An interesting read. I can't remember the last time I read a fiction novel and walked away without a certainty that, were I magically transported to that place, I could survive rather well with the knowledge the story had shared with the reader. The characters here are simultaneously sympathetic and alien, and their culture is so unlike our own as to require a fair bit of the story to explain even the smallest details.
All in all, though, a decent world-build, and some truly creative narrative choices. I found the use of only the feminine pronoun an oddly soothing choice, as it dismissed any concerns over gender or possible sexual tensions. And writing from the POV of a stranded hivemind was an inspired choice.