Alien Clay

By: Tchaikovsky, Adrian

Book Overview

"A staggering, alien vision of deepest solidarity." - Esquire, Best of the Year.

From Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky comes a far-future epic that confirms his place as a modern master of science fiction, in which a political prisoner must unlock the secrets of a strange and dangerous planet.

The planet of Kiln is where the tyrannical Mandate keeps its prison colony, and for inmates, the journey there is always a one-way trip. One such prisoner is Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident. Soon after arrival, he discovers that Kiln has a secret. Humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there.

In the midst of a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go? If he can survive both the harsh rule of the camp commandant and the alien horrors of the world around him, then Arton has a chance at making a discovery that might just transform not only Kiln, but distant Earth as well.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316578975
• ISBN13: 9780316578974
• Release Date: September 2024
• Publisher: Orbit
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Very interesting story!

This was a very interesting take on alien life on alien worlds compared to earth life style. The sheer bizarre differences between the strictly controlled Mandate way of life from which Arton and other dissenters/subversives are sent on a one way trip to Kiln which is teeming with symbiosis of everything makes for a cool thinking story that is hard to put down. Especially after the enlightening march back to the camp that Arton and the others take when their flier is destroyed out on an excursion. Tchaikovsky’s books I have come to realize are quite the psychological journey as well as a science fiction novel. A bit heavy at times but they do get you thinking in ways that might not naturally occur. This was a good read and well done!