I’m a fan of Tchaikovsky’s writing. His science fiction and fantasy novels and novellas can take readers in all sorts of interesting places as no one writing SFF now writes with such flexibility and range. As an example of what I’m talking about, just browse through some of my previous reviews of his work – the Children of Time series, – Children of Time, Children of Ruin and Children of Memory – the Echoes of the Fall series The Tiger and the Wolf, The Bear and the Serpent, The Hyena and the Hawk – Redemption’s Blade: After the War, Guns of Dawn, The Expert System’s Brother , The Expert System’s Champion, Spiderlight, Ironclads, Dogs of War, Bear Head, The Doors of Eden, Firewalkers, Ogres, And Put Away Childish Things, City of Last Chances, One Day All This Will be Yours, the Architects of Earth series – Shards of Earth, Eyes of the Void and Lords of Uncreation.
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.
Kiln boasts a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem like nothing seen on Earth. The monstrous alien life interacts in surprising, sometimes shocking ways with the human body, so Arton will risk death on a daily basis. However, the camp’s oppressive regime might just kill him first. If Arton can somehow escape both fates, the world of Kiln holds a wondrous, terrible secret. It will redefine life and intelligence as he knows it, and might just set him free . . .
REVIEW: 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
Brainfluff 
This sounds like a rollercoaster of a story! Sometimes, considering the sheer number of books this author releases on any given year, the suspicion that he might be sacrificing quality to quantity darkens my thoughts, but your review – and your rating – made me very optimistic about this story.
Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
You’re welcome, Maddalena. And despite his output, the quality of his writing always remains high. That doesn’t mean I always particularly chime with what he’s trying to do – or that he’s always wholly successful. But he is always pushing the envelope and when he gets it right, nobody does it better:).
This is one of those authors I hear about books that sound really good, hear amazing things about them from people who have read them, but somehow, keep missing the boat as far as reading them
There’s plenty to choose from – and his style and approach also vary, so there’s generally something in his output that suits everyone:).
Wonderful review! I need to read this, especially since you say it’s as good as Children of Time😁
I really think it is… I fell in love with dear old Arton right at the start of the book and my affection for him only increased as the story progressed.
Oo, high praise! Alien Clay sounds awesome!
I absolutely loved it, Priscilla:).