Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Alien Clay
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.00 for first 30 days
Alien Clay
Buy Now for £12.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
Summary
Alien Clay is a thrilling far-future adventure by acclaimed Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky.
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 . . .
This audiobook edition includes an exclusive interview between Ben Allen and Adrian Tchaikovsky.
‘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
More from the same
Love Books? You'll Love Audible.
Transform your day
Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.
Listen everywhere
You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.
Carry your entire Library
Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.
Listen and learn
Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.
Reach your reading goals
Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.
Find your niche
WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.
What listeners say about Alien Clay
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nat
- 12-05-24
Interesting life on this planet
Totally absorbed into this alien world - fascinating concept with political themes to boot. For me it was a little of Journey to the centre of the Earth meets 1984! Only in space! Loved it! Would read it again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- c meddings
- 04-06-24
Excellent
Back to hard sci-fi for Tchaikovsky. He is always strongest when he is deriving deep into new ideas about alien life and how it could affect the humans that find it
This is up there with the children of time series as his best work
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tim Armishaw
- 16-05-24
Really top notch sc-fi
Tchaikovsky must be some kind of super human to write SO many books, both sci-fi and fantasy, without the quality ever really dropping below bloody marvelous and often, like Alien Clay, soaring into the realms of "Future Classic". Well worth a credit!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robert Wattam
- 06-04-24
Thoroughly enjoyable
As far as Scifi goes this is perfect for me. Suspense, intrigue and some wholesome characters on all 3 sides of the fence.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- The haunt
- 22-05-24
Another interesting Adrian Tchaikovsky book!
The first 3/4 of the book were excellent and interesting with characters which were fun to listen to and a developing story.
However, later I found thr story and key developments in it weren't explained amazingly and felt like they clashed with earlier points a little bit.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Youssii
- 17-04-24
The most imaginative alien biology in modern science fiction
Adrian Tchaikovsky always delivers incredible biology but really outdid himself with this one, creating a whole alien ecology that feels fundamentally different to our own but still feels scientifically grounded.
The protagonist is sarcastic narrates the thoughts and feelings of an exiled academic who failed to be the kind of revolutionary he wanted to be on dictatorship earth.
Perhaps what is most terrifying is not the Elephant's Dad who stampedes through the forest, or the cackling infected researcher who hoots and laughs in the night, but the fact that the human society known as the Mandate feels as though it really could lie in our real world future.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- JohnW
- 06-04-24
1984 Meets Avatar
Great protagonist, great story. Almost a hypothetical solution fulfilling communism, only solved in fantasy horror.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sean
- 08-04-24
Another great book by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I loved this book, from the alien ecology to the politics, which has a lot to say about our current situation and the need for authoritarian regimes to be validated by the people they hate because they can't control them.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bob Conrod
- 15-04-24
Fantastic
Yet another display of fantastic, suspenseful writing. Loved it from start to finish. Hopefully there will be more stories coming based in this storyline
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 04-06-24
Psychologic and Sociologic effects of isolation vs connection
It makes you see loneliness and empathy in a different light. How our limits of communication and connection results in fear. This fear is the building block of authoritarian regimes. It makes us less than human. While connection makes us more then human, a community. How much is too much though?
I loved the ending, it satisfies you but also keeps you questioning. It is a stand-alone book and it does conclude the story neatly. A second book is possible but not a must.
I loved how accurate the science is in the story. It's not magic in disguise, it doesn't even provide shortcuts for the plot's sake like having a quick way to space travel. Though I like those stories as well, a pure science fiction hits different.
I loved the main character's scientist mind that keeps being curious in extreme situations without being unrealistic. It was quite satisfying to read the dynamic between him and the commandant. And I loved the comment the writer made on it in the interview which you can listen at the end of the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!