Z’s Reviews > Alien Clay > Status Update
Z
is 99% done
In a similar vein to mites on ants feet or some creature that eats a fish tongue, those two invaders must still perform the task of whatever they’re replacing or else their host dies and they do too
I like that Kiln collective is not a hive mind as we’ve seen before where they share a mind but actually just awareness subconsciously like if Arton looks at something the others would be vaguely aware of it now as well
— Jul 07, 2026 09:32PM
I like that Kiln collective is not a hive mind as we’ve seen before where they share a mind but actually just awareness subconsciously like if Arton looks at something the others would be vaguely aware of it now as well
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Z’s Previous Updates
Z
is 99% done
Overall, I enjoyed this but not as much as Shroud b/c we got to see more character development and direct contact between Earlings and native creatures than in this book
The author clearly has a way with words and great ideas, this is just not their best work imo but I am glad to have read it, but once again, needs a good trimming
4*
— Jul 07, 2026 09:35PM
The author clearly has a way with words and great ideas, this is just not their best work imo but I am glad to have read it, but once again, needs a good trimming
4*
Z
is 99% done
POV being an academic made it more blunt in his tone but his dry humor did come out
I think the revolution ideas are there but as scaffolding, and the politics can slow down the thrills but the mystery persists
+writing
+creatures gave me the creeps
+dry humor
-ancillary characters could’ve used a litttttttle more impact
-can be bogged down by politics
-revolution Lite
— Jul 07, 2026 09:34PM
I think the revolution ideas are there but as scaffolding, and the politics can slow down the thrills but the mystery persists
+writing
+creatures gave me the creeps
+dry humor
-ancillary characters could’ve used a litttttttle more impact
-can be bogged down by politics
-revolution Lite
Z
is 99% done
There’s not a right/wrong distinction in turning on your friends but a humanistic approach like these ppl only did it after torture, starvation, abuse etc it was not ill will it was desperation and loss
I do think it wasn’t a strong character story and more of an idea story if that makes sense. It was a slower read but not dense and like a revolution lite
— Jul 07, 2026 09:32PM
I do think it wasn’t a strong character story and more of an idea story if that makes sense. It was a slower read but not dense and like a revolution lite
Z
is 99% done
Using prison labor when machines became too high maintenance
Notes that Earthlings try to figure them out intellectually and Kilnians try to figure them out biologically on the protein level
Some of these creature descriptions gives me the heebie jeebies
The Commandant both repels academics due to his Orthodoxy but also desperately wants Arton to validate his ideals
— Jul 07, 2026 09:32PM
Notes that Earthlings try to figure them out intellectually and Kilnians try to figure them out biologically on the protein level
Some of these creature descriptions gives me the heebie jeebies
The Commandant both repels academics due to his Orthodoxy but also desperately wants Arton to validate his ideals
Z
is 90% done
Arton thinks of what next, ships will keep coming and they will keep saving them and eventually the Mandate might even abandon Kiln as a lost cause orrrrr Dr. P, Ilmus or the engineer could go on the ship back to earth (their faces specifically would allow entry) and they could TAKE EARTH
Start with a waking and end with an awakening as the opening line says.
— Jul 07, 2026 09:31PM
Start with a waking and end with an awakening as the opening line says.
Z
is 90% done
ELEPHANT DAD APPEARS slamming onto the building roof (it was a second elephant like creature that idk if I mentioned but it like stalked them for a bit) and it brought friends, Rasmussen also releases her spores into the air mummy style and is shot but all the Commandants men either die or are joined and it’s jsut him locked in his office and they leave him there not particularly wanting him to join anywho
— Jul 07, 2026 09:31PM
Z
is 90% done
The forces are closing in and all seems lost since yes they have knowledge and numbers and support but no guns and no supper power …..
— Jul 07, 2026 09:31PM
Z
is 90% done
There are warm/wet and dry/cold periods and during the former new structures are built and old structures altered, the builders are everything the whole planet and thru humans’ complex brain they were able to re-awaken early and remember themselves (so the builders ironically do look like humans this time)
— Jul 07, 2026 09:31PM
Z
is 90% done
he cuts Arton out of his cell and Arton says Rasmussen is coming too nonnegotiable and trusts that once she’s out she’ll sane up, she does
Vessikhan locks them in metal container so they can’t track implant in Arton’s neck, R takes cutter, slices it out of him and it’s kinda poetic he leans on her mentally and she supports him through the pain, and finally finallllllly Arton tells V the truth about the architects
— Jul 07, 2026 09:30PM
Vessikhan locks them in metal container so they can’t track implant in Arton’s neck, R takes cutter, slices it out of him and it’s kinda poetic he leans on her mentally and she supports him through the pain, and finally finallllllly Arton tells V the truth about the architects
Z
is 90% done
He’s kept in a cell next to Rasmussen and realizes he understands her and she went “crazy” not from infection but loneliness, and they are separated by a wall so they cannot truly connect
The linguist researcher visits to tell him Commandant will kill him, Arton doesn’t beg for his life and the dude wishes he would jsut to confirm he’s still human
— Jul 07, 2026 09:30PM
The linguist researcher visits to tell him Commandant will kill him, Arton doesn’t beg for his life and the dude wishes he would jsut to confirm he’s still human
