A review by else
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I accidentally stayed up till 5 am last night reading this book... oops! It's a book I can't put down. I'm enjoying it. except for the feeling I have to constantly stay on guard for problematic bits.
For example: According to one of the characters there should not be any sexual tension between astronauts and her solution is to only use heterosexual men. wait WHAAAAT!! aaargh!! It's challenged a little bit in the book but in doing so another character makes a racist 'joke'. WTF!!!

This book has really interesting ideas and concepts in some ways, very dull unoriginal ideas in others. I don't read that many books by white cis het male authors anymore and to me it's glaringly obvious this book was written by a white cis het man. I really enjoyed reading it, but I'm so glad I read more diverse authors nowadays :)

If you enjoyed this book I highly recommend 'To be taught if fortunate' by Becky Chambers. It's a similar genre of Science Fiction and it can think of better solutions than 'only straight male astronauts to avoid sexual tension'. 

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