A review by proudwing
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Loved the Martian yet found myself having to push through this at times. Much of the interplay in the Earth portions of the book reads more like a forum discussion than real conversation, and some of the dialogue and situations are cringeworthy to the point of wanting to hurl the book (the Courtroom scene and “Astronaut sex talk” particularly stand out). I found greater enjoyment in the sections set aboard the eponymous Hail Mary despite the protagonist (Ryland Grace) – academic exile and high-school science teacher – being no Mark Watney in terms of likeability or relatability. 

The real star of the book (apart from Tau Ceti) is
Rocky, the alien engineer. While this little guy does seem able to resolve just about any problem (Deus ex Petra?) that issue is overshadowed by the fun his character brings to the novel.
The later chapters are much more enjoyable, with the plot now focused on
the two explorers overcoming their barriers and resolving their shared problem
with believable technobabble and high tension action set-pieces, elements which Weir seems particularly adept at writing. 

Bit of a rocky road but overall, I liked the book and would recommend it to those who enjoyed the Martian with the caveat that it presents a situation far less believable. 

One thing to note is that despite the fact the book is only a few years old, it feels surprisingly dated at times. Seeing the real-world struggle to resolve COVID makes the effective and united international response to the threat of
astrophage
seem… unlikely. And frequent references to the effectiveness of ROSCOSMOS and Soyuz, again seem… misplaced given their current reputation. 

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