A Wall Is Also a Road

by Annalee Newitz

Bestselling author Annalee Newitz invites us to explore a large and not-so-lonely universe in this science fiction adventure about what happens when the alien becomes familiar–and beloved.

Gardenpath is a graduate student. They also happen to be an amoeba–a slime mold, to be exact–from an ancient civilization that dwells in the space between the stars. And when they turn their many eyes to researching a remote spot on one spiral arm of the galaxy, they stumble upon a discovery that will change everything they thought they a mysterious planet teeming with unexpected life, language, and culture.

One of these alien animals is a creature named Murtis, who lives in a city she calls Pompeii and works in a brothel known as “the lupanar.” Unfazed when her strange visitor says she’s from the stars, Murtis takes Gardenpath into her care, introducing her to the seaside tourist town full of immigrants and shopkeepers who are just trying to get by.

Before they met Murtis, Gardenpath expected to finish their research, present their discovery, and return home to become an acclaimed scientist. But as they look into their new friend’s bizarre sensor bulbs from within the suit that allows them to survive and blend in on her surprising planet, they are beginning to wonder if there’s more to life than academic achievement.

They're not sure what it is, but they're going to use science to find out.

A thought-provoking and heartwarming novel about science, the meaning of life, and love, perfect for fans of Becky Chambers, Ryka Aoki, and Martha Wells.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Queer, Fantasy, Adult, LGBT, Science Fiction Fantasy

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 6, 2026

About the author

Annalee Newitz is an American journalist who covers the cultural impact of science and technology. They received a PhD in English and American Studies from UC Berkeley, and in 1997 published the widely cited book, White Trash: Race and Class in America. From 2004–2005 they were a policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They write for many periodicals from 'Popular Science' to 'Wired,' and from 1999 to 2008 wrote a syndicated weekly column called 'Techsploitation.' They co-founded 'other' magazine in 2002, which was published triannually until 2007. Since 2008, they are editor-in-chief of 'io9,' a Gawker-owned science fiction blog, which was named in 2010 by The Times as one of the top science blogs on the internet.

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I won a free ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

Also worth mentioning: I was a fan of Annalee Newitz’ work even before reading this book.

Gardenpath is an intelligent slime mold, working toward their PhD. They exist in the space between stars, as all Rational beings do. But their data collecting has suggested the startling possibility that life may exist in the gravitationally dense Galactic plane below. Wearing special gear, they arrive on a small, watery planet near a place called Pompeii … Life, it seems, can be multicellular, but still have language and culture. Altering their appearance to blend in with these creatures, Gardenpath soon meets Murtis, a brothel worker who quickly becomes their guide to this strange new world.

I don't think it's giving too much away to say that Gardenpath and Murtis make a huge difference in each other's lives. The book is essentially about two worlds: Gardenpath's home, a properly alien place inhabited by large but unicellular intelligences, and Earth during the Roman Empire. Gardenpath travels between them, researching food webs for their exams and eventual thesis.

I really liked this book, which, so far, seems to be the pattern for me with Newitz' books. Something about the way her characters approach life with curiosity and open communication, forming friendships and falling in love, just generally figuring out life and collaborating on incredible things … it's just so cool and fun and it just makes me happy to spend time with her protagonists. Her books make me smile, and A Wall Is Also A Road is no exception.

The more I try to articulate the appeal of her work, the less satisfied I am with my efforts. All I can say is that there's nothing quite like an Annalee Newitz book, and you should definitely check this one out.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy from Tor Books via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date October 6th, 2026.

I've read some of Newitz's work before and I've always loved books set in alien cultures, so I was happy to get a chance to read this new release. In A Wall is Also a Road, Gardenpath is an alien slime mold studying for their graduate degree in a distant part of the galaxy. Their controversial thesis threatens the scientific orthodoxy—and a key piece of their data is the city of Pompeii on our own Earth.

Overall, I found this to be a light and charming novel. Gardenpath's people have a culture similar to ours—after all, they have universities and tenure—but their body language is convincingly alien slime mold based. There's lots of extruded appendages and flattening out. The alien culture is a good medium ground for a sendup of university culture where a student goes against prevailing orthodoxy to prove life is possible on Earth. Also, genuine props to Newitz for taking a sincere shot at the slime mold sex scenes. I won't name names, but many respected scifi authors have chickened out at this critical point. Glad to see an author with convictions.

On the worldbuilding side, the scenes set in Pompeii are strongly written, and it's clear that Newitz has done their research. It's a nice touch that Murtis, the human Gardenpath is closest to, was a real courtesan who did actually exist in the period. A lot of the Roman cultural nuances go right over Gardenpath's head, but that just serves to accentuate the alienness of their POV. Gardenpath in general is naive and rulebound, which keeps the story relatively light. A different perspective character might fixate more on the nuances of a corrupt university engaging in war profiteering. But while Gardenpath engages with these elements of the plot, their primary focus is always their research and their degree.

I don't think this story would have worked for me if it featured a human time traveller, but grounding the plot in strength of the alien POV worked well. Overall, A Wall is Also a Road is a light and very readable story in the line of John Wiswell's sweet stories from a monstrous perspective.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I get to my review of A Wall is Also a Road, I need to review the marketing. For me, the marketing copy for this book gets an F. There was almost nothing in the marketing copy that prepared me for this book. In particular the comps are malpractice. The marketing copy says “Becky Chambers, Ryka Aoki, and Martha Wells.” I can somewhat see the Becky Chambers from a found family point of view, but I’m sorry the other two are marketing malpractice. Those comps imply a somewhat whacky but ultimately wholesome character focused drama.

However, at its core A Wall is Also a Road is fundamentally a dark academia book. Dark academia is not typically combined with a space based setting, but there’s no reason other than convention for that. But if you consider that our main character is an outsider at a prestigious and highly competitive university, where they have to work on secret projects to play academic politics, and there’s a sexy romantic slimemold love interest--we’re certainly hitting a lot of dark academia sounding tropes (though the sexy romantic slimemold love interest is a new one for me).

Gardenpath is a slime mold, and is a new student at the Memory, the most prestigious institution of higher learning in the space between the stars. Gardenpath wants to study life on a small planet down on one of the outer arms in the galactic core--an area where the academic consensus says there cannot be any life. As Gardenpath discovers, academic politics can be bare knuckle, and not everyone is just here to learn. But as Gardenpath explores Pompeii, its tavernas, and its brothels, they learn about more than foodwebs and biology. They learn about friendship, culture, and love.

I really liked this book--I particularly enjoyed the unique and freshness of the slimemold alien culture. It did not feel at all like Newitz was just porting over bits of human culture--the trappings of Memory really felt like they’d been created by aliens with a completely different biology to humanity. Some of the pacing at the end felt a little rushed, and there were a few things that maybe could have been paid off better. Readers should be prepared that this book has a lot more sex scenes than the marketing copy prepared me for--not bad, just something to know if you’re going in.

So here’s my attempt at some better comps for this book, recommended for fans of Ninth House, Becky Chambers, and T. Kingfisher Hugo Acceptance Speeches.

I received an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

[anna b · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

I really liked the concept of this book, but the execution fell flat for me unfortunately. There's something about the emotional stakes that didn't feel high enough, and the threat of tragedy hanging over our heads that sort of fizzled into nothing, and odd language choices that threw me out of the story. Wanted to love this, was sad not to.

[Cori Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark academia sci-fi, where the academics, including our POV MC, Gardenpath, are fascinatingly different aliens, while the subject of study turns out to be rather more familiar -- the residents of a bustling city called Pompeii.

I love a good messy First Contact story, and this book is covering a lot! How hard communication across species from radically different evolutionary paths might be. What scientific ethics look like where everyone is sentient, and study goes on over time periods that allow for the building of deep relationships. Sex and power and gender (and by sex I do also mean various spice). Managing the politics of discoveries that buck the prevailing wisdom of The Establishment. Trying to understand cultural differences that are a bit of a stretch for us today, let alone when explored from a different part of the universe.

For me, this possibly went in a few too many directions; the ending is satisfying, but I didn't feel like some of the threads picked up during the book did resolve, and not in a 'yes we need a sequel' way, but in a 'this wasn't important, it was just cool to mention' way. Given it's quite a short book and pacy read, I would have loved just a little bit more tidying up here and there.

However, overall I did really enjoy the world created and found it a satisfying read.

Rating: 16/20
This review is based upon a complimentary advance review copy provided by the publisher at NetGalley.

[Jenn "JR" · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Writing a novel from an alien perspective is a unique challenge, and Newitz handles it with confidence and creativity. Gardenpath, our protagonist, comes from a distant galaxy where gender doesn’t exist. They’re an amoeba — a Rational person — studying at the Memory and hoping to excel in a program that will allow them to become an investigator. Their people experience time differently and use teleportation as a matter of course, so Earth has long been dismissed as a lifeless rock. Gardenpath’s decision to research Earth is already a break from cultural assumptions.

Newitz builds the Memory with impressive cohesion: how Rational people move, communicate, express emotion, and interact feels fully imagined. I especially enjoyed the interpersonal dynamics on campus between Gardenpath and their friends, adversaries, and professors. The academic environment feels lived‑in — there’s genuine competition among students, supportive and wise mentors, and maybe a few corrupt professors, tolerated in ways that say a lot about the institution. These relationships give the Memory a social texture that makes Gardenpath’s ambitions and struggles feel grounded.

As Gardenpath begins traveling to Earth more frequently, Newitz introduces one of the novel’s most interesting structural choices. About two‑thirds of the way through, the narration shifts to she/her pronouns while Gardenpath is on Earth in a female‑appearing body and using the name Peristyle. When the story returns to the Memory, the pronouns revert to they/them. It’s a subtle way of showing how embodiment and context shape identity — and it also highlights Gardenpath’s discipline as a researcher. In fieldwork, there’s always the risk of “going native,” losing the critical distance needed to study a culture. Gardenpath’s best friend, Oriel, and their informal advisor, Column, both warn them about this, encouraging them to maintain boundaries and stay honest with the people they meet on Earth. Gardenpath manages to keep the perspective of a foreign scholar, navigating Earth with curiosity rather than assimilation. Readers interested in this theme might explore identity shifts in field research or gender fluidity in alien narratives.

The Earth subplot provides a strong counterpoint. Gardenpath’s repeated visits to Pompeii, their friendship with Murtis, and their gradual understanding of gender all build naturally on the emotional and intellectual groundwork laid in the campus chapters. Moving between the Memory and Earth creates a rhythm that lets their internal growth unfold across both worlds, and the contrast between settings keeps the narrative fresh.

Gardenpath’s “galaxy suit,” which lets them pass as human by configuring itself to mimic other people, is a great device — especially once you add tentacles. There’s some amoeba sex, people sex, and interspecies sex; it’s not excessive, and it feels like a nod to Octavia Butler’s Oankali in Lilith’s Brood. It fits the story’s exploration of embodiment and identity without overwhelming the plot.

By the end, Gardenpath and their cohort gather enough evidence to permanently oust the toxic professor — a figure who literally injects students with toxins and interrogates them like captives. The students’ decision to found a new institution, New Memory, feels like a natural extension of their growth and opens an intriguing direction for future novels.

I loved the ending, and I’d happily read more about Gardenpath in whatever comes next. This was a fun, imaginative read that balances worldbuilding, character development, and thematic curiosity in a way that really worked for me.

ORIGINAL URL: https://www.livegreenwearblack.com/20...

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

A solid inter-galactic allegorical novel about overcoming discrimination, exploitation, and corruption, but also about the complexities and expanded possibilities when it comes to loving relationships, and what it is we mean when we say "humanity." The novel asks us to consider how we define personhood. It builds somewhat on Automatic Noodle in that last respect, but make no mistake, this novel is very different than any of the author's previous work. The world-building is unique, clear, efficiently explained, and absolutely fascinating.  

I felt an immediate tug of affinity and protection for the main character, who must hide their full identity or risk rejection. If you know that feeling, you recognize it right away.

The author's comfortable command of the sciences is evident. I don't think the novel would have worked without that background.

The aliens are presented as not so different from humans, emotionally. The creative ways in which they express themselves are quite charming, even when they show each other disrespect. Hopefully, this doesn't give too much away, but the alien is a bit of a Gallileo figure. 

The way this author writes alien intimacy is so effective, you feel like a voyeur. Both the sexiness and dark academia features were surprising.

The descriptions of what Earth is like, from the perspective of someone from another planet, are simply delightful. 

Several themes evolve early on, most clearly about discrimination against those who are different, but also against immigrants and anyone who bucks the status quo. Those in power want to perpetuate a permanent system with themselves in complete command. This cohort also reminded me of the early Viking leaders who wanted to curb exploration, and insisted that there were "no Lands to the West." They refused any evidence to the contrary of their long-held beliefs, and considered any such challenge to be an existential threat. 

One line seemed absolutely directed at the petulantly unevolved  among us right now: 

. . . 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 . . .

Of course, as throughout history up to the present day, it was no small leap for the philosophy of the elite class to eugenics, even among aliens.

Very subtly, Newitz makes the point that diversity of experience causes us to see the whole world differently. 

The novel has at its heart two irrepressible drives: the longing to connect, and the desire to belong, which as many of us know, are two separate things. And some of us have to work a lot harder to reach both of those goals.

Overall, a very good examination of timely themes wrapped around complex characters who, like us, have intense needs and desires and want the world(s) to be better for everyone. A good message, I think.

[David · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

**.5

I loved the setting and basic premise, very creative and a good way to critique The Academy. But then it degenerates into scene after lurid scene of weird aliens having sex with each other and with humans in ancient Rome, alone, in pairs, in groups, in various combinations and positions &c. Using aliens to explore themes of sexuality and gender was clever, but the execution too unsubtle.

It doesn't really work because although the aliens are akin to house-sized amoebas who communicate with smells, their university is organised exactly like ours, complete with dorm rooms, computer lab, cafeteria, final exams, departmental meetings, faculty committees, administration building, student senate, thesis defense, tenure track appointments, etc.
As things progressed, once the excitement of First Contact was complete the sci-fi element all but fell by the wayside, which killed the sense of wonder and discovery and imagination.

The main subplot takes place in ancient Pompeii, and is more historical romance than anything else. There's also a subplot involving weapons development back at the galactic university, complete with a student protest, and it seemed like the author was desperately trying to figure out how to squeeze in a "from the river to the sea" placard without completely giving away the game.

So despite the grand setting, we end up with a bog standard "awkward nerd goes to Uni and makes a friend" story, a cheesy romance, overly detailed historical worldbuilding, and basic "make love not war" message. None of it goes together, and none of it goes anywhere. Much better off with any one of half a dozen Star Trek episodes that grapple with the constraints of the Prime Directive.

[Joyfully Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Joyfully Jay review.

5 stars

Author Annalee Newitz’s novel A Road is Also a Wall is an incredible speculative fiction story that pushes the boundaries of science fiction, while blending in themes of romance, self-discovery, and found family. The book is structured around the main character’s schedule of exams.

First of all, the world building in the story was incredible. I loved the clarity with which first-century Pompeii was described, both in terms of the descriptiveness of the physical surroundings and the cultural trappings. From the brothel where Murtis worked initially to the tabernas she later ran, the locations where Gardenpath and Murtis explored their friendship and romance were sparingly but expertly described.

While speculative science fiction might not be everyone’s cup of tea, the emotional journey Gardenpath experiences felt satisfyingly universal to me. I wholeheartedly encourage anyone who likes reading to give this book a try. It will stretch your imagination and encourage self-reflection as you read about how one courageous being found their place in the world by going to another.

[Demetri Papadimitropoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peer Review, Pompeii, and Other Forms of Catastrophe
Annalee Newitz’s “A Wall Is Also a Road” Finds Terrible Advisers, Excellent Sex, an Active Volcano, and a Surprisingly Difficult Question About What Science Is For
By Demetris Papadimitropoulos | October 1st, 2026

During Gardenpath’s first walks through Pompeii, walls look like architectural dead weight. The graduate student at the center of Annalee Newitz’s “A Wall Is Also a Road” comes from an ancient civilization of single-celled Rational People whose buildings grow, whose paths can be alive, and whose bodies converse chemically. Roman plaster therefore seems almost embarrassingly inert. Then a human mixes mineral pigments and paints a figure surrounded by flowers. Later the same walls acquire advertisements, jokes, obscenities, political messages, names. Nothing about the masonry has changed. Gardenpath has learned to read it. The distance between those two states of attention is where this strange, funny novel does its best work.

Everywhere else, Gardenpath is already excellent at looking. They arrive at the Memory, Rational civilization’s elite scholarly institution, determined to survive a five-stage examination system and reach the optional Fifth Exam, which confers Investigator status on anyone capable of describing something genuinely new. Their dissertation begins with a heresy: Gardenpath has found a planet where prevailing science says meaningful life should not exist. They call it Tentacle, travel there in a pressure-resistant suit, map ecosystems, and eventually encounter beings we recognize long before they do. First-century Pompeians are, for a while, simply the Unnamed. Human history rarely gets to be somebody else’s weird fauna.

Much of the comedy depends on that reversal, but the jokes keep changing jurisdiction. Gardenpath can explain agriculture as feeding behavior and buildings as habitats. Art proves less obedient. Speech is worse. Murtis, the woman who becomes their guide, teaches Gardenpath words, money, sex, status, and eventually writing. Gardenpath assumes a human-shaped body and accepts the name Peristyle, translating their own name into the architectural path around a garden. The alien scientist has interstellar transit; the formerly enslaved sex worker must explain that marks can encode sounds. That exchange is funnier than any declaration about “advanced” civilizations could be, and much more damaging to the hierarchy Gardenpath brought with them.

Even “Unnamed” gradually sounds less like taxonomy than confession. Gardenpath wants categories to record reality cleanly; Newitz keeps showing how a label can also authorize conduct. “Rational” People call other civilizations lower. “Culture” is treated as contamination of biological research. Murtis can be animal, research subject, friend, lover, collaborator, or person depending on which noun makes Gardenpath’s behavior easiest to defend. When Oriel, Gardenpath’s closest friend at the Memory, learns that Gardenpath has had sex with Murtis, their incredulous question does more work than a seminar in research ethics: “You fucked the subject of your research?” Gardenpath’s reply is basically a search for a safer noun.

That search matters because Gardenpath has already crossed a line no vocabulary can disinfect. Early in the relationship, while Murtis sleeps, Gardenpath opens a microscopic aperture in the suit and slips a tentacle into her body without permission. The scene is scientifically ecstatic: inside Murtis they discover a staggering multicellular ecology and the “director cells” coordinating it. It is also a violation. Newitz lets both facts stay hot. The director cells later become medicine, sexual pleasure, academic evidence, institutional property, and the basis for a forced-clustering weapon. Knowledge does not carry its discoverer’s intentions like a warranty.

Reading bodies becomes the richest variation on reading walls. Rational People store memory in gnosomes, exchange information chemically, enter one another’s membranes to speak intimately, and heal through clustering. The biology matters because the same motion can mean radically different things. After the Molecular Exam, Wainscot raises an arm and asks Gardenpath, “May I?” before entering them to speak privately. Plumline, Gardenpath’s adviser, performs nearly the same physical action by force. Newitz does not need to invent a new anatomy for violation. Consent changes the sentence already being written by the body.

If Gardenpath’s education stopped at first contact, the premise would still be unusually nimble. The five examinations make it stranger. Data teaches that evidence does not interpret itself. Spoken teaches what institutions permit evidence to sound like. Molecular makes intellectual scrutiny physically invasive. Hypothetical grants Gardenpath authority just as they are learning to distrust its source. The Fifth, supposedly reserved for unprecedented discovery, becomes almost beside the point once Gardenpath starts asking what kind of scholarly life ought to exist at all. The exams keep promoting Gardenpath while quietly disqualifying the institution from being their final teacher.

Plumline is most convincing before they become easy to hate. At first they offer exactly what keeps ambitious students in abusive arrangements: equipment, access, attention, prestige, the suggestion that exceptional people deserve exceptional pressure. Their private preparation for the Molecular Exam converts that pressure into chemistry. Plumline floods Gardenpath with pain, tears through their membrane, and hunts stored memories. Gardenpath survives by releasing edited experience, pruning away Murtis and the cultural evidence hidden from official science. There is an ugly echo here: Gardenpath protects themself from an extractive adviser by using the same excision that made Pompeii acceptable as data.

Another uneasy strength is the refusal of the comforting split between scientists who objectify and people who care. Gardenpath cares deeply and still exploits. Murtis trusts Peristyle and later consents to a tiny director-cell sample because she believes the work is medical; Plumline and the war engineer Redoubt redirect the material toward forced clustering. Column, a cultural-studies professor and Gardenpath’s secret adviser, can sound maddeningly pleased with their own ethical clarity, but the underlying objection survives. Gardenpath can leave Tentacle instantly. Murtis cannot. Gardenpath can heal illnesses Murtis cannot even name. Affection changes the obligations between them. It does not make those obligations equal.

Perhaps the cruelest unit in the novel is a Rational “journey.” One passes while a much larger portion of human life disappears below. At first the difference is clever worldbuilding. Then Murtis laughs that she may be dead before Gardenpath finishes the Fourth Exam, and the conversion rate turns vicious. A few academic delays for Gardenpath consume years of Murtis’s life. Newitz never needs to announce that ambition has a cost; she gives two lovers incompatible calendars and lets arithmetic do the damage. Gardenpath’s declaration of love comes when the numbers finally acquire a face.

Against that mortal clock, Newitz sets Vesuvius. Gardenpath’s model predicts the eruption, and the scientific formulation is brutally compact: “The mountain would eat the city.” As ecology, the sentence is almost serene. Ash will kill the present system and nourish another one later. But Pompeii now contains Murtis, Julia, Curly, the lupanar, baths, shops, jokes, walls still unread, people who will never enter Gardenpath’s notebook. The words do not change when the moral temperature does. A hypothesis has become a sentence about people Gardenpath loves.

Despite everything Gardenpath has learned, Peristyle’s first impulse after the prediction exposes a harder contradiction. They reach for the pink notebook and think of what remains unrecorded: Oscan, shops, graffiti, customs. The archival instinct is sympathetic and faintly monstrous. What would it mean to preserve a doomed culture perfectly while failing to preserve its people? Column has accused Gardenpath of behaving like a tourist who can collect meaning and leave when consequences become inconvenient. Vesuvius makes that accusation literal without making it entirely fair. Gardenpath cannot stop a volcano. They can warn Murtis. Some people can leave. Others cannot. Prediction has become responsibility, but responsibility still has limits.

Instead of staging the catastrophe as spectacle, Newitz reveals its aftermath through a technical inconvenience: “Those coordinates won’t work.” Gardenpath is trying to return to the familiar landing point when a Transit Hall operator says there is no solid surface there anymore. Gardenpath first assumes an old bureaucratic objection, then a bad reading, then calculates what the absence of ground must mean. Only after that does Peristyle arrive in ash. The sequence keeps widening: missing summit, lost river, buried streets, silence, dead bodies. Catastrophe reaches Gardenpath as bad data before it reaches them as grief. The point of view stays faithful to the scientist and lets that fidelity become painful.

Much of Newitz’s prose works by making perception lag behind meaning. The sentences are brisk, colloquial, and hospitable to dense worldbuilding; their distinction lies less in ornament than in pressure on vocabulary. Stairs are ridiculous if your species climbs walls. Rain is obscene abundance to a creature from elsewhere. Membranes wrinkle, scents sour, receptors open, gnosomes store what characters cannot bear to say aloud. The jokes are often technical before they are social. So are the wounds. Newitz’s plainness is strategic: the prose can turn a measurement into an emotion without visibly changing gears.

In Gardenpath’s relationship with Oriel, that strategy becomes especially clean. Gardenpath has spent years hiding the green photoreceptors implanted during a childhood among photosynthesizers, marks of an origin they have converted into evidence of deficiency. During sex with Oriel, those receptors burst open. Oriel does not recoil. Gardenpath experiences being, in the novel’s wonderfully blunt phrase, “fucked and seen at the same time.” The line lands because its crudeness refuses uplift just as the scene reaches toward it. For Gardenpath, desire is frightening because being legible has so often meant being judged as the wrong kind of person.

The delayed account of that childhood changes the pressure of everything before it. Gardenpath’s spore hatched not among Rational People but aboard a composting vessel crewed by photosynthesizers. An elder named Robust cared for them, implanted the photoreceptors, and eventually hid their failing body aboard a Rational probe that carried them to safety. At Crook-in-the-Road, Gardenpath discovers that many of the science books explaining their existence were written by scholars at the Memory. The institution starts to look like the homecoming they never received. Until Chapter 21, their striving can pass for academic vanity. Afterward, the same behavior looks like a survival strategy disastrously attached to prestige.

Rather than finding one true home, Gardenpath gradually stops requiring home to pass a purity test. Pompeii becomes home, then Neapolis and Tharros. Oriel becomes home without displacing Murtis. Wainscot moves from rival to clustermate to friend. Most importantly, the photosynthesizers Gardenpath once refused to call a first cluster return as family. This is where the adjective “Rational” shows its teeth: a cultural identity has been masquerading as an objective rank of personhood. When Gardenpath finally reveals the hidden photoreceptors during the Fourth Exam and says, “I owe my life to a photosynthesizer,” the confession matters because they no longer need the institution’s language to make that life respectable.

On the page where the title finally appears, Newitz is more careful than the aphorism initially sounds. Gardenpath tells Column that Plumline seems protected by an “impenetrable wall.” Column answers, “True. But a wall is also a road.” “True” refuses the easy version of the metaphor: the barrier exists. “But” changes what can be done with it. “Also” allows obstacle and route to remain true at once. Column gestures to the literal path around the tower, and Gardenpath remembers Pompeian walls that looked barren before they learned to read them. The line is not a motivational slogan about obstacles secretly helping us. It is an argument about literacy: structures acquire other uses when you learn how they work.

Plumline eventually makes that argument less difficult than it ought to be. The early portrait of abusive mentorship is excellent because dependence and opportunity are braided together. Later, chemical coercion, intimidation, stolen data, career sabotage, weapons work, and unauthorized deals all attach to the same adviser. Opposition becomes morally uncomplicated. The students finally find the lever that works when Plumline’s outside collaboration has bypassed the Memory’s technology-transfer interests. It is a sharp joke: student harm becomes actionable once it overlaps with institutional harm. It is also a convenient road around a wall the novel has spent hundreds of pages thickening.

Only at the New Memory does the book ask us to accept a wall before we have seen how thick it might become. Gardenpath passes the Fourth, effectively receives the Fifth, and is offered the laboratory they once wanted badly enough to mistake it for a life. Instead they ask their friends, “What if we . . . left the Memory? All of us?” The new community refuses weapons work and gives culture and science equal standing. As a reversal of the exam structure, the move is elegant. As an answer to institutional power, it remains untested. A novel this alert to prestige, funding, gatekeeping, and self-protection has earned the reader’s suspicion of any institution still young enough to have no disappointing committee minutes.

Uneasy hope survives because the novel leaves several irritants in the ointment. Wainscot stays at the Old Memory. The new institution collaborates with existing ones. Murtis, herself formerly enslaved, later participates in a household that includes enslaved young people and rationalizes the arrangement through comparative kindness. Her suffering has not purified her politics. Gardenpath’s love for Murtis has not erased the asymmetry between their lives, either. Care is necessary here and insufficient. That is a harder proposition than the cleaner architecture of the ending sometimes suggests.

Little more than a name and a sexual designation survives of the historical Murtis who helped inspire Newitz’s character. The Ancient Graffiti Project catalogs a lupanar inscription reading “Murtis felatris,” and archaeologist Sarah Levin-Richardson discusses it in “The Brothel of Pompeii” with due caution. The inscription does not hand us the biography the novel invents, or even secure proof that Murtis herself cut those words into the wall. That uncertainty is useful rather than embarrassing. A mark survives; a person does not. Newitz writes into the space between them, which is also the space Gardenpath keeps mistaking for something measurement can close.

Old assumptions about pure science do not survive Pompeii much better. Gardenpath begins by worrying that culture will contaminate research and ends by seeing how thoroughly culture had already arranged what counted as research. The Memory decides which planets look promising, which lives count as Rational, which questions sound respectable, which collaborations deserve funding, which abuses become legible to bureaucracy. Pompeii does not teach Gardenpath to replace evidence with feeling. It teaches them that methods already carry assumptions about whose evidence matters. That is more interesting than a plea for interdisciplinarity, and much less comfortable.

So I land at 89/100, or 4/5 stars on my Goodreads scale. “A Wall Is Also a Road” is original enough to invent a whole sensory grammar for intimacy and disciplined enough to make that grammar bear on research, sex, violence, and home; it is also eager enough to explain itself that some of its hardest problems arrive at cleaner answers than they deserve. The title supplies the better ending pressure. Column begins with “True.” The wall remains. Bodies remain vulnerable, evidence fragmentary, institutions hungry for self-preservation. By the final pages, Gardenpath can look toward the photosynthesizers who raised them and admit that their first cluster “wasn’t Rational, but for a while, it had been home.” Nothing has become simpler. They have learned how much was written on the wall before they knew how to read it.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of first contact, sapphic romance, and graduate school.

Gardenpath is one of the Rational People, who are roughly human-scaled single-celled organisms living somewhere on the outermost fringes of the galaxy. Gardenpath has recently enrolled at Memory, the most prestigious graduate school for the Rational People. Gardenpath is planning to challenge two pieces of academic orthodoxy en route toward their doctorate. First is that life cannot possibly evolve amid the heat and radiation of the galaxy proper. The second is that obviously only unicellular life can be sentient. A sentient multicellular being? Preposterous! But as Gardenpath quickly learns, despite their stated devotion to discovery, the faculty of Memory isn’t all necessarily so open to being challenged.

So Gardenpath proceeds carefully, squeezing themselves into the shape of the dominant life-forms on an obscure planet orbiting an obscure sun, and studies both their biology and their culture. Specifically the organisms in a seaside settlement called Pompeii, at the foot of an active volcano, which leads to some truly fascinating food webs. And there is one particular organism called Murtis, who is obviously very highly valued among these people, as many of these organisms pay high fees for her company.

This book is two very different stories. One is going to be familiar to anyone who went to grad school - overbearing advisors, stressed out friends, massive intellectual insecurities, forgetting minor things like food and rest. The other is a story of humanity thriving regardless of social strata.

Newitz knows what they're talking about, both when it comes to life in the Roman Empire and life in graduate school. Both parts of this book felt very real and very (for lack of a better word) human. I feel like they *shouldn't* mesh well, but they really do.

This book is as emotionally striking as it is creative (and I have to say it is extremely creative). I'd also call it cozy-adjacent, at least in vibes.

Obviously Murtis is a sex worker, and so there are trigger warnings for implied sexual violence though none of it is depicted on page. There's also an interaction between Gardenpath and their most shitty advisor that, while not explicitly sexual assault due to differences of biology, is described in ways that are analogous.

My blog.

[Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a cool book! this is why I love sci fi 🤩

RTC

Thanks to Orbit via NetGalley for providing an eARC

[Caitlin Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

give me more books like this PLEASE

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Netgalley provided me a DRC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I adored Automatic Noodle, so I was excited to get an advanced copy of Newitz's new sci-fi adventure. An interstellar slime-being falling in love with a human? Sign me up.

Unfortunately, the story felt a little disjointed. Gardenpath, a slime-like being fighting their way through the competitive academic world on their planet, discovers life on a distant planet in an area that their people consider dead. Spoiler alert (but not really): It's Earth. But this is not a modern-day time traveling adventure...we're talking the rowdy brothels, bars, and parties of pre-Vesuvius Pompeii.

And that SOUNDS so interesting. But reading about two cultures that are SO alien (no pun intended) to one another was jarring at times. Trying to wrap my head around a blob-like-creature with crazy technology wearing a fancy human suit and interacting with an actual human 2000 years ago made my head spin at times.

I kept reading because despite the story feeling a little clunky, everything happening--both in Gardenpath's world and on Earth--was quite interesting. Unethical and corrupt academia on one hand, the looming threat of a volcanic eruption on the other.

[Gaia Amman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not normally read steamy alien romance and was not aware this was one from the description. That said, I loved this story. The writing flowed beautifully, and the characters felt three-dimensional and relatable. Having spent many years in academia, I found that storyline to be accurate and relatable. I enjoyed the historical aspect as well. Also, I am nonbinary and loved how gender identity was approached indirectly and with great tact, raising questions without being on the nose. Overall, this novel felt emotional, engaging, and informative at the same time. I truly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.

[Svea · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

I really liked the entire concept of this book: an alien that doesn't look humanoid at all, basically just a big blob really, as protagonist? Colour me intrigued! Gardenpath is a grad student in a society that focuses primarily on science and academia, with their biggest goal being making it through the tough exams to become of the great minds of their people. For that, they have to discover something new in the universe - but their research can't be about any cultural subjects because noone is actually interested in culture. It's all about advancing their society, in the end. So Gardenpath does endless research and finally discovers something new: A planet that shows signs of actual life where their shouldn't be any life at all.
So they visit this planet, they do their research, and they find a strange new culture they call the Unnamed, which live strange lives with strange traditions and strange genders in a strange city called Pompeii.

I loved the first about 50% of the book a lot. It was fascinating to read from the perspective of this weird relatable alien and how they view humanity. I wasn't prepared for the rather big focus on romance and sexuality, though, and I admit I wasn't the biggest fan of this aspect of Gardenpath's experiences being so prominent. The relationships were interesting, though, and I really liked Murtis, the human woman Gardenpath meets and falls in love with. I liked how time was used in their relationship specifically but also in the depiction of Pompeii and its inevitable destruction.
I also mostly liked the story on Gardenpath's home planet, though I found myself losing interest after some time. Their people basically just spoke like humans after a while and without the descriptions of how their bodies worked and changed in dialogues it would've just read like two people on Earth chatting a lot of the times. And the whole plot is a been-there-done-that one, alluding to a much more interesting conflict behind the scenes than what we got. The world building is rather vague-ish, so the antagonist didn't really blow me away. The stakes didn't feel as high as they could have been. The themes especially surrounding the antagonist's deeds and how they relate to our world are a bit on the nose, but they are important nonetheless.

So in the end? A fun reading experience with one of the most interesting protagonists I've read lately that couldn't quite deliver what I was hoping for nor stick to its intriguing premise and in the end is mostly a strange little romance with an added academic setting. Fun and quick read that can definitely help getting you out of a reading slump because it did so for me!

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

This is a story where humans are seen with the point of view of aliens. In this case, single-celled organisms that are intelligent, space-faring, and have an academic university that is blinkered by its opinion that only entities like them can be intelligent.

Yeah, it's that kind of metaphor.

Our protagonist, Gardenpath, discovers life where nobody thinks life exists - our solar system. More specifically, multi-cellular life (including us), which they (preferred pronoun) have to elide in their researches so as not to offend the professors. Gardenpath focuses on food webs instead.

Not just any food webs. It turns out Gardenpath lands on Earth in Pompeii, shortly before the famous eruption. Fieldwork leads to interaction (and more) with the locals, especially a woman named Murtis. That's where the book changes tone and moves into erotica. It also becomes clear that we're dealing with gender-fluid erotica where it feels queer and becomes multi-partnered. So it's an alien first contact story that moves into sex play.

This isn't the first time it's been done, there have been lots of stories about aliens having sex with humans, from various points of view.

I'm skating close to spoiler territory. (I won't tell you whether the eruption happens during the story.) The upshot is that the book is part criticism of academic life and abuse by authority, and part alien/human sex and relationships. The story moves back and forth as Gardenpath moves between the academy and Earthly fieldwork.

I like Annalee Newitz's work, but I found this to be more predictable than I wanted. Despite the academic abuse, it reads more like a cozy story than one with significant tension, given the circumstances. This was probably Newitz's intention, but I could have used a story fraught with more weight. Also, as Newitz admits in the acknowledgements, she leveraged her work on ancient cities as described in her non-fiction book, Four Lost Cities, and lavished the book with a lot of description of Pompeii architecture and customs (so far as we know them). She gets away with it because, well, Pompeii is fascinating, and Gardenpath is enthralled with all the strangeness. A lot of it is strange to our modern sensibility too.

I give Newitz credit for creating a plausible (perhaps) form of unicellular life that could interact with humans, but I thought she took the easy route in plot development and tension.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love scifi books that have non-Earthling characters, and this book features one who is studying life on Earth, where humans are classified as alien life.

Gardenpath is a slime mold who comes from a society where academic knowledge is valued above all else, and they and their cohorts are studying to take the exams that will determine the rest of their lives. Gardenpath is eventually led to pre-eruption Pompeii on a journey to study food webs on what we know as Earth, and this evolves into their horizons being broadened in more ways than one.

The world building was done so well as we travel back and forth between ancient Pompeii and Gardenpath’s home. I love that one of the humans, named Murtis, was a real courtesan who was documented to have lived in Pompeii at the time. Through her we come to understand a lot about the culture and societal structures of the time period, but because so much of it goes over Gardenpath’s head, the tone remains fairly light despite there being slavery, human sacrifice, and rampant mistreatment of people.

We also have degrees of terrible behavior from Gardenpath’s people, with war profiteering and university corruption, but most of the plot focuses on the research and relationships central to Gardenpath’s academic career. While the book is solidly scifi, there are elements of dark academia and historical fiction woven in because of this.

One criticism I often have of space books is that the aliens seem so much like humans in a different setting, but Newitz writes them as wholly separate beings in so many ways. Yes, they have learning institutions and concepts like professorship, but most aspects of their lives are vastly different. I loved delving into the social structures of their people and how humanity was such a culture shock for Gardenpath. (*Note that there is spice, which I wasn’t expecting for a book with an amoeba protagonist, but it did make sense to the plot and wasn’t there just to make the book spicy.)

Overall I really enjoyed the book, as well as the author’s note about Murtis! Thanks to Tor/Forge for the advanced ebook!

[Liz Wynder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Will be trying more by the author soon.

[Ryan Lawler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book. Go in to this book cold if you can.

I’m not quite sure where to start my review except to say that A Wall Is Also A Road explores everything I love about sci-fi. It is challenging, it is weird, it puts a spin on familiar concepts, it explores foreign concepts, and it inspires hope for the present and the future.

I would love for everyone to read this but don’t think this book is going to be a good fit for everyone. This book challenges established norms, explores gender and sexual fluidity, and provides a non-monogamous perspective on love and relationships. But if you go into this book with an open mind and a desire to engage with the content in this book, I think you will find something special within these pages like I did.

This story is about a blob/amoeba/slime-mold/single-cell person named Gardenpath. Gardenpath is part of a space faring society of amoebas, is studying at their most prestigious university, and is seeking their highest accolade - to pass the “Fifth Exam” and earn the title of Investigator. The object of their research is to examine a biological ecosystem on a planet across the other side of the galaxy and so we get two parallel intersecting stories; Gardenpath the student who is navigating university politics, and Gardenpath the researcher who gathers data by living amongst the subjects of their research.

There is so much to say but I’m mindful of this review becoming unwieldy and potential spoiling some big moments, so I’ll go with a bunch of thoughts presented as dot points.
- There is a steep learning curve that doesn’t really level out until the end of Part 1.
- The sex scenes are fascinating and weird but focus on shared joy, pleasure and experience rather than the eroticism of it.
- There is some excellent exploration and commentary on ethics in research.
- I love the way Newitz explores student naivete, especially how it’s complicated by respect for prestige and authority figures.
- There is a deep examination of relationships and connection, with a focus on the interplay between attachment and insecurities.
- The ending was exactly what this story needed, and what I as a reader needed.

Finally I want to mention the title of the book - I couldn’t find any previous uses of this title as a quote anywhere else so I this might be original from Newitz (someone please let me know if I’m wrong, I’m clearly not as good at researching as Gardenpath is). This is not just an apt title for the book but also an amazing piece of advice for living your life. The challenges in your life and roadblocks you come up against might seem to halt progress in one direction, but they are also giving you the pathway to continue your progress in other directions, to embrace change, to find comfort in the unfamiliar, to be curious.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up because I absolutely adored The Terraformers and especially Automatic Noodle, and was hoping, well, not necessarily for more of the same because they’re not the same as each other except for the spark of hope at the end. I was hoping for something as good and as thought provoking – and that I definitely got.

At first, this is a kind of dark academia story. Only it isn’t the usual kind of dark academia story because this isn’t fantasy. AT ALL. It’s dark academia in a science fictional setting like Malka Older’s Mossa and Pleiti series that begins with The Mimicking of Known Successes.

Gardenpath is not human. In fact, their society believes that humans – or any other multicellular species – can’t possibly be sapient the way that their own species is because multicellular species – like ours – are incapable of organizing the way their bodies work to reach sapience. AND they live in a part of the Milky Way galaxy that is scientifically proven to be barren of life.

(I never did get a picture in my head of exactly what Gardenpath’s people look like – and it doesn’t matter. It’s clear that we’d think they were as incapable of sapience as they think we are and we’d both be wrong. We’d also both be reflecting our own prejudices which is kind of the point. Actually, a lot of the point.)

But we’re able to get into the story because whether or not Gardenpath’s people or their world resemble ours at all, their academia certainly does – in all its terrible abuses as well as the joy of learning and the glory of discovery.

And in all its terrible prejudices and assumptions and hide-bound rules and petrified hierarchies. “The Memory” as it’s called by Gardenpath’s people, certainly lives up to – or perhaps that should be DOWN to – the old aphorism that “academic politics are so vicious because the stakes are so small.”

Gardenpath and their friends are on the first rung of the ladder of what we would call “higher education”. If they complete the decades of grueling exams and survive predatory advisors, they’ll be permitted their own lab and allowed to do independent research outside the bounds of what has already been proven to be acceptable. Maybe, sorta/kinda – although it takes them years and abuses to recognize that the system is stacked even higher against them than they thought. (A situation which also resembles the mess that Ro finds themselves in in The Language of Liars.)

Which is where the other half of the story comes in. Because Gardenpath’s academic enquiry is forbidden. Forbidden in the sense that it has already been dismissed as wrong. Wrong to the point that if they prove they ARE right, they will be ejected from The Memory, their research will be destroyed and their reputation will be ruined. (If you remember Stargate, the situation is a LOT like Daniel Jackson’s in that series. The entire scientific community believed he was a crackpot because aliens couldn’t possibly have been involved with the early centuries of Earth civilization because there was no evidence that their closed minds could accept. But Jackson was right along, which the story proved in the opening movie.)

But Gardenpath is RIGHT – just like Jackson was. There is life on one of the planets in the barren area of the galaxy. Sentient life. Sapient life. US. A kind of life that has been so thoroughly proven not to exist that Gardenpath must use all of their cunning to protect their proof while releasing just enough to keep going. Unfortunately also just enough to allow one of the most powerful and predatory leaders of their academic community to weaponize it.

Unless Gardenpath and their friends are willing to buck the whole entire system to fight back against a highly respected and reprehensibly abusive department chairperson and remove them from their seat of power. Not to put themselves in that place – but to change the system for the better.

If they can. And if they can’t, to protect themselves and their work from that system and beat it at its own game from the outside.

Escape Rating A-: It took me a bit to get into this, BECAUSE the opening was so familiar. It’s not just that we’ve seen this view of academia before frequently and often in science fiction (back to The Mimicking of Known Successes and The Language of Liars), in fantasy (A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, among many others) and in contemporary fiction of all genres. It doesn’t matter that Gardenpath’s people are not ours because in this, they are in all the ways that count.

In other words, there’s a lot of setup, because even though Gardenpath and their friends and institution resemble ours in the broadest sense, Gardenpath and their friends are not physically us and those differences are a part of that. They can literally reach inside each other’s bodies and probe each other’s thoughts and feel each other’s emotions.

Gardenpath starts out hiding a LOT about their own origins. And yet they still make real friends even though they’re lying by omission all the time and it’s even more of a struggle than it is for us. AND it creates more tension because their exams include a physical probing of their memories by the professors in order to determine whether or not the work is worthy of passing onto the next level. It’s bad enough that one of the professors is using this probing as an opportunity to test experimental ‘drugs’ on their students for the military, but it also represents a direct hazard for Gardenpath as they have to walk a tightrope between protecting their work while presenting just enough to get them to the next level.

Which is where the work comes in. Because Gardenpath hasn’t just discovered life where it isn’t supposed to exist, the life they’ve discovered is Earth. Specifically historical Earth, pinpointed as Pompeii in the decades before Vesuvius destroyed it and in the surrounding area among the survivors afterwards.

Gardenpath doesn’t just observe us, they craft a ‘galaxysuit’ that allows them to pretend to be one of us and to get directly involved with humans. One human in particular. Which absolutely does throw their scientific objectivity straight out the window. Even as it helps them to grow as a person and to learn to see the world through more perspectives than just their own and those of their own people.

It’s the making of them and very nearly the breaking of them as well. What makes it all work is that Gardenpath brings that new perspective back home and not just grows from it but shares it so that their friends grow and change as well. It may seem a bit neat and tidy in that Gardenpath goes off the literal rails but matures as a person and a scientist and becomes kind of a rebel because they experience other rebels, but it does work if you let it.

(Part of what makes it work is Gardenpath’s “luck” in finding a REALLY open-minded human to serve as translator, teacher and eventually lover. Part of what makes it work is the same kind of language exchange/training montage that happens in The Mulai, Lake of Souls, The Mountain in the Sea and Project Hail Mary. And part of it is that Gardenpath’s relationship with the human Murtis gives the reader an easier path into Gardenpath’s own head.)

Which allows the reader to be both sad at the inevitable ending of Gardenpath’s relationship with Murtis and to cheer as they turn the wall that “The Memory” has built around itself into a road that leads to a new perspective on their own society after their intimate exploration of ours. Leading to an ending that has the same notes of hope as The Terraformers and Automatic Noodle, but in an entirely different way.

Originally published at Reading Reality

[Mackenzie · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

I’ve been following Annalee Newitz’ books for a couple years now since I saw them at Emerald City Comic Con a couple years ago. They seemed to have a lot of knowledge on science fiction and they care to make the science as accurate as possible. Going into A Wall is Also a Road, I read as little about it as possible because I just trusted in the author to give me a good journey. This book was wildly imaginative and out there in so many ways. It is honestly difficult to talk about out loud and my attempts to explain it to others have been tricky to say the least. So it’s about an amoeba that has these tentacle things…My husband was looking at me so confused after I tried. So here goes my second try.

The main character of the book is an amoeboid creature called Gardenpath, who is essentially a graduate student attending a school called Memory to attempt to become an academic of great standing within the Rational People. The Rational People is the name the amoeboid creatures give themselves and they consider themselves to be a very data driven and rational species. Gardenpath hopes to become an Investigator which requires them to pass 5 tests that require them to basically write and defend a thesis. Gardenpath decides to visit a planet that the Rational People consider devoid of any life but they find a lot of life that looks suspiciously very humanlike and is confirmed later when they discover the name of the place they are visiting, Pompei.

This book is VERY ambitious. Writing from the point of view of an alien species that is not even remotely similar to us is a very difficult thing to do. And I think Annalee was very successful in this because there were many times throughout this book where I was squirming with discomfort. There are some moments where I was wondering if maybe there was TOO much detail. I think having a healthy interest in biology will help you for this one because the detail is very intricate and descriptive. I could see some people being really put off by it. They also did an amazing job of describing the human activities that Gardenpath is observing, in a way that is not human centered at all. You really have to think about what Gardenpath could possibly be describing as they are experiencing different parts of human life that would be common everyday things for us. I do think it was really cool to pick a location that most people know the history of, specifically that it ends in disaster and you are left wondering what that will mean for Gardenpath and the friends they make along the way on the planet they call Tentacle.

Half of the book is on Tentacle and the other half is about Gardenpath’s experiences in academics back in the school. It is also about the social aspects of academia and the struggles you can encounter in that environment. I liked a lot of the side characters and each one added a dimension to the story for me. They also presented different problems that Gardenpath had to overcome in their journey to becoming an investigator.

So what did I think of the book overall? I’d say that I liked it quite a bit. Just a few things dulled the experience for me. There are a lot of details in this book, specifically a lot of cell biology type stuff and I think it can feel a bit unnecessary at times. I was a cell biology major in college and I even questioned the purpose of some scenes. I understand that it is to cement the feeling of “other” but midway through the book it felt less important and that had been well established. I think I could have done without the romance aspect of the story on Pompeii as well. I think female friendship and camaraderie would have worked just as well for the story but I understand it added the dimension of questioning Gardenpath’s morality as an investigator. Ultimately I felt like this didn’t actually go anywhere or change any of their decisions so it just left a strange situation to read about for me. With all that in mind I’m going to rate this one a 3.75 out of 5. I will not be forgetting this one any time soon because if nothing else it is very unique.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for the advanced digital reader’s copy.

[Robert Goodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Science fiction author and science communicator Annalee Newitz brings her passions together in her latest book A Wall is Also a Road. This a scientific academia story, where the students are alien and their subjects are human. Only not present-day humans. Newitz draws on her research into Pompeii and ancient Rome more broadly and it is in this time and place that much of the action is set.
The central character of A Wall is Also A Road is a single celled organism (a kind of gaitn slime mold) called Gardenpath. Gardenpath lives in the galactic cloud that sits above the spiral arm of the galaxy and attends a university called Memory. Gardenpath and his colleagues are researchers who need to work through a five-exam system to reach the vaunted title of ‘investigator’. In order to do this they have to deliver a unique piece of research (very much like a PhD). Gardenpath is an outsider. Despite the weight of opinion, they believe there is viable life in the spiral arms of the galaxy and have pinpointed one particular planet to test their theory. That planet is Earth and the time and place that Gardenpath ends up in is Pompeii, some years before it is destroyed by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.
The narrative is then split into two parts, There are Gardenpath’s adventures on Earth where they use technology to mimic the human form and, over a number of visits, develop a deep relationship with a prostitute called Murtis. Then there are issues at the university, not only Gardenpath having to hide some of his research because it challenges the current orthodoxy, there are those who know about his relationship with Murtis who question Gardenpath’s research ethics and they also have to deal with an abusive professor who has a dodgy relationship with the weapons industry. These two strands remain fairly separate although Gardenpath does learn a bit about their own relationships from spending time with Murtis.
A Wall is Also a Road is a strange amalgam of ideas and characters. The university sections are clearly metaphoric. Despite being run by giant, sentient, single celled organisms Memory and its research system, runs much like any university in the modern world. Issues relating to universities gaining funding by working with the arms industry are particularly current. And the Roman sections are interesting, from a historical narrative perspective but not much beyond that. So the whole feels a little disjointed.
But there are also lots of relationship issues and plenty of sex. Newitz seems fascinated by every type of sexual combination she can imagine. While the amoeba’s pool together to rest and regenerate they also have something similar to sex where they essentially slide into each other. Gardenpath finds themselves making their first real amoeba friend and then trying to work out what happens when that shifts into something more physical. And when Gardenpath is on Earth, it is safe to say the things they do with Murtis, and later others, while enthusiastically received represent a significant breach of research ethics.
A Wall is Also a Road is fairly cosy science fiction. None of the technology (from Gardenpath’s suit that makes them look completely human to how they zip back and forth from Earth into the galactic cloud every year) is really considered or explained. Gardenpath is even able to use their technology to predict the Vesuvius explosion so the danger there is well and truly forewarned. And very little happens that threatens Gardenpath or their colleagues, aside from a nasty supervisor and tough exams.
Much like Newitz’s book The Terraformers, this is incredibly gentle science fiction, focussing on earnest characters just trying to do their best and their relationships. While there are some hurdles to be overcome, these seem to be there to crate some interest and make the found family relationships stronger. All of which serves to make A Wall Is Also A Road often interesting but never particularly compelling.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to describe A Wall is Also a Road? Giant amoeba-like aliens live outside of the stars in a complex society where they believe they're the only truly sentient people.

Gardenpath is a student at the Memory. As part of their academic research, Gardenpath transits to a planet they call Tentacle – a planet in a supposedly dead part of space – to look for life. The place they land is near a volcano, and not just any volcano - they've arrived at pre-eruption Pompeii. Gardenpath forms connections with the lifeforms there and spends time studying at the lupanar.

There's a lot that's interesting in this. I liked the descriptions of the life forms of the amoeba and how they observed human life and tried to understand it as something completely alien to them. It was also fun and interesting for the time period to be ancient Roman. It made both aspects somewhat alien to the modern reader.

I did like the academic setting of Gardenpath's university but it did perhaps feel too normal, and when they were talking it was too easy to forget they weren’t human until they blorbed and slimed off somewhere (maybe that was the point, I don't know).

I found Gardenpath to be slightly frustrating as they felt quite teenage - self-centred, vaguely oblivious, needed prodding repeatedly to see issues, including the dubious ethics of forming a relationship with a research subject. And on the teenage front, there's a surprising amount of sex in this and whilst a couple of instances worked with the story, most of the time it just felt like horny teenagers. And to be honest, tentacle porn isn't really my thing, but if that's something you're looking to explore, maybe this book is for you.

Also, I think it's easy to expect this story to be cosy sci-fi, and it does have elements of that, but it's maybe more a dark academia. Gardenpath and their fellow scholars have to struggle with a difficult, abusive and corrupt supervisor/ department head and there's a background war going on.

An interesting and unusual story with lots of elements to like but maybe not completely my thing

Thanks to Orbit UK for providing a netgalley arc for me to read and review

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a weird and wonderful book.

We follow Gardenpath, an alien slime-mold amoeba graduate student, as they work to pass the highest-level exam "Fifth Exam" and earn the prestigious title of Investigator at a university in the stars. This can only be achieved by finding something truly new and undiscovered in the universe, and so they travel to a remote planet that has previously been deemed of no value by other researchers. Here they find themselves in ancient, pre-eruption Pompeii and set about taking on a local form and learning about the biology and culture they find there.

The parts set in Pompeii are well written and it's obvious that Newitz has done their research when constructing these parts of the story. In saying that, I think they pale in comparison the alien culture and relationships between Gardenpath and their follow academics. These sections were the standout highlights of the book for me.

This book does touch on some serious themes and subjects that have the potential to be quite dark and bleak (e.g. gender-issues, the patriarchy, relationship dynamics, research ethics, life in a Pompeii brothel, academic scheming and corruption, warmongering and profiteering), but Gardenpath is such a naive and innocent character, and approaches things with such curiosity, that the story remains lighthearted. In saying that, although it doesn't necessarily always dig deep into these issues, it also doesn't trivialise these subjects at all and really challenges the reader to think.

Overall, this is a really inventive, charming, and heartwarming story. It won't be for everyone (slime-mold sex isn't shied away from), but I would give it a strong recommendation to anyone interested in an imaginative, strange and fun little sci-fi.

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK | Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC!

[Mirto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something I really like about Annalee Newitz's writing is that they consistently create whole worlds and societies and communities that force me to rethink my own definition of personhood, while also making me notice how much my own imagination is bounded by a collective image of how things should (or even could) be. This has been true for every single book I've read of theirs, and A Wall Is Also a Road only solidified this for me.

We follow Gardenpath, an amoeba (slime mold! i would have never thought about aliens like that, do you see what i mean?) somewhere in space whose biggest dream is to complete all 5 exams and become a full-fledged academic researcher. They decide to study a planet that everybody else considers unpromising, but Gardenpath is confident that their research will offer groundbreaking and innovative ideas. Until they realize innovation is not as well seen by academia as they thought.

As Gardenpath learns more about their discoveries (and gets closer and closer to them), they see their own preconceptions about life and personhood challenged. They're also faced with painful secrets, ethical dilemmas, trust issues and their own ever-evolving feelings.

This story explores so many themes, and so deftly: friendship and trust, academia's impact on war, research ethics, the meaning of culture and, finally, agency. It's probably the richest text I've read all year.

I thought the ending was a little too fast, but I also think it makes sense for this story. I'm beyond impressed by Newitz's creativity and by how they deliver important social commentary through the most bizarre and interesting stories.

[Keith · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

“A Wall is Also a Road” is the newly released novel by Annalee Newitz. It’s a multi-faceted work, that is a first contact story, a historical fiction, and an exploration of an alien civilization. Our protagonist is an alien known as Gardenpath. They are an amorphous being that has characteristics of a slime mold and an amoeba, and are the size of a house. They are part of a species known as the Rational People. Gardenpath is a graduate student in an extragalactic university known as the Memory.

Gardenpath has begun their fieldwork toward their doctoral degree, and they have decided to study a planet within what they call the Spigot Galaxy, and we know as the Milky Way. They have to use a protective suit that allows them to survive the crushing gravity and intense radiation in such a place. This suit can be configured to have an exterior appearance that matches local organisms. So Gardenpath is teleported to Earth, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, near the City of Pompeii. They begin to study food webs, in this strange world of multicellular(!) organisms. Soon they come to believe that the strange organisms in Pompeii may be communicating, and creating art!

This story is quite an adventure! It has big ideas, lots of interesting information based in history, and all kinds of relationships. It also has mature themes, including sexy times! The overall story arc is positive, although there are some darker chapters. I think it’s one of Annalee’s best works to date. It certainly makes use of her research from her non-fiction book, “Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age.”

[Michael Godwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wall Is Also a Road is an imaginative and thought-provoking science fiction adventure that approaches familiar questions about life, love, knowledge, and connection from a wonderfully unfamiliar perspective. Gardenpath, an alien graduate student and slime mold from an ancient civilization, begins the story driven by the pursuit of academic achievement, hoping to discover something sufficiently extraordinary to earn the highest honor among scholars. Instead, their research on a supposedly uninteresting planet introduces them to an ecosystem and a culture far more complex than they expected.

The relationship between Gardenpath and Murtis gives the story much of its emotional appeal. What begins as scientific curiosity gradually becomes a deeper encounter with another form of life, challenging Gardenpath's assumptions about intelligence, culture, achievement, and what makes a life meaningful. The contrast between Gardenpath's academic ambitions and the relationships they develop creates an engaging foundation for exploring larger questions about purpose and belonging.

Readers who enjoy inventive science fiction, queer speculative fiction, alien perspectives, philosophical storytelling, imaginative world-building, and character-driven adventures should find A Wall Is Also a Road particularly appealing. Its unusual premise, emotional core, and exploration of what happens when something alien becomes familiar and beloved give it strong potential to reach readers looking for science fiction that is both intellectually curious and deeply human.

[Pujashree · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Only Annalee Newitz can write a story about a giant amoeba graduate student doing field research on Earth in ancient Pompeii, and somehow tell a beautiful galactic polyamorous love story, while also taking down abusive grad advisors and extolling the virtues of multidisciplinary research. Oh and also save the women of Pompeii from the eruption and help them in their journey to become independent entrepreneurs. I know this all sounds like word soup, but I promise it's extremely well-plotted, and utterly engrossing. Having been to and absolutely adored Pompeii, especially Julia Felix's villa, it was very evocative to me of a time and place where an alien life might find community.  Gardenpath, despite being a higher blob being, is easily relatable as they try to forge their academic and social path with heart and integrity. The cast of characters, slime or human, are all incredibly wholesome and introspective and have their own growth journeys that still make space for Gardenpath to be part of a loving whole. That said, if words like "ooze" and related textural language ick you out, you might sadly wants to avoid this one. Because it starts with casual oozing about but extends to much penetrative tentacle stuff that are somehow not gratuitous and only sometimes sexual. I absolutely adored this, and it motivated me to get back to my own spec fic premises that don't seem so outlandish anymore.

[Kylee Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.75

I absolutely adored this book! There's so much packed into it, and I couldn't get enough.

We follow Gardenpath, an alien slime mold, as they work towards their graduate degree, and research a planet called Tentacle, which is presumed to be void of life. They soon discover that Tentacle is actually full of life, including multicellular beings they call the Unnamed. Gardenpath takes on their form to blend in and begins immersing themselves in their environment.

While on Tentacle, Gardenpath meets an Unnamed called Murtis. She helps Gardenpath learn their language and understand their culture, and the two eventually form a deep relationship. Throughout the book, we go between Gardenpath working on their dissertation, dealing with the politics of academia on their homeworld, and conducting research and gathering data on Tentacle with the Unnamed.

A Wall Is Also a Road explores queerness and otherness, research ethics, academia, and language and culture in such a fluid way that nothing ever felt out of place. I would love to tell everyone to read this, but I know this won't be for everyone. If you enjoy sci-fi rooted in alien cultures, unique perspectives, and complex relationships, I truly think you should give this one a try!

Thanks to the publisher for a copy to read and review!