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A review by debthebee13
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
5.0
**Warning, minor spoilers ahead.**
When humans learn that the sun is getting dimmer at a rate which will set off a new ice age and destroy all life on Earth, the nations join forces to put together a crew that is soon reduced to just one person, who has to find out what's happening and put a stop to it. However, this ends up being a heartwarming story about the unlikely friendship of two science geeks as well as the growth of one coward into a hero.
The author, Andy Weir, became widely famous after his book, The Martian, got its own movie. I haven't read The Martian yet, but since the main character spends a lot of time alone in both book mentioned, I would assume that they could be written in a similar style. One of my other favourite stories, the Chronicles of Amber, also starts with the main character waking up with amnesia, so the way Ryland Grace kept discovering his mission and recalling his own memories reminded me a bit of our first enocunter with Corwin in that classic fantasy series. This way of narration gives space for a natural introduction of background information and world and character building.
Since this book is written from a perspective of a microbiologist and I'm a molecular biologist myself, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to its audio version narrated by Ray Porter. It could be the one book that aligned most with my particular sci-fi interests ever since I read The Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card. Spoiler alert: this book is more than just about one simple life form threatening the sun, it is also a story on the first friendly contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life and the joint effort of one scientist from Earth and one Eridian engineer working together to save both their species.
I don't have many points that I could critique negatively when it comes to this book. There were a few particular times when the inner monologue of our hero was a bit annoying or cringey, but those times lasted short and were less frequent later in the book when he wasn't just talking to himself.
This book is mostly told from a first person perspective by a lone scientist/astronaut, so it can be a great fit for experienced hard sci-fi readers and those with a scientific background (mostly in physics and chemistry), but it might not be a good fit for someone who doesn't enjoy scientific topics that much or likes faster paced stories.
My final rating is 5/5 stars for now, because I enjoyed where this story went and how it was told, even though I don't have extensive sci-fi reader knowledge to properly compare it to other pieces from this genre. I'm happy that for me, it lived up to the hype and gave me a chance to explore listening through a longer audio story than those I've picked up so far.
When humans learn that the sun is getting dimmer at a rate which will set off a new ice age and destroy all life on Earth, the nations join forces to put together a crew that is soon reduced to just one person, who has to find out what's happening and put a stop to it. However, this ends up being a heartwarming story about the unlikely friendship of two science geeks as well as the growth of one coward into a hero.
The author, Andy Weir, became widely famous after his book, The Martian, got its own movie. I haven't read The Martian yet, but since the main character spends a lot of time alone in both book mentioned, I would assume that they could be written in a similar style. One of my other favourite stories, the Chronicles of Amber, also starts with the main character waking up with amnesia, so the way Ryland Grace kept discovering his mission and recalling his own memories reminded me a bit of our first enocunter with Corwin in that classic fantasy series. This way of narration gives space for a natural introduction of background information and world and character building.
Since this book is written from a perspective of a microbiologist and I'm a molecular biologist myself, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to its audio version narrated by Ray Porter. It could be the one book that aligned most with my particular sci-fi interests ever since I read The Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card. Spoiler alert: this book is more than just about one simple life form threatening the sun, it is also a story on the first friendly contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life and the joint effort of one scientist from Earth and one Eridian engineer working together to save both their species.
I don't have many points that I could critique negatively when it comes to this book. There were a few particular times when the inner monologue of our hero was a bit annoying or cringey, but those times lasted short and were less frequent later in the book when he wasn't just talking to himself.
This book is mostly told from a first person perspective by a lone scientist/astronaut, so it can be a great fit for experienced hard sci-fi readers and those with a scientific background (mostly in physics and chemistry), but it might not be a good fit for someone who doesn't enjoy scientific topics that much or likes faster paced stories.
My final rating is 5/5 stars for now, because I enjoyed where this story went and how it was told, even though I don't have extensive sci-fi reader knowledge to properly compare it to other pieces from this genre. I'm happy that for me, it lived up to the hype and gave me a chance to explore listening through a longer audio story than those I've picked up so far.