I love Annalee Newitz writing. She is very talented and I really enjoyed seeing how she wrote this story. I was so excited for this book and when I was approved for an e-arc through NetGalley I started reading it right away.

The Terraformers is a novel about the people involved in terraforming a planet that is owned by a corporation. It follows multiple generations of people through the lifecycle of the planet (and the people’s) development. The book drops you right into the world with no explanation. While some clarifications on the world do come, it is so late in the book that you have already figured out some of it. But I have so many questions that were not answered by the end of the book. I wish I could have connected better with the characters also. It is that just when I feel connected to them, they leave the story.

The book contains a lot of themes, but they were not really connected to what felt like a solid plot. There did not seem to be an overarching arc throughout the entire book. It was more here is one mini-story let’s move on. I didn’t feel closer to anything and often in these shifts I was just confused. I had to play catch up, and by the time I figured it out, we were moving on again. It was just so much work, and I can’t tell you why. I don’t see how it added any value to the story. I feel like I am walking away without understanding the story. I do not feel like I am walking away with an understanding of why this was even written. 

Identity in this book is interesting. Due to the nature of the main characters, I didn’t really connect with anyone’s identity. It is just too different. Too alien. That isn’t itself bad. Actually, it would have been awesome if something connected me to the book. Also, there is a lot of sex for a sci-fi book. There is enough spice for it to make it on a smut spice rating. Given the nature of the characters, it was pretty niche spice also. Being asexual, I didn’t enjoy any of it. It made me extremely off-center. 

I wanted so much to love this book. I do love the writing, but there was nothing for me to connect with and a lot for me to question.