My Goodreads review of ‘Alien Clay’

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Because this novel won’t be available in the United States until September, a fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky in Britain sent me a copy of the book, knowing that I’m a fan, too.

In Alien Clay, Tchaikovsky creates a world so hostile and hungry that no one wants to explore it. Instead, Earth sends convicts to work as forced prison labor, including Arton Daghdev, a scientist who has no use for orthodoxy. At some point, a life-form on the planet had created buildings and writing. Where did those intelligent beings go?

The story moves fast and in a direction that allows for exploration of the philosophy of life and life forms, which Tchaikovsky does especially well. Answers emerge as to what kind of life could thrive in the planet’s continual chaos, and what that kind of life will do to humans if it gets the chance. In the last two pages, the book takes a turn that is logical, reasonable, and very creepy.

Thank you to the mutual fan who sent this! I enjoyed it immensely and now find myself asking a lot of “what if” questions: What if this kind of biology worked with the life-forms I encounter here on Earth?



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