[Book Review] Alien Clay — Adrian Tchaikovsky
In the Biological Kiln of Outer Apace, Are We the Seed of Tomorrow?
In the latest addition to Adrian Tchaikovsky’s massive SFF catalog, is the SciFi standalone, Alien Clay: a journey into what makes us human, a human community, and how the more you stifle the growth of thought, the stronger it will bloom!
This quick-read standalone narrates the story of ecobiologist Artom Daghdev as he his exiled to the prison planet, nicknamed Kiln, to help understand the advent of alien life on the planet as well as discover the secrets of human-like ruins, all while suffering under the boot of the authoritarian Mandate.
As with most of Tchaikovsky’s standalone novels, Alien Kiln is the result of two major themes/tropes that intertwine and clash with each other to form the central backbone of the conflict of the narrative. In this case, it is the sci-fi trope of human wonder as we discover alien life on a new planet, smashed against the dystopian bleakness of a gaol, both physical and mental personified by the thought and research-policing Mandate. The struggle of understanding the mysteries of Kiln, all while suffering the tedium of indentured servitude, forms the central premise of Alien Clay.
This struggle is told through the eyes of Daghdev, an intellectual dissident, fermenting academic rebellion on Mandate controlled Earth, inevitably being arrested and being exiled upon a prison barge to the prison-cum-research-facility that is the planet Kiln. While on Kiln, he suffers his fall from grace not only from his vaunted academic perch, while also trying to adapt to the indignities of being common prison slave labor.
The other primary character is the major antagonist, the prison warden and Mandate representative Terolan. Terolan is colored to be his own brand of scientist pursuing the secrets of Kiln while fanatically maintaining his Mandate brainwashing, simultaneously prodding and stifling the progress accrued by Daghdev and his compatriots. Terolan started off as an interesting sketch of character conflict, but sadly devolved into a more one-dimensional villainous warden towards the end of the story. The other characters include the indomitable yet resigned Chief of Excursions, Keev, the disgraced Science officer Primat, as well as a smattering of other characters to fill out Daghdev’s excursion team as well as fellow rebels back at the Kiln base.
There are several thematic parallels between Alien Clay and other exploration first-contact novels, as well as heavy influences drawn from 1984 being echoed in the Mandate, as well as something like Shawshank Redemption for much of the humdrum slow-death of prison life. Make no mistake, this is still at its very base a first-contact novel, so expect a lot of visceral body horror. Tchaikovsky expertly blends the horrors of an alien world with the banal terror of humans holding power over other humans. Again, the mirror of facing a hostile world outside and a hostile prison environment within the “prison” walls is a fantastic centerpiece that makes Alien Clay worth recommending.
While there is much to celebrate in Tchaikovsky’s latest offering, there are a few things that hold Alien Clay from being one of the greats. In keeping with many of my complaints of his standalones, Tchaikovsky continues to vex me with his floundering third acts. While he expertly crafts tension past the halfway mark, establishing the main motivation of the protagonists and the threat of climactic conflict that would crescendo in a rewarding conclusion, the immediate sections that follow tend to dawdle and get “lost in its own sauce”. It is in these chapters that, admittedly one of my favorite authors, begins to lean too hard into his metaphysical commentary, often reading less enjoyably and coming off as more of a chore to get through. Many of the philosophical conundrums plaguing Daghdev as he adapts to his new place on Kiln as he wrestles with his final conflict with the antagonist Terolan, become less serving to the pacing of the story and works against the momentum generated by a near-perfect second act. Perhaps this is a metaphor of Daghdev’s descent into his own mental symbiosis with the planet, but the slow plodding of his thoughts is meandering and I found myself skimming more than a couple of pages to get back to the meat and potatoes of the story.
My last qualm is more of a personal one: the tone set by Daghdev as he narrates the tale on Kiln as well as his reminiscences of his earlier dissident life on Earth is one filled with sardonic irony and forced levity. While there are instances that his gallows humor serves as a jarring but necessary contradiction to the bleakness of his circumstance, these are few and far between and I found his narrative tone to be quickly grating. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your tilt), this tone also undergoes evolution as he “adapts” to his new life on Kiln veering away from heavy handed irony towards philosophical argument and eventually into peaceful acceptance.
Alien Clay is yet another great addition to the Tchaikovsky catalog for fans of first-contact novels with an anti-authoritarian spin. I can only wonder which other themes and tropes this mastermind will bake together in the kiln of his mind in the future.
