Review - Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

 

 

 Title: Alien Clay

Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Pages: 396

Publisher: Tor

Release Date: 28th March 2024

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 They travelled into the unknown and left themselves behind...

Alien Clay is a thrilling tale of alien encounter – from the acclaimed Arthur C. Clarke Award-winner Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Professor Arton Daghdev has always wanted to study alien life in person. But when his political activism sees him exiled to the planet Kiln, condemned to work under an unfamiliar sky until he dies, his idealistic wish becomes a terrible reality.

Kiln boasts a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem. Its monstrous alien life means Arton will risk death on a daily basis – if the camp’s oppressive regime doesn’t kill him first. But, if he survives, Kiln’s lost civilization holds a wondrous, terrible secret. It will redefine life and intelligence as he knows it – and might just set him free.

 

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My Review: 

 *I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan*

-DNF @55% -

Professor Arton Daghdev has been sentenced to a one-way trip to the deadly planet Kiln because of his political views.
Working in the labour camp on Kiln, Arton studies the unusual alien life and ruins, which is unlike anything he has ever seen before.
Life in the camp is harsh, and Arton soon finds himself falling back into old ways and joining with others to form a revolutionary group.
Can Arton survive life on Kiln?

I had never read a book by this author before, but I'd heard good things about their previous novels. As a sci-fi fan, I was keen to give this a try, but ended up being disappointed, unfortunately.
Arton was a mixed protagonist for me - I felt sorry for him ending up in a labour camp on Kiln, but I felt that he could have been more fleshed out, and that I didn't really know much about him as a person.
The world of Kiln was interesting and the life there.
I found the plot to be very slow and I struggled to stay invested or interested in what was happening. The writing style didn't help with this, and I ended up deciding not to continue reading.

Unfortunately, this ended up not being for me.