Alien Clay

Alien Clay is a far-future science fiction novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Under the rule of an authoritarian government called the Mandate, dissidents are shipped to Kiln, a prison colony on a distant world, and no one comes back. Professor Arton Daghdev, a xeno-ecologist convicted for his political beliefs, is one of the latest arrivals. Soon after he lands, he discovers that humans were not the first intelligent beings to reach Kiln: the ruins of a vanished civilization lie scattered through a wild and dangerous alien ecosystem. Caught between a ruthless camp commandant and the strange life around him, Arton must survive long enough to understand what he has found, a discovery that could change both Kiln and Earth. The novel was a 2025 Hugo Award finalist.