Fiction Reviews
Alien Clay
(2024) Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tor, £10.99, pbk, 388pp, ISBN 978-1-035-01376-0
Professor Anton Daghdev is a rebel against the totalitarian Mandate. If only he had not spoken out against the Mandate, if only he had stuck to studying exobiology, or the (ahem) somewhat dated term 'xeno-ecology' as the novel has it. But he hadn't and the Mandate decided to send him to the penal world of Kiln
And so, with the book's opening page we find Anton awaking from a 30-year sleep with his star-barge dis-assembling around him and his fellow convicts as his (and their) pod(s) begin their individual drop to the surface of Imno 27g. A straight-to-the-point action start worthy of a Ken Bulmer opening page.
It also transpires that Anton has come to the attention of the penal colony's commandant because Imno 27g has an ecology of multicellular species that the colony is studying and so Anton is put to work as a technician on the science team. Complex (multicellular) life is very rare and Imno 27g biosphere is a puzzle: the biology is very different to Earth's and there is an awful lot of symbiosis going on with species partnering with numerous other species.
And then there are the ruins, now covered with the analogue equivalent of vines, but beneath these are carved symbols. However, it is not known who built these artefacts that seem to date to only a few thousand years ago (which is nothing in geological terms) and there are no remains of any putative, now-extinct builder species. Yet, the Mandate view of science is that the builders must have been vaguely human-like: at least upright, with a pair of arms and legs. And the colony's commandant is very much a Mandate man.
And of course there are Anton's fellow convicts who chaff at the guards' rule and who know that one day they will die as though Imno 27g biology is largely incompatible with Earth's, it can kill you if are 'infected' and not treated quickly: the penal colony is effectively under siege (now where have I come across that before?).
Alien Clay is largely told in three acts. We get the afore set up. Then there is a convict rebellion attempt, and finally a field trip (of sorts). The first act pushes a lot of Sfnal buttons what with the space travel, brief peeks behind the scenes at the dystopic Mandate, and the whole alien set up on Imno 27g. The second act is basically the playbook to be found in many a gulag novel. The third returns us to SFnal territory with gusto.
As with Tchaikovsky's other recent exobiology novel (or xenobiology as the author would have it), Shroud, there is some interesting world-building going on though it has to be said don't look to closely and if you, yourself, are a biologist. Suffice to say, if you are into ecology (the real deal science and not the hippy-dippy stuff) then don't let the concept of refugia come to mind.
Having said that and given science has no knowledge of real-life exobiology Tchaikovsky makes a fair fist of Imno 27g's, oh so alien, biology. Here Tchaikovsky does well, the 'less said is more' comes to the fore and we are repeatedly told that it is alien and perplexing but and mentioned earlier with a lot of symbiosis in the mix. Here, seasoned SF readers might pick up on there being a plot allegory going on?
I was particularly taken with the penal colony commander's view of science through the Mandate's ideological prism. This very much reminded me of the real life biologist, Trofim Lysenko, who in the early 20th century Soviet Union a time that saw literally thousands of biologists imprisoned as part of a general assault on science come up with his own theory of evolution (that was a denial of Darwinsim) as a better political fit and which has counterparts in AIDS, climate change, CoVID, etc. scepticism. Including mentions of such would have elevated the book, from being a great SF romp, to one with added socio-political relevance. (Indeed, since the book's publication, we have yet another example of political fake facts with President Trump buying into the Putin narrative that Ukraine instigated the 2022 invasion of its country ! State control of belief is still very much a thing.)
And then at the novel's, non-refugia related, climax there is what Jerry Pournelle called an 'It rained on Mongo' pivotal moment.
Now, as disappointing as this last was, it came near the novel's end but such is the strength of the story and the way we are carried along by both the drama and sense-of-wonder, that this does not undermine the enjoyment of what is, at the end of the day, a cracking tale: this is a book that will sell to Tchaikovsky fans and likely will attract him new readers too.
Having said this and I have recently opined this in a couple of other Tchaikovsky reviews it might be an idea if the author allowed more time before submitting his stories. Books, once drafted, arguably need a little time to settle and for the author to re-visit them after a few months with fresh eyes. Leaving aside the 'refugia' question and 'Mongo' moment, from the off I was a little knocked off balance with part of the set-up. We are told that the journey from Imno 27g took 30 years, which means that the ship taking the convicts at the very most was travelling at near light speed. If that was the case the Einstein's special relativity and here time dilation would be extreme the journey would to the travellers seem to take almost no time at all, hence there would be no need to suspend (freeze dry or whatever) the convicts.
Conversely, assuming it was travelling slower than light but still taking it over 30 years, then Imno 27g must be closer than 30 light years to Earth, in which case why wasn't there radio communication? (Given that the former planetary radar at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, could communicate with a mutually targeted twin at some 300 light years away less than 30 light years should be a doddle.) As a die-hard SF reader into science, these things niggle me.
Fair enough the author does not have a background in science, but many possibly most(?) SF readers do. Further, today a greater proportion of the public has at least a good school-level understanding of science. The days when you can write a book about an ocean-less, largely hot and sandy world inhabited by huge creatures and seriously consider that a working ecology are gone (sorry fans of Dune: it may be a great story of socio-political intrigue but an 'ecological' novel it ain't, though half a century ago it was hailed as such, albeit by folk without any ecological science training). Today, SF authors need to be aware of the science in their fiction and do their best to get the science right as far as possible given the constraints of any of the SFnal plot's conceits, and then wrap their story around that. Tchaikovsky has been highly productive: I think he has had published four novels and a couple of novelettes in the year (2024). So I don't think I am being unkind in suggesting that he pause and reflect with fresh eyes before final submission; this can only serve to improve his work.
Not withstanding this, such is the Tchaikovsky's story-telling strength and Alien Clay's overall plot development and eventual arc, that it quickly imparts considerable momentum to the reader who will then barrel through it. Indeed, I see that some of my SF² Concatenation teammates have cited Alien Clay's as one of our annual-bit-of-fun best SF novels of 2024 and given how our past suggestions for best novels of the year have fared in the reprint, award short-listing and even award-winning departments, clearly Alien Cay is destined for a solid reception. Just go with the vibe, but dont look too closely.
Jonathan Cowie
Elsewhere you can see Mark Yon's review and also Mark Bilsborough's take on Alien Clay.
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