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A review by mkhare
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
4.0
4.25 stars. After not being fond of The Martian at all, I'm not sure why I put another Andy Weir book on my TBR - turns out it was a good idea after all. Pretty much all of the problems that I had with the Martian were not present in Project Hail Mary.
In The Martian - Mark/the main situation seems to have no real backstory - here the situation is extensively delved into via intermittent flash backs featuring many characters and Ryland Grace keeps the audience apprised on his personal status and thoughts about it along the way.
In The Martian, Mark doesn't seem to express emotional/psychological changes or outbursts after extensive isolation - here, Grace is far more expressive in both past and present and while these expressions are overall 'tempered' compared to some other books I have read (to be fair, this is not a character-driven book), it still suits both the overall accessible, positive tone of the book and my own expectations for a main character far better. Grace's situation and outlook is overall presented to be more 'hopeful' than Mark's, though the situation is still very dire, and I think this appealed to me a lot more.
In The Martian, there is never really a build up and dissipation of tension or fear for the main character when problems arise. Mark was always instantly solving the problem with detailed scientific/engineering solutions. Grace also doesn't waste time solving the issues that arise, but as he is more expressive it allowed me to feel more connected to him and thus worried for him. I must admit, I still skimmed over some of the scientific/engineering explanation around 3/4 of the way through the book but I was delighted and intrigued by Grace's problem-solving abilities (and the problems themselves) in a way that I wasn't with Mark's.
Overall, the approach to this story and main character was far more successful than The Martian for me, and I had a pretty delightful time flying through my reading. The amount of thought and research that must have gone into making this sci-fi story so very believable is simply staggering to my unfortunately STEM-averse brain - hat's off to you Mr Weir.
In The Martian - Mark/the main situation seems to have no real backstory - here the situation is extensively delved into via intermittent flash backs featuring many characters and Ryland Grace keeps the audience apprised on his personal status and thoughts about it along the way.
In The Martian, Mark doesn't seem to express emotional/psychological changes or outbursts after extensive isolation - here, Grace is far more expressive in both past and present and while these expressions are overall 'tempered' compared to some other books I have read (to be fair, this is not a character-driven book), it still suits both the overall accessible, positive tone of the book and my own expectations for a main character far better. Grace's situation and outlook is overall presented to be more 'hopeful' than Mark's, though the situation is still very dire, and I think this appealed to me a lot more.
In The Martian, there is never really a build up and dissipation of tension or fear for the main character when problems arise. Mark was always instantly solving the problem with detailed scientific/engineering solutions. Grace also doesn't waste time solving the issues that arise, but as he is more expressive it allowed me to feel more connected to him and thus worried for him. I must admit, I still skimmed over some of the scientific/engineering explanation around 3/4 of the way through the book but I was delighted and intrigued by Grace's problem-solving abilities (and the problems themselves) in a way that I wasn't with Mark's.
Overall, the approach to this story and main character was far more successful than The Martian for me, and I had a pretty delightful time flying through my reading. The amount of thought and research that must have gone into making this sci-fi story so very believable is simply staggering to my unfortunately STEM-averse brain - hat's off to you Mr Weir.