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bjjzoe's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide
Minor: Vomit, Excrement, Alcohol, Cancer, Drug use, and Drug abuse
proudwing's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Loved the Martian yet found myself having to push through this at times. Much of the interplay in the Earth portions of the book reads more like a forum discussion than real conversation, and some of the dialogue and situations are cringeworthy to the point of wanting to hurl the book (the Courtroom scene and “Astronaut sex talk” particularly stand out). I found greater enjoyment in the sections set aboard the eponymous Hail Mary despite the protagonist (Ryland Grace) – academic exile and high-school science teacher – being no Mark Watney in terms of likeability or relatability.
The real star of the book (apart from Tau Ceti) is Rocky, the alien engineer. While this little guy does seem able to resolve just about any problem (Deus ex Petra?) that issue is overshadowed by the fun his character brings to the novel. The later chapters are much more enjoyable, with the plot now focused on the two explorers overcoming their barriers and resolving their shared problem with believable technobabble and high tension action set-pieces, elements which Weir seems particularly adept at writing.
Bit of a rocky road but overall, I liked the book and would recommend it to those who enjoyed the Martian with the caveat that it presents a situation far less believable.
One thing to note is that despite the fact the book is only a few years old, it feels surprisingly dated at times. Seeing the real-world struggle to resolve COVID makes the effective and united international response to the threat of astrophage seem… unlikely. And frequent references to the effectiveness of ROSCOSMOS and Soyuz, again seem… misplaced given their current reputation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Cannibalism and Drug use
violerwolf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book wildly oscillates between being 2 stars and 4 stars for me, so I averaged out the rating. People really love this book, and I understand why. Andy Weir has really mastered using tension and keeping you constantly guessing, wanting to find out the next piece of the astrophage puzzle. The science is written in an understandable way. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the humor and dialogue that Weir writes is.. painful. I hardly could get through the first 5 or so chapters of this book with its Marvel movie-esque “Well, that just happened” quips. The book excels at tense action, and I do love the relationship between Grace and Rocky , but I wouldn’t reccomend this if you’re looking for complex or interesting characters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Vomit, and Death
Minor: Cancer, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, and Suicide
Not-really-spoilers about the Suicide tag:tkivinen's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Fun premise, but not much character development and the translation I read was not the greatest, although there seemed to be a lot of puns so it's probably hard to translate them
Content Warnings
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Suicide
alicewolfe's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Death, and Abandonment
Moderate: Suicide and Grief
Minor: Excrement, Alcohol, and Drug use
charmainslibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Suicide
khaosiren's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Grief
Moderate: War, Vomit, Death, and Suicide
Minor: Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, and Child death
laynerinke's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
So fun, fast and heartwarming. I recommended it to my whole family.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Grief and Cursing
minella's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail
triple_m's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Highly recommend the audiobook, the voice actor is incredible and the 🎶 are delightful. Legitimately funny and I think it being in audio added to the humor.
This isn’t a book that I would normally read but I’m glad I gave it a chance. There’s definitely some science-dense sections but the author does a great job about rephrasing and dumbing down the topics so it’s easy to understand.
a really wholesome story and I still smile when I think about it.
This isn’t a book that I would normally read but I’m glad I gave it a chance. There’s definitely some science-dense sections but the author does a great job about rephrasing and dumbing down the topics so it’s easy to understand.
a really wholesome story and I still smile when I think about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Death
Minor: Gun violence, Suicide, Excrement, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts