i did not expect to be crying over spiders. such an awesome and powerful book. instantly my favorite hard sci-fi. you follow three plotlines, a group of presumably the last humans searching a terraformed planet to start a colony and preserve the human race, a group of spiders (across time) who grow sentient and create a culture on said planet, and a human scientist (now uploaded as an AI consciousness) who experimented with the planet and watches over it. the way these three storylines dance with each other is stunning. every time they intersect it’s mind blowing or horrifying or beautiful. but for me the absolute best thing about this book is the spiders. their personalities, cultures, technologies, faiths, desires, understandings are told through such an imaginative lens. i love them. aside from that, i found the pacing to be amazing, the worldbuilding easy to understand and the story overall to be so engaging. starting 2025 on a real high note.  please read this book!!!