I don't know what I expected of this SF novel, but it wasn't what I got.

Ammonite is the story of Marghe, an anthropologist who comes to explore the planet Jeep. Her prime purpose is to test a vaccine because there's a virus on this planet that kills all men, and most women. The inhabitants of Jeep are former colonists, all women, who are living in a tribal society and mysteriously are able to reproduce despite the lack of men. Marghe wants to find out more about them and leaves the safe area of the small colony on Jeep.

The author's note includes that she wanted to showcase that women can be all sorts of characters and are human, that you do not need characters who act like a stand-in for a male protagonist, for example, and she accomplished that. There's a variety of interesting women. I have to admit I liked Commander Hannah Danner in the colony a lot more than Marghe.

There's also a lesbian love story of sorts, and all in all I really enjoyed reading this book, even if it was less sci-fi than I had hoped it to be.