I really liked this book at first but lost interest as the story progressed and became more plot-heavy. What I enjoyed most were the flashbacks with the depiction of a hive mind. However, those elements vanished around two thirds in and only played a role in every second chapter until then. I would absolutely read something else by the author that is focused (with it being the main POV) on the hive mind and questions around individuality of segments connected to it. As far as I can tell, this series isn't going in that direction, so I'm going to quit it here.