This was a very frustrating book, because I liked a lot of what it was trying to do but all the stuff I didn't like was stuff I really, REALLY didn't like. The romances all felt shoehorned in (though I will admit that the Captain and Eli actually had potential up until

that whole bit when he takes over the ship, which should have generated way more friction. "I could love youuu" queen you can Do Better!!!

) and in such an annoying way that it really did tank my enjoyment- and finally,

the realization that Eli was not, in fact, dead,

is really why I rated this so low. The plot twist RE:

the meteorite being a seed

actually didn't bother me because the groundwork was, in fact, laid to justify it, and laid quite carefully- I thought it was well done and intriguing. But alas, the forced romances and the Other Thing can't salvage what was otherwise an interesting and well done book.