Alien Clay is a really interesting mix of sci-fi, dystopian and a tiny sprinkle of horror. We have an alien planet, Kiln, that acts as a prison for people who go against the Mandate which is essentially an all powerful government. Most of the prisoners are political dissidents giving this a very dystopian feel!

The world building is great and we get a real insight into how the system works and how corrupt it is. The Mandate basically wants to prove that humans are the optimal species and how life is meant to be. The descriptions of Kiln make us feel like we are really there and we can really see that this is a world very much unlike Earth.

The characters are all pretty interesting people and I like all the interactions between them. I really loved the writing style, it's easy to get hooked. This is my first full length Tchaikovsky novel and it has such a different more serious voice than the novellas!

Overall this is such a unique concept that was well executed.

Tchaikovsky cemented his status of deranged visionary genius in my list of modern sci-fi writers. While Alien Clay's premise is slightly derivative, execution is still on point with an engaging and witty narrative voice (à la Martian) carrying the story to a satisfying conclusion.
Only downsides for me were a lot of repetition (not sure why he found it necessary to restate how biology and species worked on the planet so many times) and an overly on-the-nose moral message towards the end that I found a bit unnecessary. 8/10

Science as those of us from the Science Fiction reading community is cool, noble, and hopeful. We love it. But science in our actual world has had a more mixed history. Science can be seen as political and has been used by those in powerful to bring them prestige, authority, and validation. The Race to the Moon or the Bomb shows that uneasy balancing act and when science runs counter to those in power’s worldview then suddenly the knives rather than scalpels will be sharpened. In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s fascinating novel Alien Clay, we have this conflict explored with added commentary on the power and problems of revolution.

The Madate had controlled Earth for over 90 years. Its tight grip on the population now covers not just Earth but has spread out to the three planets felt capable of some form of alien life. But The Madate’s use of science doesn’t spread to the usual orthodox means of exploration. They send to these far off and dangerous worlds the people that the Mandate view as its enemies to never be seen again – criminals, revolutionaries, unionists, and scientists who have not done what was expected of them. One key area of investigation is the planet Kiln which has a vibrant, deadly, and chaotic ecosystem of flora and fauna but also incredibly strange ruins of a vanished civilisation and possibly even remains of a language to translate. Arriving at the prison camp for investigating this is former Professor and dissident now prisoner Arton Daghdev. He finds himself with the attention of a Commandant who wants science to prove his own theories; Daghdev also has former resistance allies viewing him with suspicion while their own plans are prepared and most of all that Kiln itself holds dangers and revelations for everyone.

This is a really interesting and engrossing tale that in keeping with its themes explores an amalgamation of familiar plotlines; but nothing quite goes the way we expect it to. The mysterious alien planet with secrets to explore is a staple of the genre but here it’s also a prison camp of exiled scientists trying to find the answers. But it’s also not pure science as we usually find. Here the Commandant expects the Mandate’s view of reality to be proven and no other answers will be tolerated. Tchaikovsky plays with the idea that often science and politics (particularly dictatorships) want science to prove their view of the world cementing their position in the universe; on earth this has often been regards some form of racial superiority but Tchaikovsky has the idea that when we encounter the idea of alien life that it moves to a belief that humanity (and by definition the Mandate) need to be shown to be the heirs to the universe that all other life must look up to. It’s the next incarnation of Intelligent Design and we get our scientist prisoners dressed up for dinner parties for their Commandant but only his own theories must be explored or else demotion and likely death will occur.

This opens a debate on the morality of scientists – will they put their scientific purity above their desire to live? Our narrator is Daghdev and he definitely is not the revolutionary hero planning to lead people to the next renaissance. Daghdev is a fascinating grumpy and cynical character. He dislikes on principle the Mandate’s way of doing things; has skirted around the resistance groups and now finds himself pretty much dumped out of the world he knew. From a terrifying start to the novel as he awakens from a cryo-freezing then dropped from space onto an alien planet with only 80% survival rates we are soon in a prison drama - this may explain his grumpy nature. But he’s more complex and we find he too has plans. It’s a capricious political system that punishes hard those out of line but also we find threads of resistance, in the first two parts of the book we get the bravery of those who resist and the problems of resistance. Daghdev doesn’t trust anyone and many think he too is a traitor that likely got them imprisoned. The all seeing Commandant above them likes to foster division - some groups valued more than others; some people get special duties and it’s all a cleverly designed political ecosystem to keep control. Tchaikovsky in this book explores how that works and then has an interesting angle on the solution. Daghdev’s voice makes it work with gallows humour, snobbery and mild paranoia to make you feel how dangerous the camp is.

This brings us to Kiln a hotbed of alien life. As always with Tchaikovsky’s work it uses some biological ideas and then runs with them to dramatic effect. From its yellow-blue-black sky to mysterious black flowers this does not feel Earth like at all. It’s a massively invasive system that exposure to could soon see your body growing, carrying and releasing alien growths and yet it’s highly inventive here Kiln is a melting pot of symbiosis as various creatures join forces to create ever more powerful creatures. One gets described as an Elephant but with mantis legs; tardigrade limbs and 12 feet tall and extremely deadly. It’s another way of threatening and punishing the prisoners but it raises the question what happened to those who built the ruins - how did they survive in such a deadly world?

The final third of the book has Daghdev very much dropped in it and here Tchaikovsky knits brilliantly a finale of body horror; biological wonder and revolution with a beguilingly different way of looking at the world. Fear and empathy get explored politically but also biologically with a set up that brings all these elements together and manages to be both empowering and yet troubling at the same time. the metaphors of Kiln and Clay make you wonder exactly what happens next.

Alien Clay is thoughtful Science Fiction at its best giving us wonder; new ways of looking at the world but also wider commentaries on science, political control and puts evolution into the concept of revolution. The kind of book that will make you consider the world ina different way long after reading it like all the best science fiction does. Strongly recommended!

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s writing not only encompasses an impressive range of subjects and sub-genres within SFF – his stories also vary in tone between the angry savagery of City of Last Chances and the mordant humour running through Spiderlight. I loved the sound of this premise, as Tchaikovsky’s aliens are always interestingly different and was hoping for something with a bit of wry humour, given my current mood.

As luck would have it – I was in for a solid treat. This tale is told in first-person viewpoint by Professor Arton Daghdev, an academic specialist in xenobiology and environmental systems. He is also an outspoken critic of the Mandate, the political orthodoxy running all humanspace. And while there were plenty of disappearances and arrests, he was under the impression that those academics speaking out against the ideas underpinning the Mandate were being given a free pass. They weren’t. They were being given sufficient leeway to thoroughly incriminate themselves. Hence he’s ended up on a penal colony thirty light-years away from Earth with no prospect of returning.

I was thoroughly on Arton’s side from the opening paragraph – his disgust at the situation he’s found himself in, his dark humour, his searing honesty about his own weaknesses and fears were both poignant and endearing. It was a nice change – often Tchaikovsky’s protagonists aren’t all that likeable. It didn’t hurt that the book started with a bang, as Arton wakes up while the ship is disintegrating around him. And from then on, the tension doesn’t let up. The prisoners’ lives are horribly cheap – after all, there will be a new consignment of victims being ejected into the atmosphere in due course.

Arton gives us a ringside seat into his life as a prisoner on the one planet, other than Earth, with proven intelligent life. Life that has simply disappeared, after leaving unmistakeable traces of their existence in the form of buildings covered with writing. And Arton is on the team to try to figure out what the signs are saying. He has his doubts regarding the whole exercise – and being Arton, doesn’t bother to keep his views to himself. Which gets him into a packet of trouble in a place where that sort of bother can easily kill you…

I loved the tale, tearing through the 400-page book in two days as I was desperate to discover what would happen next. Tchaikovsky doesn’t do predictable plots. And this one has one doozy of a twist that has me now thinking about the very clever way he’s flipped this whole sub-genre on its head. With me thoroughly rooting for Arton. This story is every bit as compelling as Children of Time and Spiderlight – two of Tchaikovsky’s best works in my opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised if he garnered yet another award for this one. Whatever awesomeness is waiting in the wings during the rest of the year – I’ll eat my keyboard if this one doesn’t make My Outstanding Reads of the Year 2024. Very, very highly recommended. While I obtained an arc of Alien Clay from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

This is my first book by this author and, on the face of what I read, it won't be the last! In fact, I already have a few more lined up. That said, this book was also a game of three thirds for me... A strong start that I really enjoyed, getting into the new world he was building and the characters I met along the way. We also had a strong finish which wholly satisfied me. And also rewarded me for my persistence through the middle section which sadly for me did drag on a bit.
We start with a prison ship arriving at Kiln, a distant world, spewing its passengers out in a method that doesn't guarantee life. Luckily, our main protagonist, Prof. Arton Daghdev, does survive the disembarkation, although maybe that's not as good a thing given the labour camp that awaits him.
And so begins a kinda first contact story that introduces our Prof to a whole host of interesting and intriguing alien life forms, the like of which he could only imagine and still can't believe even given the evidence of his own eyes...
As I already said, this book has a strong start for me. The world building was intricate and exact and I followed avidly what was going on. I especially loved the descriptions of the blossoming and ever changing ecosystem. I also connected to the Prof right away, which I think helped me going forward. He was definitely a bit of a fish out of water, an academic who had been downgraded to manual work. I bet when he was wishing he could really study alien life up close, he really wasn't expecting THIS close! But then he did go off script in his political activism, pitting wits against the indomitable Mandate, who I will leave you to learn about yourself.
Pacing was hit and miss for me - the middle third dragged a tad - but, that said, the peril stakes were high all the way through. Ramping up towards an ending that completely justified my working my way through that middle section.
All in all, a good introduction to an author that I now have my sights on. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I love reading all kinds of genre and I craved reading a good SF book and I think I finally satisfied that craving but also opened a different kind of crave where I want to read more and more SF books. Adrian Tchaikovsky reminded me why I used to love this genre and why I shouldn't forget it.
Alien Clay talks about exile, dealing with a new world, betrayals and more. I enjoyed the descriptive words of the world where our main protagonist arrives, it helped imagining it in full details
Now, I have to go and check all the other author's books.

I loved this because it brings together lots of what I've been reading in popular science with a political thriller. Interesting on how our perspective on the natural world informs our view of society, and vice versa. So many clever ideas - and a great story too!

Yet another creative intervention from Adrian Tchaikovsky, who has created another new world to base his fantastic characters and dramatic events within. This author is always incredibly adept at creating new universes, races and worlds and manages to weave such intricate stories throughout all key elements, never to the impairment of the book.
This book is engaging and enjoyable throughout, allowing the reader to join such a unique world and scenario and be entertained throughout. The proposed science isn't overwhelming and as such the plot races on at a pace. This author never disappoints but always creates something so unique and enjoyable. I'm very grateful to the publisher in allowing me the opportunity to read this.

"Kiln doesn't do death like Earth does. Kiln does life."

As expected from Adrian Tchaikovsky the world is exceptionally well thought of and the people living in it are exposed to various hardships. But what the people left behind on earth sounded grim and desolate as well. I felt the oppression through the pages.
Fascinating concept and amazing imagery.

"Start with a wakening, end with an awakening."

If 1984 were solved by an alien not quite hive mind. Empathy solves all. Genuinely enjoyable if at times frustrating due to characters having knowledge the reader lacks, though thankfully the solution to the main mystery was foreshadowed.

Im not sure what made me reach for this book as I didn’t really get the title initially but the first couple of pages are gripping.,The exposition is precise, succinct and gets you in the picture very quickly wasting no time.
Earth is ruled by the totalitarian group, the Mandate who keep the news that there is sentient life on other planets from the citizens of earth .The story follows one citizen who after speaking out against the mandate, is sentenced to transportation to a planet, which has recently been discovered and needs investigation and settling
I loved the biology on the planet with multiple small organisms joining together to become part of larger and more effective being. The elephants amused me, particularly the scene when one of its legs eats one of the humans.
I did find that the story loses its fast pace, a little bit about 2/3 of the way through when the narrator starts to become linked up with the other organised organisms on the planet. I was intrigued to see what happens however so carried on reading, and I’m glad that I did .
This is intelligent, witty sci-fi. The author has a clean, clear, enjoyable to read, writing style..
The setting of the novel in a newly discovered world is highly cinematic, and Visual, and I couldn’t help thinking that this would make a great film, the ability of all the humans to communicate with each other telepathically once they had been contaminated by organisms from the New World would work very well in a film , in novel form, it did take quite a lot of explaining to understand this..

I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley, UK the book is published in the UK on the 20th of March 2024 by Pan McMillan
This review will appear on NetGalley, UK, Goodreads, and my book blog, bionicSarahSbooks. wordPress,.com. After publication, it will also appear on Amazon, UK.

4.5 stars

Headlines:
Creep flora and fauna
Colonists and colonisers
Quiet anarchy

Alien Clay grabbed me by the yellow and blue imagination so quickly and this read dominated my week. I've thought about it when I wasn't reading it, I've even dreamt about it once. The story was vivid in its wordly description of Kiln; a wild place, full of life, life humans could not comprehend. Don't expect aliens in ships, alien life was quite different here.

The story centred on a professor (Arton) banished from earth with many peers to serve as a labourer on this planet for revolutionary behaviour. What was so interesting was that this rebellion to earthly societal beliefs followed those rebels to Kiln. Kiln as a planet creeped me out at the start and while that creep didn't disappear, I settled into the natives of Kiln as I understood them more. I didn't expect the plot direction, the big whos and whys that we got, but it was unexpectedly good as it was revealed.

The story cleverly brings readers to question the idea of colonising a planet with echoes of colonisation we've seen on earth. The ending, was hella uncomfortable and a part revenge story. That's not really a spoiler, you will have no idea what I'm talking about, unless you've actually read this book.

How the oppressed labourers of Kiln interacted with their superiors and how they found their strength was really interesting. One part of the book I loved especially was how Tchaikovsky took a retrospective look at the march across Kiln so the reader could later understand how events played out.

I've been meaning to read Adrian Tchaikovsky for ages and I think this was the perfect book for me to start with. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, characters and writing.

Thank you to Tor Books for the review copy.

Sentenced to a life of penal labour on one of Earth's exoplanets, a death sentence in all but name, xenoecologist Arton Daghdev finds himself on the planet Kiln.

Much of my previous experience of Adrian Tchaikovsky's work is his shorter novellas and Alien Clay could have benefited from being a similar length.

The narrative is flabby with lengthy periods in which nothing of real note happens and while the major characters are fully developed the minor ones are little more than ciphers.

Tchaikovsky's great strength here is his world building. Kiln is arguably the largest character, its archaeology, ecology and biology are weirdly unique and it's this that raises Alien Clay above the average.

Thanks to Tor, Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

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.