Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

164 reviews

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. 

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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.

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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:

The major plot point is that Project Hail Mary is a suicide mission.

akirma's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Grief, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Minor: Alcohol and Cannibalism

sandreline's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Kidnapping

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicide and Grief

Minor: Excrement, Alcohol, and Drug use

jstilts's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Kidnapping

jenropell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Addiction, Grief, Medical content, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

pagesforages's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Drug use, and Pandemic/Epidemic

corallydeer's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Suicide, Confinement, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Minor: Excrement, Blood, Cancer, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Sexism, Cannibalism, Cursing, War, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

Confinement

(Grace is technically confined on a pretty small spaceship throughout most of the book and is also forcefully confined in a cell in a later part of the book)

| Death

(death is an extremely large part of this book since it's focused on a suicide mission)

| Grief

(Grace experiences detailed grief over the loss of his crewmates and his own impending death)

| Medical Content

(there are various bits of described medical situations including blood draws, the use of the Nannybot, catheters, etc)

| Suicidal Thoughts & Suicide

(one of the primary plot points of the book is that the Hail Mary mission is a suicide mission; the main character regularly thinks about this and it comes up in detail in a number of flashbacks)

| Alcohol

(recreational drinking is described on a few different occasions, including for celebrations)

| Drug Use

(one of the astronauts on the Hail Mary mission requests a recreational drug to use up until committing suicide upon completion of the mission)

| Fire/Fire Injury

(Grace experiences chemical burns from ammonia and fire is depicted in a few situations)

| Gun Violence

(one of the astronauts on the Hail Mary mission requests a gun for his preferred method of suicide upon the completion of the mission)

| Injury/Injury Detail

(there are a number of injuries experienced and sustained throughout the book)

| Kidnapping

(Grace is revealed to have been forced onto the Hail Mary mission and is essentially kidnapped and confined for this)

| Animal Cruelty

(the Nannybot arms on the Hail Mary are revealed later on to have been perfected through animal experimentation)

| Blood

(there are minor depictions of blood through blood draws and at the beginning of the book with the removal of the catheter)

| Cancer

(there are minor references to cancer in relation to radiation and exposure)

| Cannibalism

(it is revealed in the very last chapter that for Grace to survive on Erid the Eridians eventually learned how to clone his muscle cells and produce meat for him so he is essentially experiencing self-cannibalism)

| Cursing

(Grace pretty much never curses due to his habits as a teacher, but other characters curse a bit)

| Excrement

(there is the usual understanding of where drinking water comes from on the Hail Mary ship [recycled and treated urine] and later on there is mention of "poop" related to the waste coming from the Taumoeba cells)

| Murder

(it's revealed later in the book that Stratt forced Grace to go on the Hail Mary mission to which he accuses her of murdering him since he doesn't want to go)

| Panic Attacks/Disorders

(Grace experiences a panic attack when first exposed to zero g's on the Hail Mary)

| Sexism

(Stratt reveals during the Hail Mary astronaut selection process that she specifically put the call out for heterosexual men because she didn't want to deal with potential sexual tension on the mission, this is called out and results in a bit of back-and-forth)

| Sexual Content

(some of the astronauts that volunteered for the Hail Mary mission openly discuss their sexual escapades in relation to enjoying their finals days alive on Earth)

| Vomit

(periodically there are small bits of depicted vomit like when Grace enters zero g for the first time or experiences painfully high g's)

| War

(there is passing speculation throughout the book about the potentials for widespread war on Earth while Grace is in space trying to save the planet, but we never see any of it as the reader)

bluedesi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative inspiring lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A struggle to read at times from someone who is not a scientist and struggles at simple concepts at times so my review is just coming from the emotional side of things more than anything else.

Rocky, my new favourite character!!!! Having Grace go back to him to help was so hard to process at first but he made the choice he felt was best. I’m so glad there was a happy ending honestly, so many tense moments and shit situations.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail