Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - Project Hail Mary

Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

84 reviews

conlmar's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful informative fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A quick and fun read, similar to his other books in the balance of science and humor and heart

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singalana's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

If you liked Andy Weir’s first book, The Martian, you’ll probably like this one, too.

Our protagonist, Ryland Grace, wakes up and has no memory of where he is, who he is and how he ended up there. The story is told in a dual timeline: in the past timeline, we slowly find out how Ryland ended up there, and in the present timeline, we follow Ryland’s struggle to fulfil his mission. And his mission is no less than to save humanity.

Project Hail Mary is science fiction, with a heavy emphasis on the science part. I found this book to be much more speculative than The Martian. But even though it focuses a lot on the science aspect, I still feel that these books are very accessible. The story felt original, interesting and, in a way, optimistic.

Even though the plot is different, this book feels very similar to The Martian. Let’s take our main character for example: he is basically the same as the protagonist in The Martian. And the writing style and sense of humour are exactly the same. I didn’t mind too much, but I expected some growth from the author, and I don’t think I would be able to handle a third book with exactly the same protagonist and writing style.

Before we head into spoiler territory, my overall thoughts about this book were that the premise was interesting, it was easy to read and follow, and it was a relatively quick read. Sometimes, I felt frustrated because of the past timeline because I was more interested in the present timeline.

Spoilers!

This is a first-contact story, and I think it’s quite an optimistic one at that. I found the aliens and their physiology and behaviour interesting. What I didn’t like that much was the dialogue (especially towards the end). I kind of get it because the alien learns language from the main character, but since I’m not a huge fan of the main character, it’s a bit annoying.

In the past timeline, there have been annoying stereotypes about other nationalities.

But the ending had a few things going for it: I liked the way the past timeline ended (the final reveal), and I liked the (sort of) open ending. Also, the ending had a sort of circularity, which was interesting but not the strongest point of the book.

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brynalexa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I waited on this book because I don’t usually read books by white men. I gave in and got it on Libby and was immediately hooked. How can a book so serious be so funny and adorable?! There’s almost nothing I can say about setting or characters that make isn’t a spoiler but both are phenomenal. I could barely put this down.

Just a couple notes, one chapter used “stupid” more than a dozen times which is completely unnecessary (cloudy, tired, drugged, distracted, not 100% were all perfectly fine options) I also disagree with the author’s choice

on using he/him when gendering Rocky. The author even mentioned it being a choice and then when he got more information decided to stick with He/him. What a wonderful opportunity it could have been to be more inclusive.

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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Strong character development? Yes

3.0

This book was just boring to me. I had to fight to stay focused during the science parts, I didn’t feel that much connection with the main character(s), and the writing wasn’t anything to write home about. The parts I was most invested in were the flashback scenes because I was curious to see how Ryland ended up on the mission in the first place. This was the shining star of the book in my opinion, because it really highlights the character growth that he goes through. (And the plot twisty nature of it doesn’t hurt.) And I’ll admit it, it makes the emotional climax of the book hit that much harder. I was in tears (something that usually doesn’t happen while I’m listening to audiobooks).

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raitherabbit's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I started out reading this book so slowly… as in, barely getting in 10 pages a day (for 3 days across 2 weeks). After consulting a local reading facebook group, strangers on the internet convinced me to tough it out and read it fully.

I am so glad I did. Thank you, kind strangers.

Trust me when I say this book starts quite slowly but picks up VERY quickly. As soon as I reached a certain point in the plot, I literally could not put it down.

The characters are lovable, and while I don’t agree with All of them, I see where their decisions come from. As a science nerd, I was also fascinated by the lengthy explanations throughout the book (even if I didn’t understand them 100%).

I absolutely love this book. I’m glad I’m ending the year with it.

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