being a xeno-ecologist in addition to a political dissident. Of course, suited to human life also means potentially suited to native life, and Kiln is so preposterously fecund that it's a daily challenge to not end up exposed to Kilnish fauna, micro- or mega-, with deadly or sanity-breaking consequences.

The alien life Tchaikovsky conjures here is fun - at one point he mentions the Earth example of that one louse that eats a fish's tongue and forever thenceforth has to live in the fish's mouth, trying its damnedest to continue being the best fish tongue it can be, to keep the host fish alive. Daghdev's narration describes Kilnish life as taking this as a universal principle - no individual organism they find is just one species, as each is an amalgamation of different sub-creatures specializing in one task or another, a sort of macro-scale iteration of the relationship of mitochondria to other cells. (This does mean that while there is a lot of biological distance between Earth and Kiln, metabolically speaking, the life that's there is constantly trying to figure out how to incorporate humanity into its wider web of, um, cooperation, adding extra peril to our poor prisoners' lives.) It's a fun concept.

I wouldn't call the plot that ensues particularly groundbreaking, and the characters, while better than those in <i>The Mercy of Gods</i>, aren't really going to stick with me. But it's a perfectly competent book and well worth reading. It does certainly top <i>Service Model</i> and <i>Saturation Point</i> in my "2024 Adrian Tchaikovsky Power Rankings" -- although it is interesting to see the way that it merges some themes of <i>Saturation Point</i> (e.g. "bushwhacking a zone that is dangerously rife with non-human life") with the whole revolutionary dissident committee things from <i>City of Last Chances</i>. I wonder if I will observe the same conceptual overlap as I work through my Tchaikovsky backlog; he writes so many damn books that I have to assume it's not uncommon for him to be writing multiples while his mind is on one theme or another.

“Kiln doesn't do death like Earth does. Kiln does life.”
———
Revolutionary evolution. Or perhaps evolutionary revolution.

However you describe it, it’s classic Tchaikovsky, with excellent science fiction full of fascinating ideas and compelling characters, solid worldbuilding, interesting science, a bit of sociopolitical musings — and the desire to look for what connects us rather than divides us (basically, the same version of Tchaikovsky that wrote the brilliant Children of Time).
———
“A lot of symbiosis,” Primatt says, catching her breath at the top of the stairs. “Cut something open and there’s something else inside it, wearing its skin.”
———
Kiln is a planet teeming with life, but unlike Earth life it seems to thrive mostly on symbiosis. Look closer at any creature here, and you’re likely to discover that it’s a macrospecies, comprised of symbiotic bits and pieces (a “natural” Exquisite Corpse) and powered by rapid-response evolution. Arton Daghdev gets to work with those, but in a different capacity than this scientist would have expected. You see, Kiln is also a labor camp, a penal colony run by totalitarian society where dissidents are sent and expected to die — not just because of awful work conditions but also because once Kiln life infects you, it seems to lead to madness and death as it tries to assimilate you. But if you put a bunch of revolutionaries in a labor camp, don’t be surprised if they will quickly organize a few subcommittees and start planning a revolution.

Except we all know what happens to the best-laid plans of mice and men — or humans and biospheres, if you please.
———
“Exposed to what? To everything that is Kiln. That fantastically opportunistic biosphere that says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, and I shall find a way to infiltrate their biology and make them my own.”
———
Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité, as the book sections tell us (since any book with revolution in it must allude to the French one), and it’s fraternité where it gets fun and reminds me a bit of the spirit of Children of Time. Tchaikovsky definitely has his favorite themes, and he always manages to give a fresh take on them.

It’s a serious book but with a bit of humor built into it, even if at times it’s gallows humor that can veer into horror territory. It’s dark in themes but never oppressively so, although a few parts leave quite a weight on the heart. But hopelessness gives way to hope, and none of that is corny or cheesy or preachy — but rather a bit sarcastically flippant until it isn’t, and really grows on you (figuratively, I must specify, in the context of this story). And that ending — well, you decide if it’s happy or if it’s hiding quite a bit of horror in it, actually.
———
“How do you become the fittest on Kiln? It’s not about how many enemy empires you can trample to dust with your sandalled feet. Surviving on Kiln is all about how much life you can interlock with. The services you can provide. On Kiln no species is an island. Nothing needs to be ruggedly self-sufficient, because there’s always someone who can do the thing for you, better than you could, in exchange for what you’ve got. Evolution as a barter economy. Everything becoming better and better at finding ways to live with its neighbours. Daniel in the lions’ den lets the lions eat his legs, because then they will carry him meekly about on their backs.”
———

4.5 stars. Good as expected from Tchaikovsky.
__________

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m semi conflicted on this book. On one hand, it’s a lot of what I would love to read in sci-fi as someone who isn’t well versed in it and the tone of the first two parts is very easy to follow, on top of that, as a researcher myself, the central topic of science as a political tool, and the conversation about the need for unification of the masses to exert change into a system is something I’m always down to read, however despite how great this book started, it just seemed like it wasn’t ending soon enough towards the halfway mark, and then it rushed its ending.

I love Tchaikovsky’s writing style and when I saw this book, I knew that I wanted it to be my second read of his. The characters are somewhat lackluster as so are their interactions, which I’m fine with, but then the plot, especially towards the end is just paced so weirdly and rushed that it just felt like I was reading someone else’s writing, and that big twist was something I jokingly thought would be a cheesy ending to the book and I hate that this time I was right.

Despite all that, I think it’s quality writing, and it just so happens that this book didn’t hit 100% for me. It was good and that’s it.

Alien Clay is Adrien Tchaikovksy’s latest stand alone space opera. I’ve read a bunch of Tchaikovsky’s previous work and been a fan--Elder Race in particular was a favorite of mine. I found Alien Clay to be a serviceable but not amazing entry into his oeuvre. Not because it was mediocre across the board, but because there were some fascinating and novel ideas, mixed in with some parts that did not work at all for me.

The premise is one of the book’s stronger suits--a Fascist organization that calls itself The Mandate (no really--subtlety is decidedly not one of this books stronger suits) has taken over the government of Earth, and our protagonist is a scientist who has found himself on the wrong side of the government. He is exiled to a labor prison camp. The wrinkle is that the prison camp is on an alien planet. An alien planet called Kiln, that has life. And that life has secrets. The descriptions of the alien planet are another place where this book shines. The descriptions of the plants and animals that live on Kiln really feel alien--not just Earth Biology with a twist, but really truly alien.

Now for the stuff that worked less well. As I mentioned above, this book is about as subtle as a sledgehammer in a bell factory. It has A Message, and it will beat you over the head with it. It reads almost like propaganda or a morality play. By half way through I wanted to yell at the book “I get it--Facism is bad.” For possibly related reasons, the pacing is very very uneven. The meat of the book is all in the second half, and impatient readers will be left waiting for anything to happen for a long long time.

I recommend this book for fans of Babel, Tchaikovsky’s other work, and The Imperial Radch. I received an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is an incredibly intelligent and talented writer. This was evident throughout the entire book. His knowledge of the subject matter, use of analogies and other devices to explain complex concepts, along with the sarcasm and witty humour injected into the story was all masterfully done.

I did have a few issues. This is first and foremost “sciency” science fiction. A lot of the time I felt like I was sitting in a biology or ecology lecture trying to keep up. I found myself skimming over some of the heavier material. But this is definitely a “me” issue. Other people may very well enjoy the science. My other issue was that I never truly connected to any of the characters. The science overshadowed any character building that may have happened.

But I can’t stress enough the intelligence of this author and fully appreciate his revolution for truth and for portraying the problem with bending science to a political agenda. I enjoyed the story but it was a challenging read.

3.5 stars

While Adrian Tchaikovsky has written some great sci fi, this was fell a bit short for me. The concept is excellent and the writing is good, but the tone and main character felt a bit off. It felt long as well, taking a while to get to its point. There’s enough here that some people will really enjoy, but for me this was a rare miss.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Humanity has traveled to the stars and found distant planets to inhabit or study. One such planet is Kiln, a world with an unhospitable yellow atmosphere that is toxic to humans. Due to this, it is seen to work better as a prison planet. There are secrets lurking in the wild spaces beyond the human bubble of safety though.

Professor Arton Daghdev has always wanted to study other life forms. With the Mandates stranglehold on scientific research back on Earth, this seemed like an impossible goal. However, with one errant phrase, he finds himself in the crosshairs of a crackdown. Now bound for the studies he always wanted, it doesn't seem like what it's cracked up to be.


The first chapter does not give much for us to understand. We find our main character in a perilous situation and through the chapter he is slowly remembering how he got there. From there the known and yet bizarre will share the book equally.

This story takes place on the prison world of Kiln. It is more of a labor camp where high personnel loss is okay because there will always be more on the next ship in. What makes this planet's prisoners, well some of them, unique is that many are scientists. They are needed to help with the research into the ruins found on the planet and the native species still there. Kiln's native atmosphere is a bit toxic to humans but with a harsh decontamination, most are okay inside the biodome.

Our narrator is Arton Daghdev. He was a professor of xenobiology/ecology back on Earth. Arton led an unconventional life even before becoming part of a scientific political party. Interestingly when he first came under suspicion Arton didn't even believe he was being anti-establishment, only speaking scientific theories. Arton has a good grasp on the life system of Kiln and adapts fairly well all things considered. Through his whole experience, he remains curious and if not happy at least not fully beaten down. But this could be a positive spin being placed on it due to the first-person perspective of a future Arton. Who can say?

Prof. Daghdev is one of many political dissidents shipped on a one-way trip to Kiln. This world is one of several discovered by mankind's exploration of the stars. Life here is more unique than anyone back on Earth has realized though. All Arton ever wanted to do was get a chance to truly study an alien ecosystem and life. Now on Kiln, he is getting his chance just in a very inhospitable manner. Things are not as they seem though and Kiln is holding more secrets than even the scientists here could imagine.

This story went very differently than I would have guessed from the description. The first thing to note is that the science we look into with this one is biology and symbiosis. As with any Tchaikovsky book, the science is gone into well and at length as it drives us toward the epiphany at the end. Now how this all came together did involve some people being needlessly stupid but on the other hand, there was also a 1 in a million chance of success by the excursion team. Now the true end of the book is interesting with speculation. In this case, I'm okay with not a clear answer. It is very reminiscent of one of his other works though.

All in all this book was really good for what it was trying to do. However, it did lean a bit too political for me. Also, the science of this one wasn't my favorite and was a little gross at times.
Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for the copy to review.