You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
thetruestsam 's review for:
Alien Clay
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I wanted to enjoy this book so much more than I did. There are 1984 vibes, which was the last book I read. It follows an academic who has been imprisoned due to authoritarianism controlling science. It focuses heavily on alien ecology and revolution. It has all the concepts of what could be an AMAZING book.
But it really just didn't deliver for me. First of all, the narrative style just felt sloppy at times, I wasn't a fan. But the bigger issue I have is the overall story behind the story. It's the same issue I have with Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, where the humans are just set to kill and destroy but then they're given an Empathy Upgrade and conflict is resolved. Except here it's the alien ecology infecting the human brain and breaking it into its system. It was very clear once we saw how the aliens worked that there would be a message of "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" and that revolution requires trust and faith in those you are with. And I was so down for that! But then he had the aliens give us a cheat code so we wouldn't have to do any work to really trust that community.
If the third part had revolved around the Marchers interacting with the planet and really understanding how it worked and taking inspiration to build their revolution, showing that if given some hope and a push in the right direction, humans CAN overcome tyranny, this book might have made it to five stars. But I was so let down by what felt like a cop-out.
But it really just didn't deliver for me. First of all, the narrative style just felt sloppy at times, I wasn't a fan. But the bigger issue I have is the overall story behind the story. It's the same issue I have with Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, where the humans are just set to kill and destroy but then they're given an Empathy Upgrade and conflict is resolved. Except here it's the alien ecology infecting the human brain and breaking it into its system. It was very clear once we saw how the aliens worked that there would be a message of "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" and that revolution requires trust and faith in those you are with. And I was so down for that! But then he had the aliens give us a cheat code so we wouldn't have to do any work to really trust that community.
If the third part had revolved around the Marchers interacting with the planet and really understanding how it worked and taking inspiration to build their revolution, showing that if given some hope and a push in the right direction, humans CAN overcome tyranny, this book might have made it to five stars. But I was so let down by what felt like a cop-out.