Description

Alien Clay is a thrilling far-future adventure by acclaimed Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky.

‘An intriguing puzzle with plenty of thrills’ – The Guardian

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

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 . . .

‘A warning for a future we don’t want . . . Highly recommended’ – Tade Thompson

‘Unputdownable. Adrian Tchaikovsky is fast becoming the voice of his generation in British SF’ – Stephen Baxter

‘One of our finest writers of SF right now . . . an excellent story told with Adrian’s trademark skill and flair’ – James Oswald

Publisher Review

An interplanetary-scale, hyper-Orwellian stew of malignant academia . . . The regularity with which Tchaikovsky delivers great books is astounding. Highly recommended — Tade Thompson, author of Rosewater Alien Clay is convincing, compelling on human and cosmic levels, and unputdownable. With work like this, Adrian Tchaikovsky is fast becoming the voice of his generation in British SF — Stephen Baxter, author of Proxima The central concept unravels itself in a manner that is both deeply satisfying and not at all predictable. He truly is one of our finest writers of SF right now. The whole was an excellent story told with Adrian’s trademark skill and flair — James Oswald, author of the Inspector McLean series A hell prison on a hell planet with a thrilling, important message: only connect. Adrian’s firing on all cylinders in this one — Ian McDonald, author of New Moon Adrian Tchaikovsky: king of the spiders, master world-builder and asker of intriguing questions. His books are packed with thought-provoking ideas (as well as lots of spiders; did I mention the spiders?). One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction — Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon on Shards of Earth [Adrian Tchaikovsky] writes incredibly enjoyable sci-fi, full of life and ideas — Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls A thoughtful, sweeping space adventure — SFX Magazine on Shards of Earth