Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

121 reviews

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!

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

singalana's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

brynalexa's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, and Cannibalism

lizziaha's review against another edition

• 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). 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Sexism, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and War

jodean's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, and War

temymm's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

Cannibalism notes: it’s not really cannibalism -

the mc has his cells cloned to make human meat

Animal death notes: brief description of animal testing Alcohol: a character drinks in celebration a few times Suicide:

there is a section where characters discuss their preferred method of death to prepare for the end of their journey. None of these suicides occur. Mc refers to the mission as a ‘suicide mission ‘ frequently.

kathrynok's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

toopunkrockforshul's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was just a wonderful book, I didn't know anything about it going in besides that I had enjoyed the Martian and this definitely delivered on that same vibe. I was not prepared for

Alien friendship and can now mark this as "books that make me cry about alien spiders"

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Cannibalism, and War

thecrimsoncorsair's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad 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

3.5

Great book that kept me invested throughout. I loved, loved, loved Rocky; and his friendship with Grace - the MC. I honestly loved Rocky far more than I did Grace. Ryland Grace is pretty much your typical mary sue, self insert type that Weir loves to write. So Grace often got on my nerves. Dude's a junior high school science teacher. I don't care if he was once in higher academia, he's just too good at everything he does. It got pretty annoying at times. But overall, I ignored it because I wanted to know what was going to happen, and if everything was going to work out. There were a few issues that were grating. One, it was a little too USA, USA, USA! At times. And there's one particular line about the US military being soooooo amazing that made me want to gag, but it is sparing. I just don't recall there being this much America-riding in his other books. I don't know, it was pretty bad when it happened though. Two, I'm not perfect at writing, but I'm also not an author. I noticed two very glaring errors in the book, and I couldn't believe it. One was so obvious I'm honestly shocked it got by multiple editors. I accept errors in self published books, or lower end books. It's to be expected. But from a book at Weir's level, it was kinda bothersome. Three, there was a lot of diversity. Multiple different people from multiple countries. I will give him that. But I swear to god they were all stereotypes of those countries. All of them. It was driving me nuts, and then my hunch was reinforced when he introduced the most stereotypical Canadian imaginable, and even wrote his dialogue with Canadian inflection. Lol. Dude. You can do so much better with international characters. I mean come on. Other than those small gripes I was immersed in the plot. I was immersed in the characters, and even the technobabble was interesting to read. With a little bit of overexplanation, but that's pretty typical of his books. The absolute best part, and where this book shined was the relationship between Rocky and Grace. And just for that alone, the book was absolutely worth the read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail