loppear reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
hilarious prison planet
4 stars
Wry, uplifting, political, dark academia joy on a death-sentence planet.
388 pages
English language
Published 2024 by Pan Macmillan.
Alien Clay
4 stars
(21 reviews)
From Arthur C. Clarke and Hugo Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky comes a far-future epic that confirms his place as a modern master of science fiction, in which a political prisoner must unlock the secrets of a strange and dangerous planet.
The planet of Kiln is where the tyrannical Mandate keeps its prison colony, and for inmates, the journey there is always a one-way trip. One such prisoner is Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident. Soon after arrival, he discovers that Kiln has a secret. Humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there.
In the midst of a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go? If he can survive both the harsh rule of the camp commandant and the alien horrors of the world around him, then Arton has a chance at making a …
From Arthur C. Clarke and Hugo Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky comes a far-future epic that confirms his place as a modern master of science fiction, in which a political prisoner must unlock the secrets of a strange and dangerous planet.
The planet of Kiln is where the tyrannical Mandate keeps its prison colony, and for inmates, the journey there is always a one-way trip. One such prisoner is Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident. Soon after arrival, he discovers that Kiln has a secret. Humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there.
In the midst of a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go? If he can survive both the harsh rule of the camp commandant and the alien horrors of the world around him, then Arton has a chance at making a discovery that might just transform not only Kiln, but distant Earth as well.
heavyboots reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Definitely deserves to be in the 2025 Hugo noms
5 stars
Oddly, this book reminds me a lot of another nominee, The Tainted Cup. They are both about an alien biology that is a lot more fecund and transformative than ours. But while the world of The Tainted Cup is more controlled, this one is fully uncontrolled alien biology and scientists (and prisoner slaves) have been sent to unravel it while simultaneously needing to justify the political order at home somehow. It is both frustrating and frighteningly plausible given the direction politics in China have gone.
At any rate, a lot of fascinating science, plausible politics and decently well-drawn characters make for a very good read with a lot to think about afterwards. Recommended.
Soh Kam Yung reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
A prison novel, and how the novel life on a planet may set the prisoners free.
4 stars
A fascinating book about life on an alien planet and the conflicts between it and the totalitarian human government (the Mandate) that runs the prison colony on the planet known as Kiln. The narrator of the story is Arton Daghdev, a dissident ecologist captured and sent there to help with research on the alien life. He also learns about the discovery of ruins that hints that a civilisation once flourished on Kiln, and speculations about who they might be.
As for the Mandate, it wants to make sure that all findings on Kiln match its world-view on how the universe works (basically, everything works according to the way the Mandate says it does), so Arton has an interest in finding out how life on Kiln is different and how to use it against the Mandate: for he is still a dissident in a prison camp.
The first third of the …
A fascinating book about life on an alien planet and the conflicts between it and the totalitarian human government (the Mandate) that runs the prison colony on the planet known as Kiln. The narrator of the story is Arton Daghdev, a dissident ecologist captured and sent there to help with research on the alien life. He also learns about the discovery of ruins that hints that a civilisation once flourished on Kiln, and speculations about who they might be.
As for the Mandate, it wants to make sure that all findings on Kiln match its world-view on how the universe works (basically, everything works according to the way the Mandate says it does), so Arton has an interest in finding out how life on Kiln is different and how to use it against the Mandate: for he is still a dissident in a prison camp.
The first third of the story gives an introduction to the camp and bit and pieces of Kiln life, whose biology turns out to be quite weird, but just similar enough to Earth life that it attempts to 'interface' to humans: Arton sees the results of such 'hybrids' and it is not pretty. And that doesn't stop him from joining a prison revolt that goes wrong.
As punishment, he is sent out to help collect Kiln life and find more remnants of the alien civilisation, which gives the reader a closer look at how life on Kiln works. Another disaster befalls Arton, forcing him to trek back to the prison camp. And it is during this trek that things about how Kiln life works, start to join up about and make sense to him. And it may not just help him overthrow the world view of the Mandate, but also possibly free the prisoners of the camp and answer the riddle about how civilisation rose and fell many times on Kiln.
Dr Ms Kat reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I hated this book the more of it I read
Content warning Spoilers but I don't recommend you read it anyway
This book could have had some good ideas and turned them into something interesting to read. Instead it mashed together a bunch of concepts, not fully fleshed out, and produced some drivel. It's full of tortured metaphors (even in the title Alien "Clay", except there's nothing special about the soil or earth of this planet - it's the ecology and the lifeforms which are talked about). The first third of the book is brutality (it's a convict prison planet), the second third is horror (OMG the weird way that life happens on this planet - genuinely a bit squickful), and then the last third is a hurried, unearned conclusion where humans start to coexist with the life on the planet. It's written in an engaging manner so I can imagine people would be drawn in by it, but the more I read, the more I grew to hate it. I don't know how this got nominated for a Hugo and I'm annoyed that this author has two nominations and I have to read another book by him. Don't read this book.
Tamsin reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Review of 'Alien Clay' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I think I find a jocular first person narrative really irritating. I wish Adrian Tchaikovsky would write fewer books but make them all as good as children of time (not the sequels).
enne📚 reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Alien Clay
5 stars
This is now my favorite Adrian Tchaikovsky book. The writing is grippy, the narrator is wry, and I love the way the plotlines of revolution against authoritarianism and academic exploration of alien biology intertwine with each other.
Some extremely minor asides that I appreciated:
The narrator is quite funny and I appreciate the way he sometimes deceives the reader; there are several scenes where you get the surface level view of the scene and then find out shortly afterwards that he's also doing something furtive simultaneously.
I love that the authoritarianism is all about black and white binaries, and the book casually infers that one of the characters fell into political disfavor because they are some flavor of non-binary (without using that word, thank goodness).
This is also somehow the second academic adjacent alien book that I've read recently, with James SA Corey's The Mercy of Gods being the other. …
This is now my favorite Adrian Tchaikovsky book. The writing is grippy, the narrator is wry, and I love the way the plotlines of revolution against authoritarianism and academic exploration of alien biology intertwine with each other.
Some extremely minor asides that I appreciated:
The narrator is quite funny and I appreciate the way he sometimes deceives the reader; there are several scenes where you get the surface level view of the scene and then find out shortly afterwards that he's also doing something furtive simultaneously.
I love that the authoritarianism is all about black and white binaries, and the book casually infers that one of the characters fell into political disfavor because they are some flavor of non-binary (without using that word, thank goodness).
This is also somehow the second academic adjacent alien book that I've read recently, with James SA Corey's The Mercy of Gods being the other. The power dynamic contexts are different enough that they end up taking different collaborator vs revolutionary approaches.
Tilde Lowengrimm reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Increible fanfiction for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
A deeply interconnected multi-level story diving into structure, communication, and organization from the deep level of biology & chemistry through community and up into society.
You're never going to believe this, but Adrian Tchaikovsky of all people has written a novel about the biology of non-human consciousness & awareness and the implications of that structure for the social structures and creations of such an alien consciousness. This particular novel also engages a little with 20th century authoritarianiam and where that movement might go in the future. That political dimension is connected back as a metaphor for the biology, human connection, & consciousness.
A neat, tight, well-executed novel. Great stuff; lots to consider. Not quite as thought-provoking as Watts' Firefall books which engage with the same material in greater depth. Probably not going to be a perpetual reread for me, but a deeply satisfying read nonetheless.
Tak! reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Alien Clay
5 stars
Another great Tchaikovsky take on the truly alien, this time with added revolutionary fervor. If you like near-to-mid-future scifi rooted in existing social issues and aliens that aren't just humans with weird foreheads, Alien Clay is for you!
Dav reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
None
5 stars
A very interesting idea expertly delivered. Humans discover life on a planet and are surprised that it doesn’t fit with their expectations. Cue the “convicts” of this particular prison transport - scientists - discovering a world which could possibly deconstruct the preconceived notions of what higher-order life could be. A critique of politics as much as of our andro-centric view of the universe.
Zivan reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Review of 'Alien Clay' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I love it when Tchaikovsky gets to play with an alien ecology.
Rebel scientists study an alien ecosystem with mysterious ruins at its center under the boot of a authoritarian regime that does not tolerate deviation from orthodox dogma.
Lots' of anti-fascism, symbiosis vs. hierarchy.
Lots of weird aliens, lots of body horror.
The ending was a bit too perfect, no system has only upsides.
matthewmincher reviewed Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
If evolution was cooperation
2 stars
This was a bit of a mixed bag. A really cool concept featuring an inverted ecosystem however the plot itself was quite boring.
Slow start, more compelling middle, followed by a disappointing end. It looks to be set up for a sequel though according to the author it’s a standalone.
I enjoyed the comedic touches and the creative narration style but it’s hard to recommend this especially compared to Tchaikovsky‘s other books which are great.
