After having read, and loved, Children of Time by the author, I was quite interested by reading more of him, and this novella was nicely timely!

The story, the tone, the context were quite different from the big and serious "Children of Time", which didn't surprised me: a novella is a very interesting format to show an author personality and range of writing capacities. "Walking to Aldebaran", a short story, a creepy tale, with a mystery hidden in plain sight, is one perfect example. It's main characteristic and appeal is its tone, a dry desperate one, as the hero progress in the nightmarish maze name the crypts and speaks to an imaginary friend, Toto (like the dog in "The magician of Oz"). If the story isn't funny at all, the way it's told is absolutely delicious!

The narrative is cleverly woven, going back and forth from the present to the past in a very comfortable fashion - no effort and no frustration either for the reader. There are some references, apt to speak to the modern reader; even if there aren't quite credible for the narrator, living in a distant futur, this kind of bending is quite acceptable for our reading pleasure!

The atmosphere is downright horrific. It reminded me, for its mix of dread, disgusting-revolting-but-rather-fun facts, its practical and bizarre atmosphere, the Peggy Sue's books by Serge Brussolo that I used to read when my oldest daughter was a child and a fan (yes, there are children books, the kind of weird and horrific stories some children crave!).

The end was good, and quite unpredictable until the last pages - even if, retrospectively, many hints were given. Still, I was a bit dissatisfied, as I'd have liked some points cleared up. An epilogue, from the other humans point of view for instance, would have been nice.

To conclude a very good story, funny and horrifying in the same time, riveting from the very beginning till the end!

A humorous first person narrative from an astronaut struggling to survive off world? So far, so "Martian". Unfortunately this odd little book isn't in the same league. We're not on any recognizable planet but an alien gateway artefact. The jokey tone grates as the story grows darker and the book ends so abruptly I had to check I hadn't missed another chapter.

I'm grateful to Netgalley for the free advance ebook and note this was produced by Rebellion publishing who do such great work with "2000AD", the terrific British sci fi comic. I'm sorry I can't be more positive as I enjoyed this author's novel "Children of Time". This just felt like a story that ran out of steam/ideas and I'm glad I didn't spend any of my Earth money on it - sorry!

Walking to Aldebaran is a stand-alone novella starring astronaut Gary Rendell, a member of an international expedition team sent to explore an alien artifact that suddenly appeared out beyond Pluto. We follow Gary as he wanders the halls and corridors of the artifact (which he calls the Crypts), intermixed with flashbacks to the strange events that led him there. To say any more about the plot . . . well, that'd be a pretty honking big spoiler.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of those incredibly prolific writers who somehow manages to be incapable of writing a bad book. I've long thought of him as the male Seanan McGuire, and this installment just reinforces that impression. His prose sucks you in, and when you're finished, you flip around to find the next installment (and get kind of cranky when there isn't one!) I really loved the overall aura of the setting: it comes across as this sort of bizarre hiking story---like being on some Lovecraftian version of the Appalachian Trail, with fellow hikers you do and definitely *don't* want to meet.

And let's just say, it's definitely the sort of book you'll want to re-read.

Highly recommended.

A big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Walking to Aldebaran is a mesmerizing descent into absolute madness. What begins as an exciting trek to a mysterious object nestled at the end of our solar system morphs into untold horrors as a single astronaut descends further into the bowels of an endless cavern. The protagonist begins as a human we can empathize with and, by the end, he’s a pure monster that belongs in the darkened halls of this creature-made structure. I was floored by the brilliant writing on display. Tchaikovsky slowly sucks you in, revealing piece by piece in a masterful first-person account. The sanity begins to trickle away until it’s too late, revealing the book is no longer what you thought it was. I’m frankly amazed at what he was able to accomplish in such a short space.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the majesty of what our protagonist continues to discover. It’s a mix between the wonder of a science fiction novel and the horrors of a creature feature. Through it all, our protagonist seemingly keeps his calm, never devolving into absolute terror, save for a single moment early on. This strange place changes him completely, both literally and figuratively, turning these mind-blowing experiences into everyday drivel. He’s aware that he’s narrating his own story as he walks through the tunnels. It’s easy to imagine this crazed man narrating each step he takes, telling his backstory as he sits on the cold ground taking a break. That sense of self-awareness creates an unease the further you dive into this brilliant account.

Overall, Walking to Aldebaran is a masterful combination of science fiction, horror, and a bit of humor. The mood is constantly shifting, the scene ever-evolving, and, in the end, we’re left with more surprises than expected. This is truly a must-read.

Review will be published on May 24: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/05/24/walking-to-aldebaran-book-review

Enjoyably twisted novella. Excellent piece of sci-fi world building, alternating between the discovery and initial stages of exploring a mysterious object in space, and a survivor’s journey through the physically fantastic interior battling monsters. A wry, and particularly British, sense of humour informs this fun, if rather sick, tale. Does more in 140 pages than some books manage in 600.

Adrian Tchaikovsky's novella about a lost astronaut, endlessly wandering the corridors of a vast alien artefact existing in multi dimensional space makes an interesting but slightly frustrating read. There's not much in the way of character play. Occasionally the protagonist comes upon explorers from other planets with whom he is unable to communicate but essentially this is a study in dehumanisation.

Alien consciousness is a subject that Tchaikovsky has explored in previous novels and his depiction of the protagonist's descent into inhumanity is compelling. But there's simply not enough plot for me. It feels more like a sketch than a fully developed story.

This novella has an interesting idea for an alien artefact...if that's what the Crypt can be called. The story is told from the viewpoint of a person who has lost their way and is wandering an enormous artefact, trying to find his way back to the rest of his team, trying to find his way back to the humans he came with.

The Crypt, as our astronaut protagonist refers to it, is both inscrutable and somewhat understandable at the same time. There are parts that we, the reader, can sort of get our heads around, even though the reasons behind it might not be. It contains all sorts of different types of aliens, and they're not of the humanoid bumpy nose variety. This makes for some interesting reading.

In the end, there's a bit of a twist, but it's one that could be anticipated by the reader. It's somewhat satisfying, nonetheless. It's an interesting read, and I enjoyed walking my way through it.

Humanity has found a new artifact beyond Neptune, a shortcut to other stars, but the only way to travel with it is walking. The journey can change the traveller. An interesting setting, with lots of humour, but it's not the best job of this fantastic writer.

I haven't read science fiction for a while. I used to love Clarke and Asimov as a teenager, chuckled at Douglas Adams then had a lull until I was gifted Dune a few years ago. Having just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's Walking to Aldebaran, I can see myself looking for more sci-fi novels, and certainly more of his.

His writing is tight - a strong voice with credible characters (well, mostly just the one) and enough exposition to keep it interesting without hand-feeding the reader. The novella is rather far fetched, even for science fiction - the gateways in the Knossos like labyrinth, unrestricted by time and place, are fine, but the roaming aliens seemed a push too far for me. But, don't think too hard and just enjoy the quality of the writing.

A very solid 4 stars, and a taster that will definitely get me reading more of the author's works.

Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.

The book is an extended version of David Bowie's Space Oddity. Major Tom and Gary Rendell are lucky to be picked or are they?

4.5 stars - Tchaikovsky is fast becoming one of my favorite sci-fi authors. His world building is top notch and his writing abilities aren't far behind. I really enjoyed the dark, borderline horror atmosphere. Quick, tight read that any fan of the "big dumb object" type of sci-fi will enjoy.

Ahoy there mateys!  I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

walking to aldebaran (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
Title: walking to aldebaran
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Publisher: Rebellion / Solaris
Publication Date: TODAY !!! (hardback/e-book)
ISBN: 978-1781087060
Source: NetGalley

I have been meaning to try Adrian Tchaikovsky's work for ages now, so when I saw this beautiful cover I took a chance.  Turns out this 140 page story deals with first contact through the dark humor of Gary the astronaut.

An alien rock was discovered out in Oort Cloud and Gary was one of the astronauts sent to explore this amazing find.  Of course disaster strikes and Gary is separated from his team and is lost inside the artifact.  The story is told from alternating sections of Gary's present and Gary's perspective on the discovery of the artifact and how he ended up in his predicament.  The problem?  Gary seems a just a bit insane.

I actually really enjoyed Gary's unreliable narration.  It did take me a minute to get absorbed into the story because Gary's modus operandi is a rather scattered approach of putting his thoughts together.  But I wanted desperately to know more about the artifact and how it works.  So I kept reading and found that I loved following Gary on his rather desperate journey.  I was both entertained and horrified by poor Gary.

Turns out there are way more questions than answers.  Also the physics of place kinda hurt me noggin.  But I very much enjoyed the expedition and the silly ending.  This was fun.  I will certainly be picking up more works by Adrian Tchaikovsky in the future.  Arrrr!

Side note: "Aldebaran" from the title is the fourteenth brightest star in our sky and is known as the "Eye of Taurus."  The name derives from the Arabic for "the follower."  Cool!

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

My name is Gary Rendell. I’m an astronaut. When they asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, “astronaut, please!” I dreamed astronaut, I worked astronaut, I studied astronaut. I got lucky; when a probe sent out to explore the Oort Cloud found a strange alien rock and an international team of scientists was put together to go and look at it, I made the draw.I got even luckier. When disaster hit and our team was split up, scattered through the endless cold tunnels, I somehow survived. Now I’m lost, and alone, and scared, and there’s something horrible in here. Lucky me. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

To visit the author’s website go to:
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Author

To buy the novel please visit:
walking to aldebaran - Book

To add to Goodreads go to:
Yer Ports for Plunder List

Walking To Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky- Another story(novella) of an astronaut lost inside a mysterious alien artifact. Gary Rendell is part of an expedition to explore a gravity anomaly in the Kuiper Belt out past Pluto. They are looking for a planet size signature, but what they find is a revolving orb made by some long ancient alien race, possibly. Once on or in the artifact, Gary finds himself alone and all his fellow explorers quickly killed off. He travels through the dark passageways of what he calls the Crypt, searching for a way back to the ship and home.
This is a first-person slog through, self examination, philosophy, change, fear, determination, and discovery. For such a short book, it is a rather torturously long journey, with little explanation or real excitement. I recently read Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, a superb engaging science fiction extravaganza, but this novella was not that great.

Decent read to add to your Sci-Fi shelf. Basically, humans go into space, play with something they shouldn't, and we follow the repercussions of that decision as we listen to the inner monologue of an astronaut on said expedition. Shades of themes from The Expanse, Prometheus, and 2001.

The writing was occasionally pompous feeling just for the sake of sounding smart, but overall was well put together and flowed neatly. Didn't really have any feelings toward the characters and I don't think the novella length had anything to do with that.

I've really enjoyed all of the books that I've previously read by this author and this was no exception.

I loved the space setting, unreliable narrator and all the aliens/monsters that we met.

My only gripe with it is that it was too short for me. By the point that the story had me thoroughly gripped and wanting to know what's going on, it ended.

But overall, very enjoyable!

I am not quite sure what to do with this book. I really liked Children of Time and I loved that the biology of the spiders was considered in their evolution. This one really had no grounding in reality and had a very unreliable narrator. The ending felt a little rushed but I enjoyed the sense of the bizarre and unexpected.

“It had a dozen many-jointed legs, and I snapped them off and piled them up, a campfire just like my old scoutmaster taught me, and I used one of my shonky little jury-rigged pieces of nonsense to spark it into flames.” That is astronaut Gary Rendell in survival mode. He is part of the international crew of the Quixote. A probe was sent to look for other planets, but it found the Crypts instead. Rendell is now lost in the Crypts (a/k/a the Frog God a/k/a the artifact) after becoming separated from the rest of his crew mates. The Crypts are a gateway to other universes, but that means that any sentient life forms in those universes can also visit the Crypts and Rendell encounters several of them, including egg people, pyramid people and the intestine monster. Rendell also learns the lesson of being careful what you wish for.

This novella reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode, with a combination of humor, adventure, horror and surprises. I enjoyed the author’s writing style. It demonstrates intelligence, imagination and wit. This is the first book by him that I’ve read and it made me want to read more.

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

Chilling, quick paced, full of action and suspense. Essentially a Big Dumb Object story, but this BDO is an immense alien fun house, full of mystery and horrors. The story is told through the often witty, sarcastic first person narration of a lone astronaut lost within the maze like object, making for a fun ride, yet always with a feel of something sinister lurking just out of view. I literally could not put this down. Not to be missed!

One of the bright new lights in today’s science fiction offers us a harrowing glimpse of space exploration and madness. With echoes of Space Odyssey, an artifact appears out by Pluto. It’s large. It’s ancient. It has openings that beckon for exploration. And,it is riddled with passages, chambers, and all manner of space aliens from other planets and other dimensions. No one ever imagined this was how the first contact with intelligent life would play out. And, one man, Gary Randell, has survived the expedition-but is condemned to wander the foreboding halls and ponder what he has become. His narration often drips with sarcasm as he addresses “Toto” and explains his actions.

It’s a fascinating exposition, but it is merely novella-length and never achieves grandiose proportions. In short, you wish there was more to the story and to where it would lead. Nevertheless, an enjoyable read and hard to put down.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

This looked so exciting. Not just did it feature the brightest star in the best constellation out there, but also it’s a space adventure. From a new to me author and in a novella form, which as everyone knows or at least should is an absolutely best way of trying out a new author. But somehow it just wasn’t music to my ears and yes, that is the pun on the author’s name, sorry, it was irresistible. So why was Gary the astronaut’s walk not all that fun. Actually, I’m not quite sure, I’ve thought about it and I’ll try to be objective. On the balance it had some good things going for it. It is after all a space adventure, one man, one bizarre celestial body randomly found while looking for planets 9 (so sorry Pluto) and 10, a variety of alien lifeforms. Or are there? You can’t quite be sure, because Gary isn’t quite a reliable narrator. In fact Gary might be going mad, solitude will do that. But the actual thing is that Gary is also not a very likeable narrator. In fact the guy sounds like a bro and not an especially bright one (maybe an attempt to attract a younger audience), which is just not what you’d expect out of an astronaut or what you’d want for a narrator, one you spend the entire book with. And so while the author gets to show off his imagination and creativity with the various creatures his confused protagonist meets, when all is said and done you might notice the flatness of the writing or the fact that you don’t really like or care about Gary and his journey and the ending twist is gasp worthy, but really not at all original. The novella was entertaining enough and went by quickly enough, but didn’t wow in any way or made you go look for the author’s other books. Well, it was something to try. Thanks Netgalley.