Alien Clay is a slow-burn sci-fi novel with a massive and ambitious crescendo of an ending! This is a tricky review to write, since the highlight of the novel for me is the final 60 pages where everything knits together dramatically, which would veer heavily into spoiler territory. This probably won’t be a surprise for anyone who’s read Tchaikovsky’s books before and knows how good his worldbuilding is – if you haven’t, then buckle up as you’re in for a treat!

The planet of Kiln is a worthy addition to the rostrum well-crafted worlds Tchaikovsky has created. It is a world where the biology and ecology are so radically different from that of Earth, that the narrow mindset of the ruling Mandate is struggling to comprehend what makes the planet tick. The planet is being used as a penal colony, with a key focus on discovering more about the mysterious ruins that dot the planet that imply the presence of intelligent life. The book did a fantastic job of showcasing how communications and collaborations between distant planets can be so tricky. The journey between Earth and Kiln is around 30 years, which really weighs on the mind of the camp commandant – news and new recruits will take 30 years to arrive after setting off, and any requests for supplies, support or specific personnel will have to wait for the 60-year-round trip! It’s a clever time gap to use, as it’s still somewhat possible for the mind to grasp the scale, as opposed to the many books that span hundreds or thousands of years in transit. These references really instil a feeling of isolation in the penal colony, and reinforce the idea that the trip to Kiln really was one-way.

Lead POV character Arton Daghdev is a revolutionary wannabe whose choice ideologies have landed him on the penal colony. Though the commandant clearly has grand ambitions for the recent crop of academic dissodents in furthering the camp’s research, you see over the course of the novel how Arton often can’t seem to help himself when the opportunity comes to rebel. While I found his character a little muddy at times, he was a good POV to explore the different hierarchies in the colony. Daghdev’s internal monologue tended to be quite witty with sarcastic quips aplenty, and similar to his character, I must admit I found the humour a bit hit and miss, and did fall flat in places for me.

Overall, I would deinifely recommend this one to experienced fans of Sci-Fi who like the themes of discovery of new worlds and alien artifacts. The payoff for the book’s buildup was undoubtedly great, though I did struggle with the pacing of the novel and found it quite laborious at times to get through, so I wouldn’t pick Alien Clay out for a new reader to the genre. While I don’t think the book was one of Tchaikovsky’s top works overall, I’m all there for watching him push the boundaries for more ambitious and impressive feats of worldbuilding!

A continuation of form for Adrian Tchaikovsky - there's something about his work involving first contact and evolution in particular that really appeals to me, and Alien Clay is no exception. I'm definitely going to check out more of his work now. Alien Clay feels quite different from The Children of Time novels in tone, and perhaps more informal. Though the world-building doesn't get particularly in-depth, the environment and society seem plausible all the same. There's also plenty of tension and body horror within the story. I found myself utterly gripped, and given some food for though.
4.5 rounded up to 5.

Alien Clay is inventive and gripping sci-fi, allografted with more than a little body bio-horror, but I found its twists and turns a bit trope-ier and more predictable than I'm used to from Tchaikovsky. It's a worthy evocation of works like Annihilation, The Fifth Head of Cerberus. and even Scavenger's Reign, but never manages to really push the (squamous, rugose) boundaries of this little sub-genre of the Weird. 3.5/5, rounded up.

—————

The worrying truth at the heart of body horror, from Kafka's Metamorphosis on, is that our bodies are malleable. They change naturally over time of course, but can also be changed for us so easily, by violence, infection, infestation. And of course, if you then take the materialist line that our bodies precede and determine our selves, you can imagine yourself into some very scary places. Tchaikovsky is happy to go there, of course, and the early sections of Alien Clay do a great job of establishing just how...squicky...life on his setting of Kiln can be, violating both human ideas of parasitism and symbiosis and bodily integrity with equal nonchalance. I honestly wish Tchaikovsky had spent a bit more time exploring Kiln's endlessly changeable jungle and its native inhabitants, as the snapshots we do get of Kilnish life — spidery critters with pneumatic muscles, black-fanned and occasionally explosive "trees" — are fresh and exciting.

By contrast, Kiln's human visitors are pretty standard: a thuggish Earth government, the Mandate, has sent its political prisoners to die investigating Kiln's jungles for Science, overseen by doctrinaire military chiefs and faceless security goons. Our narrator, Prof. Daghdev, and a few other characters are a bit less paint-by-number than this, and the author does a good job of detailing the camp's hierarchy and history. But it's all fairly depressingly true both to human history and to genre conventions. As you'd expect, the plot requires the colonizers eventually make some Very Bad Decisions that threaten their rigid order, though we're largely spared cliche horror-movie impulses to split the party up or pet the scary-looking worm monster on the head. 

But even if the story isn't always novel, it's still enlivened by Tchaikovsky's small touches, little things like the relentless cheapness of the humans' nickel-and-dime gulag or the way he never quite allows you to forget the background sounds of Kiln's jungle. And some of these grace notes are wonderfully subversive: one of the book's most surprising threads is that Kiln's alien inhabitants aren't the usual shambling metaphors for the lumpenproletariat, empty-eyed consumerism or soulless communism so much as they are...democratic socialists? If only the rest of the book had been this unexpected.

A really interesting story, but I feel as though there was too much description and the plot is really bogged down by scientific mumbo jumbo that just isn’t interesting and doesn’t really add much to the story. Yes we know that the MC is a scientist. It doesn’t have to be harped on about throughout the whole story. It would have been enough to know his occupation and his purpose for being in the prison. I feel it would have added more to the story if we had more description of the alien planet and more of a backstory for the side characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy in return for an honest review.

When you read an Adrian Tchaikovsky novel, you know what you’re getting, vast overarcing ideas, dense and descriptive prose, and usually spiders.

Lots and lots of Spiders…

Not here…

Alien Clay is the story of the Mandate (Read: The Empire), who are far stretched to the reaches of the galaxy, and with no communication between planets, are about as connected as the British empire before the telephone was invented. Everything is given to a regional commander, and that regional commander rules over their fiefdom with an iron fist and little to no fear of the consequences of their tyranny.

Into this steps Arton Daghdev, scientist, free thinker, and occasional radical, to find that their best friend died in the travel to the planet of Imno27g, henceforth known as Kiln. The wildlife on Kiln is definitely that, but more than that, the plants, bacteria, and general mitochondria seem to be taking an interest in humanity, and more importantly, an interest in changing humanity.

For the better, for the worse, we don’t know, but the Commandant of the camp, Terolan, is willing to sacrifice as many people as is needed, to get his answers, all the while living in a hermetically sealed bubble high above the camps and little people.

Much in the manner of Amon Goeth…

There are hints of rebellion in the air from the beginning of the book, and in the first instance, that rebellion is crushed mercilessly, but not completely, and from that springs the nascent uprising that continues onwards.

Alien Clay is a dense read, there’s a lot to take in from the start. The clear point that the empire is spread out and fragmented is necessary, because the whole plot takes place in its own microcosm, and while there are shades of Harrisons Deathworld to the planet and similarities that can be drawn to other Tchaikovsky books, that’s really not a bad thing at all.

It’s vast, overarcing storytelling at its best.

And the ending…

No Spoilers…

But Oh, the Ending…

Another wonderful and clever story by one of the best sci-fi writers around.

Excellent world building and imaginative characters and he always manages to expand my vocabulary with each of his books. :)

A must read for sci-fi fans.

Tchaivosky does it again. A bitter story set in a sci-fi backdrop that opens up your mind to the world. This was intensely satisfying and I cannot wait for it to be released

17.
That's how many times I had to get the dictionary out because I wasn't sure what a word meant. I've realised now that I have to keep a dictionary by me whenever I read one of Mr. Tchaikovsky's books so I don't feel completely out of my depth.
But it's so worth it. The visceral punch of his descriptions aren't diminished by the author's verbosity but rather enhanced by it. It's very well to say the creature was 'skinned alive' but 'flensed' has that extra punch- as long as you know what it means.
I always come away a little more educated and a lot more disturbed- so thanks for that.
Alien Clay is a veritable smorgasbord of imagination- everything from the black-yellow sky to the bulbous fleshy amalgamations of creatures. Some of which I had to draw in the margins to get a real hold on what he was envisioning and, to be honest, I think Mr. Tchaikovsky probably has 'science projects' growing in his fridge in order to really develop these bloated compound creatures. (either that or he needs to lay off the cheese at night)
The plot was well-developed and, as always, there was a delicate balance of political and religious overtones that drew the plot along without devolving into creationist verses evolutionary antagonism.
I also appreciate the fact that Mr Tchaikovsky's characters are diverse without flag-waving and virtue signalling. His characters are non-binary and bi and no one bats an eyelid or has to offer pronouns. It just is. True equality and diversity in literature looks like this.
The ending was both brilliant and off-putting because I wasn't sure if I should be rooting for the 'heroes' or if there was an overarching menace that, due to the unreliable narrator, we were just accepting. It made me question how ambivalent we are to possible hi-jacking by alternate life forms whether sentient (bugs/viruses) or even artificial (A.I. and body modification). What does it mean to be truly 100% human?
And on that philosophical nightmare of a question I'm going to read something silly.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this amazing book.

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky is so quintessentially him. You have a xenobiologist protagonist with a revolutionary past in a work camp on an alien planet with strange abandoned ruins. The aliens (or natives I suppose) are the most interesting part of this novel for me, each creature being a symbiotic combination of many others, where the smaller creatures can combine with a variety of others in seemingly endless ways. It provides that fascinating hard sci-fi core that the plot is built around. I was less enamoured with the prison revolutionary elements - although that is more personal preference than a problem with the story. The two elements fit together pretty well, although I felt like the build to the finale didn't quite leave me satisfied. It's a good book, but doesn't quite hit the heights of his other work for me. Worth reading if you are already a fan of Tchaicovsky's sci-fi and want more in the same vein.

A change of scene from the previous Tchaikovsky novels, I have been reading, but no loss of storytelling. Thoroughly enjoyable narrative, with themes of adaption and rebellion.

This is the second book of this author that I've read recently and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The author has a distinctive voice and has a delightful way of making serious topics feel light-hearted and digestible which true of this book.

I really enjoyed the setting. Think Southern reaches trilogy but cosier.

The characters were quite as investible as other work by this author but still a solid effort

A deeply stressful opening scene recalls those first grim episodes of Blake's 7, dissidents transported from Earth to an offworld prison colony, though with none of the Federation's concern for health and safety; the heavy use of the term 'acceptable wastage' reminds us of how even ostensibly democratic governments can lean into the cold equations on this, never mind planetary dictatorships. And while the destination planet, Kiln, is the most hospitable to humans that Earth has yet discovered, that comes with heavy caveats; it's a nightmare of recombining biology, evolution happening in real time, somewhere between Hieronymus Bosch and the Tyranids. There are echoes of other Tchaikovsky works, too, not least in Earth's tyrannical Mandate, whose too-tight uniforms and insistence on a narrow definition of propriety and perfection, to which the facts must be made to conform, leave them clear cousins of the Palleseen Sway. In terms of real-world resonance, well, beyond the politicised science, all that terror of infection by a hostile biosphere feels familiar, not to mention the painfully inadequate protective equipment, and a determination to enforce hierarchy to the extent that punitive treatment of the lower orders is obligatory even as it ultimately makes things worse for those above; the cruelty is the point. The big project on which the Kiln base is working is to find out what became of the mysterious builders who left evidence of advanced life on the planet, then disappeared without trace, and yes, anyone with much SF experience is going to work that out way in advance of the characters. But I think that's deliberate, a way of showing how the Mandate's predetermined conclusions blind everyone to the truth, even the dissident xenoecologist lead who has still to some extent been shaped by them - and by the longer, deeper currents in human thought which led to them, and which even back on Earth have so long blinded us to stuff like the true strangeness of fungi (yes, this is at least adjacent to the recent wave of mycorrhizal genre fictions). Ultimately, the theme is one which could sound trite or even soppy - the different ways of humans acting en masse, top-down monolith or bottom-up and networked, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. But it's worked through with loads of weird monsters and body horror ick, so I think that's OK.

(Netgalley ARC)

Many thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is quickly becoming one of my favourite modern authors. His ability to write in both Fantasy and Science Fiction genres and be skilled in multiple types of narrative perspectives, gives him a range unmatched by most of his contemporaries. Few could match his publication output either - he's probably written another epic during the time I've reviewed this!

Alien Clay is a fascinating first contact story which also leans heavily into dystopia themes. Events follow Professor Arton Daghdev (silent g in the surname) whose scientific leanings do not conform to the ideology of the 'Mandate'. Having non conforming beliefs labels him and many others as dissidents and they are summarily sentenced to hard labour in a prison camp... on a distant planet.

This is very much a prison drama, anyone expecting a sprawling galactic space opera with laser beams and evil empires may find this a bit too slow burning for their taste. This was not a problem for me because Tchaikovsky was able to sow in plenty of mystery elements such as alien ruins with absent builders and a very hostile environment outside of the prison / research facility. Tchaikovsky was also able, through the first person narration of Daghdev to deliver plenty of dry sardonic wit for some levity without straying too far into the playing for laughs territory of Douglas Adams.

The world building and science fiction elements were fantastic and Tchaikovsky really lets his imagination run freely with his descriptions of alien flora and fauna. I particularly liked his removal of the assumption that evolution and survival of the fittest is a universal constant, just think how many aliens in all of science fiction are just bipedal hominids with the addition of green skin or pointy ears and such.

Not too many criticisms to give with this one. There was an odd time skip which was a bit jarring although understandable in order not to reveal a certain plot element until required. I would have liked him to have leaned a bit more into the alien ruins and architecture (exoarchaeology?), perhaps there could have been more clues for the reader to try to figure out along the way.

Would absolutely recommend to any fans of his writing or for those coming from his Fantasy writing and looking to sample his science fiction without committing to a larger Trilogy. Clocking in at just under 400 pages and with a tightly self contained cast of characters and locations, this stand alone novel would be ideal to pick up between heavier reads.

Alien Clay is expected for publication on 28th March 2024.

This book didn't disappoint, I'm a huge fan of Tchaikovsky's previous works. Whilst thrilling and captivating, Alien Clay keeps you guessing and wanting to know more. Highly recommended for Sci-Fi lovers

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Reviewed by Nadya Mercik

A journey into otherness. A tale of confrontation – with the authorities, with the world around you, with yourself. A vibrant alien world steeped in science. And the same old traits of humanity that bring people onto the verge of catastrophe. Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky is another revolutionary adventure on an exoplanet with its own rules and paradigm, which humans try to reshape and make use of.
Arton Dagdev has finally been caught after a year of lying low as a revolutionary. He is sent to one of the Labour camps on an exoplanet. When he arrives, he is lucky to get a good deal. Thanks to his credentials as an ecologist and biologist, he is put into Dig Support. It’s a way down on the career ladder – most of the things he has to do are the level of a lab assistant or a beginning researcher. It is still better than other tasks, though. The Camp Commandant hopes that Arton will help them to solve the mystery of local artifacts – the tall dolmens which have writings on them. The problem is there are no traces of those who could have erected them.
As Daghdev is studying the local biology, which is based on symbiosis, he is invited to join the local Revolutionary Subcommittee. Risking his cosy position, he helps them to stage a coup, which fails. Most of the top leaders are executed, while Dagdev is sent into Excursions – the special teams that go out of the dome to clean the territory around the newly found artifacts. That’s when Arton’s real acquaintance with the local world begins.
The two main premises of the story constantly feed each other. As expected, Alien Clay boasts amazing worldbuilding. We are all familiar with the principle of symbiosis, but Tchaikovsky brings it to the next level and gives it a different scope, which creates a truly alien atmosphere. The constant attempts of the scientists to classify the local critters and their search for the Kiln man in accordance with Mandate's vision only accentuate the otherness and human troubles accepting it.
The revolutionary arc gives us a whole bunch of flawed and conflicted characters – they might not be that likeable, but sooner or later you get to empathise with them. Back on Earth, and on Kiln people are fighting against the Mandate – the authorities who separate everything into black and white, acceptable and unacceptable. Be it a desire to improve working conditions, or an unprecedented scientific view, the Mandate is going to prune it out. The premise works especially well with science, which can’t be limited to one paradigm as long as it keeps looking for truths. I loved how it epitomized in the scene where the lead Scientist presents an approximation of the Kiln Man, because they have to show some progress in their findings. And what they give looks like a caricature – a satirical way of thinking of an alien and as a result of the Mandate.
The plot of the story is tight and well-constructed. There are revelations and twists about the characters and the planet. But, in my opinion, the strong point of the story is its analysis of and pondering on human nature. What is it to be human? How does it feel to face a huge world and be a solitary sand grain in it? How do you cut the corners? How do you encompass it all? How do you stay yourself? What direction do you move in? It’s about openness fighting the survival instinct. The eternal questions made into a story of revolution and cognition.

Description:
Professor Arton Daghdev has pissed off the Mandate, totalitarian regime ruling over humanity, and gotten himself exiled to Kiln, an inhospitable alien world. When he arrives, he's put to work trying to unravel the secrets of Kiln's life-forms, and some mysterious ruins, alongside other former would-be revolutionaries.

Liked:
Likeable, flawed, smart humans. No pulled punches and no plot armour. An engaging and original setting, with enough to set the dystopian stage without masses of exposition about the current state of the earth. A fair few moments to keep you guessing, and a wry narrator who's not exactly unreliable, but is also prepared to pull a few tricks to keep things fresh.

Disliked:
There's a moment when the narrator eschews chronology that I think would have worked better if he were being less smart (trying not to spoil anything, here!). The actual creation of the writing on the ruins could perhaps have been delved into in more detail; by the end I knew why and what the writing was doing, but not quite how it was created or read.

Would recommend, particularly if you have enjoyed his other work.

Anything Else:
I’ve read three Tchaikovsky books now: this one, Children of Time and House of Open Wounds. All are quite different but all wound up having quite a similar theme/resolution. I don’t want to spoil anything here, but I’m interested if others have the same feeling - particularly if you’ve read books of his other than these three! Send me a message if you’ve noticed the same thing?

Like with all Tchaikovsky books, I liked the premise so much but the execution fell a bit flat for me, unfortunately.

This was my first encounter with this author’s work and as a fan of science fiction I found it fascinating. It’s a well-paced tale that draws you in with a multitude of questions that must be answered, and by the end of the book, they are, although it feels like a slow and subtle reveal and there are no, big, ‘aha’ moments. Tchaikovsky leads you by the hand, allowing you to uncover the solutions yourself before pretty much confirming what you’ve already concluded. As such, there’s no great build of tension, or big reveal; you’re more left with a philosophical question and the overriding feeling that the most frightening thing about Arton’s experience on Kiln is the nature of the human’s he’s incarcerated with and fear itself. Which honestly, given our understanding of human nature, is no big surprise.
Thanks to NetGalley and PanMacmillan Tor for the chance to read an ARC.

Opening with a bewildering and exciting planetfall in which snatches of memories come back to main character Professor Arton Daghdev, Alien Clay is taking no prisoners (somewhat ironically). “Dropping you into the action” doesn’t get much more literal than this, with characters whose names we’ve only just read in the dramatis personae offed dispassionately, Tchaikovsky making clear early on that Daghdev and his fellow prisoner’s lives are worth little in the eyes of the Mandate.

Those who are familiar with Tchaikovsky’s work will doubtless have noted some common themes recurring here; the Mandate, for example, have more than a little in common with the perfection-obsessed Palleseen of City of Last Chances, both rigid authoritarian regimes that provoke rebellion from the principal characters. Here, however, we get a much more focussed view of the rebellion, as everything is shown from the perspective of Daghdev rather than a sprawling list of players. As rebellion-centric as Tchaikovsky’s work sometimes is, it can’t be said that he’s just going over the same ground, as he’s always finding new angles to come at these subjects from. And, of course, there are the unique worlds he creates to set these revolutions on.

And what a wonderful world Kiln is. Little more than a stay of execution for most inmates, its persistent ecosystem wants nothing more than to find its way inside them and get comfortable, with predictably unpleasant results for them. Its wildlife are chimeric hybrids, composite creatures formed of a number of unique and highly specialised individual organisms working together. It’s chop-shop biology, essentially, and it’s this more than anything else that makes Alien Clay really unique. It’s brilliantly constructed world building at almost a cellular level, resulting in something which feels genuinely alien. Curiosity at what combination of mouths, eyes and tentacles Tchaikovsky is going to come up with next is almost enough to keep readers turning the pages by itself.

On top of all this though is the mystery of just who built the ruins dotting the surface of Kiln. Daghdev is perfectly placed to solve this mystery, his background as a xeno-ecologist meaning he is more capable than anyone else on the planet of providing some insight into the identities of the vanished builders. He’ll need help on the way though, in the form of a memorable supporting cast. There’s Primatt, leader of the bioscience team, walking the tightrope between the Mandate’s orthodoxy and unfettered science - or unorthodoxy - with increasing difficulty, the straitjacket beliefs of the regime rendering meaningful discovery challenging, if not downright impossible. Then there’s Keev, leader of one squad of the misleadingly jauntily named “Excursions.” They’re charged with heading off into the wilderness of Kiln to clear newly discovered ruins, a job with a staggeringly low life expectancy, justifying his grizzled and pragmatic attitude. Essentially, it’s as colourful and likeable a cast of characters as Tchaikovsky has ever assembled.

Even if some of its later revelations aren’t quite as dramatic as some might expect, this hardly detracts from another memorable and enjoyable story from a rightly revered master of genre fiction. This is a cautionary tale of lurking authoritarianism, as winningly and witheringly satirical as ever, with worldbuilding par excellence. It’s consistently thought-provoking too, and is sure to satisfy existing fans and attract plenty of new ones.

Another masterpiece from Tchaikovsky, transporting us to a world where all is not quite what it seems. Those who are sent there are either seeking answers or simply trying to survive. Thank you for this title.