Deirdre

Equal Parts Humor & Gore; All Sci-Fi

Revisado: 02-07-25

As mqny have already commented and as my title implies, there's plenty of gore, but it is well balanced with plenty of quirky, entertaining, and even some laugh of loud, humor. Of note, the humor does rely on the suffering of others. Overall, this was an enjoyable listen, especially if you're fan of Anee Lecke & Adrian Tchaikovsky. However, I'd like to address the elephant in the room: the complaints about the gore. The author has yet to fully hone the art of body horror in order to make the bloody scenes more genuinely unsettling/ remarkable/ memorable (i.e. in the vein of Adrian Tchaikovskys' horrorscapes that ate literal & figuratively terrifying or in the style of of Peter Watts' way of making prose poetry in the gruesome but anatomically intricate (and pretty accurate) descriptions of body unraveling). I know many of the other comments mention that there's too much gore (and there is), but it's descriptions are not superbly executed, and subsequently are not excruciating. So if you haven't been exposed Tchaikovsky, Watts, or read "Hyperion", this may be a good starting point. If you're familiar with the works just mentioned- this will feel like light reading.

Overall: It's well worth a listen if you're out of credits, like sci-fi, enjoy quirky humor, and searching for something to fill time while chorin'.

Thoughts about the Narration:

NOW as for the narrator - there's definitely room for improvement. However, despite all the gripes about mispronouncations (of which there are many that I can't place as being specific to American/UK pronunciations they just just straight up outlandish), it wasn't nearly as distracting as I thought it would be. That said, I hope the narrator does take time to research pronounciations of words for whichever accent is being utilized. Moreover, I also found it difficult to figure which character was speaking, as the narrator would start strong with distinctive voices for charcter dialogues, but then would fall out of character halfway through dialog-heavy scenes. I have to say though, I'm a sucker for an Irish lilt, so I really didn't mind lapses as much as I should have and just rewound & re-listened to exchanges. (please note: I haven't looked up if the narrator is Irish or not, but lilt was definitely noted breaking through. So forgive if I'm wrong). Narrator did a solid job with general American accent, but the "Minnesota Drawl" absolutely didn't sound like Minnesota accent. But this is on the author as well as the narrator. Who calls Minnesota accent a "drawl"!? (I'm a Midwesterner. I am familiar with the odd nasally, chipper, clipped accents of Minnesotans).

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"Alien Clay" is officially best ROAST I have ever read and I hope the people it roasts are indigent, offended, furious. . .

Revisado: 10-19-24

["Alien Clay" is officially best ROAST I have ever read and I hope the people it roasts are indigent, offended, furious. . .] and follow Standard Operation Procedures by using threats to flex & assert their academic superiority/dominance over the uneducated underling who wrote this atrocity. To be clear-- I don't think the author is an underling. That was me utilizing a thing called "humor", and you will need that feat to comfortably enjoy this book (or survive it, if you're one those pompous, self-righteous, egomaniac academics).

It would be remiss of me to simply boil this book down to a roast though, as it is also the a beautifully written work of literature (not just that a work shackled to that most loathed genre in world publication known as "science fiction"). You're welcome to read the rest of the review, but for those adventurous few who were sold by "ROAST", or those with short attention-spans and/or low tolerance for the mad rantings and armchair editorializing from some nobody, you need not read further.

For those who chose the mad path are still reading, here's the rest of my review:

"Alien Clay" is timely and timeless. Certainly, you can read Alien Clay" and enjoy it simply for being a well-written, well paced, intelligent, thought-provoking sci-fi. But, for anyone who has been apart of the circus of science academia, this will impact you on another level. It might even make you laugh and cry.

Most Importantly though. . .

It speaks VOLUMES about the plague of politics that have always been unnecessarily meddling with science & academia. However, the plague is becoming more insidious every year. It spoke to me as person who turned their back on STEM for refusing to cry and beg as was expected of an undergrad when facing the wrath & threats from "A Very Powerful Man"[in his field], for: denying instead of capitulating to false allegations pinned on me; for refusing to be party to a witch hunt; and for saying "fine" when threatened to have my academic career ruined and any chance of having a future in research stripped from me for something that was, in retrospect, incredibly minor (petty), and something I genuinely didn't do. "Alien Clay" does not exaggerate what it feels like to be in the field, and i wonder how much of this is a reflection on the authors own experiences as undergrad. It boldly calls out the people, the ideologies, the hypocrisy who are ruining science research in a creative and appropriate medium. It also does a. excellent job of exploring and acknowledging all the trauma, suffering, and lying, and backstabbing that is required to be successful in research academia (allegedly).

It is almost a satire and I here for it. In the unlikely chance that the author, Adrian Tchaikovsky, stumbles across this one (probably very poorly edited, and far too long a review) review, all I have to say is: Keep the ROASTS coming! And I hope they get crispier and saltier if there are other Roasts on the way.

For All those who did not enjoy it: I can imagine some readers perhaps found this unenjoyable because one of the major themes isn't exactly ground-breaking and has already been explored in other mediums. I can't argue against that, but what I can say is that this book does a good job of exploring this theme & describing it well in way that doesn't feel incomplete, trite, or overpowered. Others might not to like it b.c they were able to figure where the book was going because good writing employs things like metaphors, foreshadowing, continuity in tone, character development, etc. . . and criticize the book for being "predictable". For some this book may be predictable in some ways, yes, but it's actually the small surprises, the things that I don't think most readers are going predict, that are more interesting. In fact, a big crazy plot twist might have ruined this story, frankly. I enjoyed the clever ways it critiqued science & politics in way that was felt natural (instead of heavy handed, cliche, & exhausted), most importantly the story kept interested and engaged.

Finally, the last thing worth mentioning, is how the writing plays with language in a way that sounds/ reads like prose-poetry without sounding cliche, forced, or ridiculous. Finding prose that plays with language in a way that slips into poetry is something I enjoy tremendously when listening/reading any kind of book, especially science-fiction.

(Sidenote: Cheers for making it this far in this review, which was absolutely not meant to be nearly this long!)

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Adds welcome texture and detail to Raksuran World

Revisado: 03-14-19

If you have enjoyed to the Stories of the Raksura, but still felt as though there were details missing/left unexlplored due to the pace and action of previous novels, then you will thoroughly enjoy this collection. The narration is spot on, per usual and although there is certainly a healthy dose of action, I found the best part of this collection was in the small details. This book explores unanswered questions about clutches and clutching, relationship dynamics, and even glimpses into completely different parts of this world unrelated to the Raksura, resulting in a satisfying and engaging read.

That is not say this stories aren't filled with action, as there is plenty action, but it was the small details I enjoyed most. Wells takes time seemlessly weave more vivid descriptions characters and setting that may have felt to be lacking in the major novels.

I would absolutely recommend reading/listing to this collection if you've been a fan of the Raksura.

Pacing was good, details were refreshing and welcomed and it's an easy listen.

I can't wait to see where Wells goes next in this fascinating universe that is clearly rich with details and stories waiting to be explored.

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Setting and Imagery are stark and strange

Revisado: 07-09-17

So many people want to compare this to Blade Runner or compare Blade Runner to the book. Realistically, this book and the movie are two sides of the same coin. Had the fi been closer to this novel, it would have failed. The novel is anti climatic, the dialogue feels forced, manufactured even-- and had not read so much of PKDs other works, perhaps I may have attributed that to poor writing/editing, however I don't that's the case. Dick wrote the dialogue that way intentionally, to create a valley of uncanniness between human and humanoid, organic and so-called manufactured organic. It blurs reality and the lines between life and living.

TL;DR. . . Novel is good, anticlimactic and hollowing (which I think is the point). Brick's narration certainly isn't the worst, (not like that narrator for Woken Furies, that guy was awful) but it's not the best either. After a while you can habituate the nuances and enjoy the sometimes rambling, but still strange, broken, and beautiful piece.

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great voice acting and good story

Revisado: 08-31-16

This voice actor navigated the variety of accents that this book presents as a challenge than reader from first book. The story is also good. As a more seasoned reader, I could see where most of the story was going, but there was a nice twist towards the end and good character development. I will certainly be listening to the next book.

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Great listen!!

Revisado: 11-01-15

Wil Whedon was the perfect narrator for this book. The book was a great work of sci- fi.

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Absolutely lived Darl's Voice Actor

Revisado: 09-29-15

I loved this audio book. At times it was difficult to understand, but that was a matter of becoming familiar with the vernacular.

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Great narration, ok story

Revisado: 09-14-15

I enjoyed this listen. It was different and William Hurt did a great job narrating.

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Pretty good-- I would not compare this to 'Lost'

Revisado: 06-27-15

The book was worth the read. Not the best, not the worst. But still very good.

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Easy listen, decent narration, good story

Revisado: 06-13-15

You will get hooked easily. The narration is pretty great, with the exception of the German accent and Bruce's unidentifiable accent. The actual writing is clunky, but the story is great. Well researched, well planned.
Definitely worth a listen.

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