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A review by bigteo
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
adventurous
challenging
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? No
5.0
Oh my god. I LOVE this book! I love it so much, if anyone’s reading my review stop what you’re doing and go read it I BEG.
I’m not too great at writing positive reviews. It’s much easier (and more fun) to pick apart things and criticise them. So what I’ll do instead is address my thoughts on some criticisms I’ve seen in some reviews.
Firstly, I’ve seen people say that they could not understand the science talk in this book, even to the point of DNF-ing. I understand that some people struggle with this and I’m not here to argue with that or call anyone stupid or something. I will simply say that in my opinion, you don’t really HAVE to understand the science side of it. I don’t really get the specifics of how a centrifuge works, but the book explains that it affects gravity, and why that’s important to the characters, and therefore that’s the all information you really need. I feel like the author does a great job at “dumbing” down concepts like these but also explaining how it works and why it’s relevant. For example, I don’t fully understand time dilation. I’m not a scientist, I don’t have a phd in anything. But I understand that going near the speed of light means that relative time to you is, like, longer to someone on earth. That’s all I need. And it makes sense for the character to explain that to you. He’s a scientist himself, why wouldn’t he? He also has amnesia, and he’s trying to piece together what’s going on at the same pace as the reader. It doesn’t take me out of the story at all, in fact, it makes me feel really interested. I personally really enjoy learning alongside reading. Maybe it’s a personal preference but it makes me really appreciate how much time and research the author has obviously put into the story.
Another criticism I’ve seen floating around is that the female antagonist character is sexist. Well, yeah, she’s an antagonist, and she’s called out on it? It doesn’t really matter. This book doesn’t really have a diverse cast of characters because, by nature of the plot, it can’t. So I’m not too bothered about that. The characters that do exist (especially a certain character that appears in the second half of the book) have excellent dialogue.
So there are some slight criticisms I have. Maybe the main character IS a bit bland, and that’s probably because book is in first person, which isn’t my cup of tea. And for the first half of the novel, the main character has no-one to say anything to. Those things are literally the only thing I can say that are even remotely negative.
Aside from that, the book literally made me cry at the end and books don’t often do that to me. I am IN LOVE with a certain character that appears in the second half. The book just gets better and better as you read on.
I’m not too great at writing positive reviews. It’s much easier (and more fun) to pick apart things and criticise them. So what I’ll do instead is address my thoughts on some criticisms I’ve seen in some reviews.
Firstly, I’ve seen people say that they could not understand the science talk in this book, even to the point of DNF-ing. I understand that some people struggle with this and I’m not here to argue with that or call anyone stupid or something. I will simply say that in my opinion, you don’t really HAVE to understand the science side of it. I don’t really get the specifics of how a centrifuge works, but the book explains that it affects gravity, and why that’s important to the characters, and therefore that’s the all information you really need. I feel like the author does a great job at “dumbing” down concepts like these but also explaining how it works and why it’s relevant. For example, I don’t fully understand time dilation. I’m not a scientist, I don’t have a phd in anything. But I understand that going near the speed of light means that relative time to you is, like, longer to someone on earth. That’s all I need. And it makes sense for the character to explain that to you. He’s a scientist himself, why wouldn’t he? He also has amnesia, and he’s trying to piece together what’s going on at the same pace as the reader. It doesn’t take me out of the story at all, in fact, it makes me feel really interested. I personally really enjoy learning alongside reading. Maybe it’s a personal preference but it makes me really appreciate how much time and research the author has obviously put into the story.
Another criticism I’ve seen floating around is that the female antagonist character is sexist. Well, yeah, she’s an antagonist, and she’s called out on it? It doesn’t really matter. This book doesn’t really have a diverse cast of characters because, by nature of the plot, it can’t. So I’m not too bothered about that. The characters that do exist (especially a certain character that appears in the second half of the book) have excellent dialogue.
So there are some slight criticisms I have. Maybe the main character IS a bit bland, and that’s probably because book is in first person, which isn’t my cup of tea. And for the first half of the novel, the main character has no-one to say anything to. Those things are literally the only thing I can say that are even remotely negative.
Aside from that, the book literally made me cry at the end and books don’t often do that to me. I am IN LOVE with a certain character that appears in the second half. The book just gets better and better as you read on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content
Minor: Injury/Injury detail