Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - Project Hail Mary

Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

28 reviews

allecat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

I have listened to the audio book version many times and can't stop recommending it. It's truly a wonderful and chaotic story.

Content Warnings

marioosa517's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

jj_tj's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

bomenvernietiger's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

I respect the general goal of making approachable but accurate science media, but when I set aside that appreciation for a moment and hold this book to the standard of anything else I read, it simply doesn't hold up.

There's a really interesting and well thought out plot, but it's massively dampened by the many little mistakes and plot-holes, prose that sounds like it came from a drunk text message, an overly light-hearted and casual tone that doesn't fit the story, a boring main character, events that are often way too plot-convenient, annoying humour, cheesy dialogue, and Andy Weir's stubborn unwillingness to explain or do research into anything that doesn't adhere to his highly specific personal interests. This last flaw is clear from his refusal to get into any substantial world politics even though a third of his book is supposed to be about international cooperation, and his _extremely_ half-assed attempt to conceptualise a pitch&harmony-based alien language, which contained mistakes which could only be possible if Weir did not consult a single semi-professional musician or musicologist before publishing.

This could have been an amazing hard scifi that teaches people about physics and astronomy, but it's written in such a way that the science never really matters; whenever there's a plot issue Weir's science can't solve, it's either glossed over or splattered with plot convenience sauce (aka 'xenonite'). It could have also been a nice, silly, emotionally deep, feel-good soft scifi, but the characters and the prose are way too dull for that, and anything heartfelt about the book is drowned in constant scientific explanations. Both of these ideas would have been great stories, but they were smashed together and the result is a mess.

This is extra sad considering Andy Weir can write something as good as The Martian. But looking back, the Martian already contained the cracks in Weir's storytelling which became full-on rifts

Content Warnings

the_real_al_cal's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I had to sit with this one for a bit before I wrote this review, which, for me, usually means the book was an instant favorite. I'm not generally a fan of sci-fi, because I get lost by the "sci" part, but Andy Weir did a fantastic job of making even the most complex science terminology approachable and easy to follow, which is no easy feat! Everything about the story--even the fictional parts--feel solidly believable through the sheer scientific thought put behind them.

Even if you usually swing more towards the fantasy side of the fantasy/sci-fi genre, I HIGHLY recommend this book. The way this book is organized is so impactful, with the main character waking from a coma out in space and unable to remember why he's there. Throughout the book, he slowly recovers his memories, thus discovering that not everything is as it seems.

I'm being a little vague in my review, because this book is fun to read without any prior information. But rest-assured, you won't regret picking up this book about courage, sacrifice, and, ultimately, eternal friendship.

Content Warnings

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative 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? It's complicated

4.75

Content Warnings

zosiablue's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny inspiring tense fast-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? No

4.5

Ah I really loved this. The friendship at the center of it made me 😭 several times, and I'm going to be thinking about it for a while. You could make a case that the dialogue is just on the edge of corny and that there's too much step-by-step science, but the story overshadowed any complaints. It was lovely and alien and hopeful.

Content Warnings