Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

65 reviews

julia09's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted 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

5.0

Oh boy, this was an amazing read! Project Hail Mary is yet another brilliant Sci-Fi masterpiece by Andy Weir. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found the characters lovable. I really appreciated the real science involved, and, of course the not-so-real topics.
the meeting with alien life is not real (not yet…) but was also very enjoyable. Ryland and Rocky’s relationship is the best and I love how they learned each other’s languages.
 
Rocky is the best alien companion I love him <3

I recommend this book for any and all Sci-Fi lovers. The real science, however, can be a bit overwhelming sometimes but the story line makes up for it. It picks up pace about a third of the way in, but when it picks up pace it really PICKS UP PACE!

I found the ending to be so heartwarming, I really loved it and enjoyed reading this book.
5/5 for sure



Expand filter menu Content Warnings

teabrewer's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lord1906's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

proudwing's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.5

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. 


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

akirma's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful medium-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

4.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

minella's review against another edition

Go to review page

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


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

pagesforages's review against another edition

Go to review page

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


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

corallydeer's review against another edition

Go to review page

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!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

brynalexa's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lizziaha's review against another edition

Go to review page

  • 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). 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings