My first book by this author and will certainly not be my last! Amazing, fast paced sci fi adventure and I loved every second of it.

I am still new to the sci fi genre so I will say I found this quite confusing and "sciency" to start with. The world building along with all the scientific names was alot to keep up with. However I soon picked it up and what a brilliant story it was.

We follow Arton Daghdev a science professor, as he is sent off as a prisoner to an alien planet to work & live out the rest of his days. While there he reconnects with old friends/colleagues and realises there is more to this alien planet than what they are told. I loved the politics that came into play in this book, and the world building really bought this new planet to life.

So cleverly written. I could not see how this story was going to end and it kept me hooked the entire time. The plot twists, the friendships made, the action & adventure, the hardships Arton and his companions go through, the politics all came together to make an amazing story.

This is a gripping and fast-paced adventure set on a very alien world. The world buiding is excellent, and the “alienness” is so well depicted that it I had a creepy sense of foreboding throughout a lot of the book.

A plot summary from the blurb:

"On the distant world of Kiln lie the ruins of an alien civilization. It’s the greatest discovery in humanity’s spacefaring history – yet who were its builders and where did they go? Professor Arton Daghdev had always wanted to study alien life up close. Then his wishes become a reality in the worst way. His political activism sees him exiled from Earth to Kiln’s extrasolar labour camp. There, he’s condemned to work under an alien sky until he dies."

For me it was a page-turner from the very beginning - it was engaging and well paced, and I enjoyed the slightly flippant first-person narrative. This is my first Adrian Tchaikovsky book, but if this is his writing style, then I’ll definitely be reading more. One odd stylistic quirk: the author broke the fourth wall a few times - talking directly to the reader. It wasn’t clear what the purpose of this was, and I was expecting it to become relevant at some point - which it didn’t. This didn’t detract, but I did wonder what the point was.

The world building is so well integrated with the plot, that it felt effortless. And it had a lot of ground to cover - from the Mandate, an ideological quasi-scientific/relgious organisation with totalitarian control over Earth’s society, to the flora and fauna of an oh-so-alien planet, “Kiln”, that Daghdev gets exiled to. And it’s that alienness that I really enjoyed about the book - it was somehow simultaneously seductive and replusive.

The plot has jeopardy from start to finish, but this really ramps up about two-thirds of the way through the book. Events unfold that emerge beautifully from the world building - the potentially extreme risks of the situation the characters find themselves in have been so well established that the consequences are obvious without having to be described.

So why not 5 stars? Only because it’s not a book that will stay with me. The plot and characters were enjoyable and engaging in the moment, but I’m not sure I’ll remember them a few months from now. I enjoyed the alienness, but it won’t stay with me in the same way as the unknowable alienness in Stanislav Lem’s “Solaris”, for example. None of that stopped it from being a cracking adventure, though, and I’d happily recommend it to anyone looking for that.

Thank you #NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Tor for the free review copy of #AlienClay in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

the painting is] a kind of hell, except it was called 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'. The joke, I take it, being that it's a delight humanity is excluded from. Everything else in the picture's having a grand time living it up at our expense. Being on Kiln feels like that to me. I can almost hear the pop and fizz of the planet's biospehere having its riotous party... [loc. 3147]
Xenoecologist Professor Arton Daghdev has been exiled from the repressive and totalitarian Mandate for political dissidence. Alien Clay opens with his horrific descent through the atmosphere -- in a flimsy capsule, from a disintegrating single-use spaceship where he's been freeze-dried for the journey, watching as others die ('Acceptable Wastage') when their capsules fall apart -- to Kiln, one of only three planets yet discovered where multi-cellular life has evolved. Daghdev is desperate to investigate the mysterious ruins left by a lost civilisation, but instead he's set to labour in the riotous and deadly jungle that surrounds the penal colony. When he's not hacking his way through the Boschian biota to reveal more ruins for others to investigate, he's assisting in the dissection of dead (or mostly-dead) alien creatures. (Not that the colony's findings can be reported to the Mandate, since what they're discovering doesn't fit the restrictions of Mandate scientific thought.) Daghdev, with his brilliant mind and his regrettable habit of heterodox thinking, may be the best person to unravel the mystery of Kiln, if it doesn't kill him first.

Tchaikovsky has written some of my favourite science fiction novels of the last decade -- for example, Doors of Eden and Dogs of War: I find him a very variable author, though, and didn't like Alien Clay as much as I'd hoped. It's a good read, inventive and well-written and with an intriguingly bleak narrator, but it meandered and became somewhat repetitive towards the end -- which makes perfect sense in terms of the plot, but could still have been tightened up without loss of impact. I might have liked this more if Daghdev had been more likeable, or if it hadn't been solely his narration. Perhaps if one of the two major female characters (both scientists) or fellow non-binary dissident Ilmus, had taken over some of the narration...? A fascinating scenario, though, and the science is compelling.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy. UK Publication Date is 28th March 2024.

This book did not grab me like others by this author.
I felt the pace was too slow and the details of the alien biology in this far away world were so detailed that I was starting to lose interest. It was as if a great idea for a short story had been expanded too much to be transformed into a full length book.
The idea of traitors to the government on Earth being sent to far off worlds to hard labour in extremely hostile conditions and comparing the authoritarian state on Earth with the symbiotic oneness of the Kiln world is a good basis for the book but not enough happened for me.
However the book was fantastic at portraying the danger and fear the colonists had for the variety of life on the planet and their battle to survive with minimal protection from them.
Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC

Welcome to Kiln. The greatest discovery in mankind’s history of exploring the stars is here: evidence of alien civilisation. But, where are the builders? There’s no shortage of life – creeping, crawling, stomping, deadly kinds of life. But no intelligence to explain the structures, the writing…

You might thing that Professor Arton Daghdev would be delighted to find himself at the epicentre of everything an exobiologist could dream of, but here’s the rub: Kiln is a prison colony. It’s where criminals are sent on a one-way ticket, especially the useful academic rebels – aka, anyone who won’t toe the ruling dictates of what is ‘correct’. But with the labour camp run with the same unbending iron rule that saw him exiled from home, real science might not get a look in – at least not before the planet’s flora and fauna figure out how to get a toehold in this strange, new flesh…

Well. I didn’t need proof that Adrian Tchaikovsky is an absolutely amazing author, but here we are: wow, this is stunning!

How to even begin expanding on that? The genius probably lies in the juxtaposition of the fantastically alien world – beautiful, deadly, and utterly outwith the scope of human understanding – with the very human, inner world of Arton as our first person narrator. If I had any complaints about this book it’s that the beginning in particular is very dark, on a human level: corrupt dictatorship rule, expendable human lives, privation, pain – it’s not a comfortable read, and if I’m wholly honest I might well have put it down for being too dark, had I been in even a slightly more fragile state of mind.

But timing aligned, and on I read – and oh, the way the mysteries build and start to unfold! Hope seesaws with despair, and then… Oh, and then!! Well, yes, you will have to read it for yourself 😉

I’m sure a more deft reviewer could wax lyrical about themes – nature vs. civilisation, maybe? Control vs. yielding to circumstances, working with not against? People de-humanising their fellow people, while expecting a wholly alien world to make such a narrow kind of sense. There are layers and layers, if your mind works like that. I loved it, but at the same time it was enough that the story just swept me up and carried me along with scale, twists, and just such imagination.

Absolutely recommended. Tchaikovsky hasn’t disappointed me yet, and still this book was just epically ‘wow’.

Wow. I really, really enjoyed this. The world building and descriptions were fantastic, it felt like I was there. I liked the characters. Some of them were likeable but even the ones that weren't were understandable. I liked very much that it wasn't a world similar to earth with similar lifeforms as is usually the case. I would definitely want to read more about this world.

"Alien Clay" feels like it began life as a short story and probably would have been better that way. The plot drags a bit in places and put me in that "just get on with it" frame of mind. Don't get me wrong, the story is brilliant, the writing is brilliant, but the characters stay a little bit too removed and there's too much excess fluff to merit 5 stars.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

I'm hoping to come back and leave a more detailed review later (apologies to the team, I'm a little unwell)

Exciting, dark and nuanced, Alien Clay is a strange mix of contemporary science fiction with that classical feeling. A detailed, visceral landscape that is both beautiful and terrifying full of complicated characters and an enchantingly thrilling story.

This book took me a very long time to get through. I found the premise intriguing and the way the world was set out was well done, but the pacing here is what pulled my rating down. There were long passages where not a lot happened, and I lost interest and struggled to keep reading. There were some sections that were exciting and I flew through. I do enjoy sci fi but am realising that more "traditional" sci fi tends to drag a bit and is probably not for me. It is excellently written and probably highly enjoyable to those who prefer this genre

Oh, I enjoyed this!
I loved Children of Time, and this in places has a similar feel.
A totalitarian and controlling regime called the Mandate disposed of dissidents, revolutionaries and anyone who they just didn’t much like by sending them to a prison planet a very, very long way away.
The story starts with a prison barge arriving at Kiln, one of the prison planets; it hits the ground running from the first sentence, which pulled me straight in.
Narrated in the first person by an academic dissident exiled to Kiln, who discovers he was deliberately sent here to use his specialist knowledge to work out the extremely complicated ecology of Kiln. There’s a big mystery which the Mandate expects answers to.
It’s a place where life is bleak and brutal and death is one wrong step away.
This is an intriguing and well paced novel, lots of excitement, and it piques the curiosity, doling out little hints and clues to the mystery of Kiln.
There’s one section which gets a bit confusing- sort of like in Children of Memory, which I found quite convoluted- and the narrator shares the contents of his dreams a lot, but mostly the pace is good and I finished the last 54% in one page-turning sitting.

A very unusual book, although this author has shown his vivid imagination in other books. I did enjoy reading it, although it wasn't a very light or easy read. but there did come a point where I found it very difficult to put this book down!
The setting was great, and any sci-fi lover will enjoy the method of arrival at the planet. Anyone who enjoys strange planets, strange plants and archaeology will also be intrigued.
I will continue to look out for books by this author, most are pretty compelling.

What could happen when the entire world, not just a country, turns into totalitarian regime run by one organization/government? We would be f*d. It´s as simple as that. This is what this book is about. It´s about looking for freedom elsewhere, in free thinking, in science, in an alien world.
I love the idea for this story, the worldbuilding and how the Kiln´s world is made up. I am not a fan of the main male character Arton and the first person narrative. Usually I don´t care which type of narrative is used, but here first person somehow doesn´t fit.
The novel starts with a bang, then slows down and at times it drags on until another bang. This uneven pace might find its fans, but others might find it rather frustrating.
Interesting plot, not a great main character and creative science will surely capture many readers.

I really love the feeling of being able to trust the author: whatever the new book is that Adrian Tchaikovsky publishes next, you can be assured it is going to be a solid read. Different books of his left me with a different kind of feeling, but it was always hand-in-hand with a sense of time well-spent in a world that felt crafted to feel real and lived in.

This applies to this standalone SFF novel as well. (Let me take a pause here to through some flowers at the fact that standalone novels still exist; I just love being able to experience a story without having to go through multiple installments). It doesn't have crazy break-neck action or a sprawling, intergalactic scope of a space opera; if anything, it feels very contained to a locale, the way books about explorers and expeditions do. In a way, it is just that, except the explorer in question is kind of a victim of the circumstances, as Arton is in exile in what is essentially a research prison. I found the read slow but very gratifying, and the moral themes resonant. An easy recommendation for fans of the genre.

Unexpectedly the new Tchaikovsky's novel is a remarkable prison drama in a dystopian future. All this in a far distance planet where this first contact story takes place. With an relatively open ending, this is another proof of the constant remarkable level of all Tchaikovsky's work.

Another excellent piece of world building from Tchaikovsky, creating a vivid sense of an alien planet as well as the political context back on Earth through the first person narrative. The emphasis on Acceptable Wastage is so telling, especially in the hideous sounding travel arrangements through the stars, and then the mixture of prison camp and university hierarchy is intriguing. The symbiotic form of life on Kiln is fascinating and the slow realisation of what happens after prolonged exposure is perfect, setting the book up for a cracking finale. Superb read.

(3.5 rounded up to 4.0.)

I enjoyed the whole concept of the book, but the ending is something quite special. The book title is inspired.

This is only the second piece of work that I've read. My first was his five-star novella, Ogres, and I truly think that I was spoiled as something to compare another book to. Tchaikovsky's world building is first-class, the writing and storytelling are very good - beautiful and poetic in places - it's easy to understand and, for the most part, flows well, and I loved the slow build-up. I did find myself skimming some pages as there seemed to be a lot of repetition. I'm not sure if this was meant or if, perhaps, the book needed a final, final edit. I wanted more information on the planet as the alien ruins, but that's just me. I need to know everything!

Well worth a read, and this will make you ponder what it actually means to be a human on an alien planet.

I chose to read an ARC of this work, which I voluntarily and honestly reviewed. All opinions are my own. Many thanks to the author, the publishers, and NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Publishers for this ecopy.

What a book, I really enjoyed this novel, the writing was so engaging and the world building was created with such a rich and lavish flare.
The storyline kept me gripped and I really enjoyed the direction it went
The characters were all created with a uniqueness which brought this story to life!
Excellent read!

Revie
"Because it can’t be hell without fellow sinners to suffer amongst."

Alien Clay provides further evidence of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s unparalleled and unfathomable imagination. A master storyteller and world builder, Tchaikovsky delivers yet another fascinating speculative vision of an alien ecology, that is both innovative and immersive.

The book takes place in a future where a dystopian Earth utilises alien planets as prison colonies, with the prisoners providing free and disposable labour. Enter Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident, who is literally dropped onto planet Kiln with little hope of survival beyond his landing.

The first person narrative, solely from Daghdev’s perspective, lends to the mystery of the planet; through Daghdev’s journey, we learn about the planet, its inhabitants, the politics of the prison camp, and by association, that of Earth. This style and perspective works well, maintaining anticipation and intrigue throughout, which made this story a real page turner.

"There are no spiders. There are worse things than spiders."

Life on Kiln is not as we know it. This is where the author’s imagination takes us on a trip of sheer mind-blowing ideas and spectacle. The nature of Kiln is mysterious and unusual to say the least. This is first contact with a difference – close encounters of a revolutionary kind.

The ecology of the planet is linked strongly with the themes of the book. The inhabitants of the planet are the metaphorical clay in the Kiln.

"What links us to the world links us to each other."

The human story works in symbiosis with the planet’s nature, with strong themes of evolution and revolution. Whilst the Sardonic cynicism of Daghdev’s narrative adds to the dystopian feel, there is a distinct undercurrent of hope – that things can get better and worth fighting for. Empathy, evolving relationships, and philosophical musings of working together is better than working against one and other. The parallels between the revolutionary aspects of the human contingent and the evolutionary nature of the planet work very well together.

Despite some minor pacing issues, where I felt the story became a little bogged down in the middle third, I had a very enjoyable time with this story. The author, through the narrative style, leaves subtle hooks in each chapter that makes you want to continue to the next chapter. As a standalone novel it has a satisfying ending, leaving room for questions and speculation afterwards. The philosophical and metaphysical aspects provide food for thought on the impact of the themes explored in the story.

Overall, Alien Clay is a solid example of what speculative fiction should strive to be – imaginative, thoughtful, philosophical, and good fun too! A story that challenges the status quo, inviting the reader to think and to question.

Adrian Tchaikovsky quickly has become one of my favourite authors, and with Alien Clay he has delivered yet another reminder of why that is. So if you are looking for a standalone entry point to Tchaikovsky, then Alien Clay would be a very good place to start.

Well, I was impressed that Tchaikovsky managed to get me to love giant spiders in Children of Time, but in Alien Clay he's succeeded in helping me empathise with some seriously creepy fungi. That's master storytelling!
The worldbuilding here is quite dark, but, as ever, the takeaway message of the book is hope-filled. There's this ongoing analogy of the human body as an authoritarian regime that resists change, set within a dystopian regime... I can't even describe how excellent this layering of metaphor is!

This is for me the SF writer of the moment and this title is as good as any of his - which is saying a lot. Themes of contemporary (if chilling) resonance, blended with exciting involvement to rival the best fantasies. This is a must read for fans and a great intro for AT newbies. Move aside George Orwell.