Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

39 reviews

teabrewer's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I loved this book! I loved the characters, the world-building, the references to other works of scifi, the surprising ending, the themes of friendship and the scientific sections.

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sandreline's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful medium-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? No

5.0

At about the halfway point of the Hail Mary Project, I knew exactly how it was going to end. I knew all the beats it was gonna hit. And I still enjoyed every minute of it.

Comforting, almost to the point of being saccharine. But like. Just so good. 

It's like if you took the intellectual, self-serious 2010's sci-fi movies (Interstallar, Arrival, Oblivion, Gravity) and then injected them with JOY (and a smidge of Roland Emmerich). 

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jstilts's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Not as good as "The Martian", but what is? Andy Weir's latest novel is hard to review without spoiling the plot, especially as the lead is amnesiac - slowly revealing the backstory as more pressing events unfold. So comparing it to his previous work is probably the best I can do.

What I can say is compared to The Martian this is much more speculative forward-looking SciFi disaster novel that borders on the fantastical - which is fun and well done, so long as you can get past the first few chapters that may have you wondering if this is a light re-tread of The Marrian. It's not, but it's fair to say it shares similar themes of isolation and problem solving, but of a distinctly different flavour.

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pagesforages's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring reflective tense medium-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

5.0


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corallydeer's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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

5.0

This book was absolutely fantastic. I read it in tandem with the audiobook in a book club setting alongside my husband and it was such a great time. As far as the book itself is concerned, I truly adored the whole story and was glued to it the entire time. As a note: I have not read The Martian (yet) and have only seen the movie, so I can't speak to any comparisons between the two books. I did see in previous reviews that some people felt like Grace was pretty much the same character as Mark Watney just rebranded as a
quirky school teacher
, and while I do agree with this point I don't feel like it detracted from the story at all. If anything I felt like blending that personality with someone who's
a teacher
was incredibly fitting and made it extremely relatable as someone who
works in education
.

I loved all of the directions the story took and the details; every time I felt like I had a handle on where the story was going it would throw a slight curveball and I'd be glued to my chair trying to figure out what in the world was going to happen. I adored
Rocky
so so much as a character; my husband and I both loved that
he wasn't a stereotypical humanoid alien
as well and the details describing him were incredibly well done. The relationship between the two characters was hilarious and heartfelt and left my husband and I crying in the car on multiple occasions. I strongly agreed with this one comment on a Tiktok video about the book by someone named Amanda that said:

"
The way Grace went from being forced to sacrifice himself for humanity to voluntarily doing it for Rocky [...]
"

This book truly left such a wonderful impression and is easily getting categorized into the books I wish I could read again with no memory and will easily be a reread-er for me.

As an additional review for the audiobook: I 100% recommend that everyone try out the audiobook either in tandem with the book or on its own. It's easily one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to and was so masterfully done. The way that they did
Rocky's dialogue
was phenomenal and blew my husband and I's minds. And we were blown away by the level of emotion that the narrator put into Grace's parts. It was truly an amazing part of the whole experience for us!

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smothermewithscifi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.0


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jasminrain's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really enjoyed this one. I cannot say that Weir is a phenomenal author when it comes to the use of language or creating characters - original ones at least - but his world-building and storytelling are phenomenala. I had no knowledge about the book prior to reading it and I ended up really enjoying it. In particular, the interspecies relationships with aliens and the non-human centric themes of the book were phenomenal. Would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in space and dystopian novels.

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jess4276's review

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


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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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jodean's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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