Breanna
This book turned out to be a decent little fantasy romance.
I LOVED Telon the most; he reminds me a lot of Lucien from ACOTAR. Utterly charming and funny, with noble grace too boot!
I did not love the "misunderstanding" trope the story was written around. I get that there has to be some kind of conflict, but I find that trope to be one of the most obnoxious. It wasn't enough to ruin the book, but it did make me want to slap both the FL and ML multiple times. 😂
This book turned out to be a decent little fantasy romance.
I LOVED Telon the most; he reminds me a lot of Lucien from ACOTAR. Utterly charming and funny, with noble grace too boot!
I did not love the "misunderstanding" trope the story was written around. I get that there has to be some kind of conflict, but I find that trope to be one of the most obnoxious. It wasn't enough to ruin the book, but it did make me want to slap both the FL and ML multiple times. 😂
I have not seen the film, though I'm sure I will in the future.
I loved the Martian (both book and movie).
I did not love this book. I liked it, but won't be revisiting it in the future. I honestly found the writing significantly weaker than The Martian.
To me, it seems like Andy Weir just wanted to share a bunch maths and science he came up with about an alien species he created in his mind, with us (us being fans and readers in general), but knew that most people would likely get bored very quickly just reading paragraphs of maths and science, so he slapped a story on top of it.
Honestly, that's not even the issue I had with this book.
My biggest complaint is the 1st-person POV and the amount of "telling" the main character, Dr. Grace, does, and not nearly enough "showing". The POV would not have been an issue for me if Dr. Grace did more showing of his actions and didn't spend paragraph after paragraph explaining the math and science of Astrophage, water, fuel, alien metal etc. But as I already stated, I think Andy Weir came up with all this in his head space, jotted it down, and realized he needed to add some kind of story to it for the rest of us. Sadly, it just lead to weak prose.
My favorite parts were with Rocky of course. Funny enough, I did like it when Dr. Grace explained how and why Rocky functions the way he does. I liked when he SHOWED how Rocky eats, and why he does it the way he does. Andy Weir does seem to do a slightly better job about showing us things in regards to Rocky; that he's still heavy even in Zero-G (as Dr. Grace struggles to move an unconscious Rocky around), how his vents work and that his insides are still soft tissue that can scab. Their banter was also fun to read. And I liked that Rocky got better at wording and understanding English by the end of the book (he did have like, 15 years of practice!).
I wanted more of that!
Stratt was an interesting character. I'm sad Dr. Grace didn't get to surprise her by showing up to Earth alive BUT I also get that she would have been in her 50's or 60's, and may not have even survived the wars, famine and mini-ice age either. Her character's closure was fitting; do evil, to save the rest of humanity.
I do think that if Dr. Grace decided to stay on Erid; he ought to have asked Rocky and the other Eridian's to make a few Astrophage-powered engines that would be powerful enough to give energy to a few large cities that would last them 200-300 years, put them on the Hail Mary, and then send the ship back to Earth with Dr. Grace not on it. That way, humanity would have a fantastic energy source that would help pull them out of the ice-age and back on course of being a interstellar species.
I want to try a Meburger. Just once. For science!
Also, the story IS "woke" and political. I don't care what Andy Weir says about his own writing; Project Hail Mary is clearly a metaphor for Climate Change. Even the main character tells his class of 8th graders that Climate Change is absolutely real and being caused largely by humanity within the first four chapters. Astrophase is basically Climate Change on steroids; instead of warming the planet, it causes an ice-age.
All major nations working together to save the species? Woke and political.
Those same nations electing a single individual to make all the tough decisions, regardless of how big or small they are, and they elect a woman? Woke and political.
Having the main character spend a lot of time on a Chinese air-craft carrier alongside Russians while they do math and science for the sake of humanity? Woke, political AND Communism!
Having the original lead scientist that was supposed to go on the Hail Mary and the woman that would have taken his place if she didn't die with him, be a black man? Woke and political.
Have the main character, Dr. Grace, not declare he believes in a higher power or the afterlife? Woke and political.
Intelligent alien species and the theory of Panspermia? Woke and political.
I can't help but think the author is just saying the story he came up with isn't "woke or political" because he WANTS those, who would otherwise not read his books or watch the movies based off them because it's "woke/political and therefore bad", to read and watch them, thereby exposing them to those same "woke and political" idea's in the first place. It's like putting a pill in some food to trick the dog to eat it. I get why he's doing it, but it comes off as a dad slightly embarrassed by his own son.
I have not seen the film, though I'm sure I will in the future.
I loved the Martian (both book and movie).
I did not love this book. I liked it, but won't be revisiting it in the future. I honestly found the writing significantly weaker than The Martian.
To me, it seems like Andy Weir just wanted to share a bunch maths and science he came up with about an alien species he created in his mind, with us (us being fans and readers in general), but knew that most people would likely get bored very quickly just reading paragraphs of maths and science, so he slapped a story on top of it.
Honestly, that's not even the issue I had with this book.
My biggest complaint is the 1st-person POV and the amount of "telling" the main character, Dr. Grace, does, and not nearly enough "showing". The POV would not have been an issue for me if Dr. Grace did more showing of his actions and didn't spend paragraph after paragraph explaining the math and science of Astrophage, water, fuel, alien metal etc. But as I already stated, I think Andy Weir came up with all this in his head space, jotted it down, and realized he needed to add some kind of story to it for the rest of us. Sadly, it just lead to weak prose.
My favorite parts were with Rocky of course. Funny enough, I did like it when Dr. Grace explained how and why Rocky functions the way he does. I liked when he SHOWED how Rocky eats, and why he does it the way he does. Andy Weir does seem to do a slightly better job about showing us things in regards to Rocky; that he's still heavy even in Zero-G (as Dr. Grace struggles to move an unconscious Rocky around), how his vents work and that his insides are still soft tissue that can scab. Their banter was also fun to read. And I liked that Rocky got better at wording and understanding English by the end of the book (he did have like, 15 years of practice!).
I wanted more of that!
Stratt was an interesting character. I'm sad Dr. Grace didn't get to surprise her by showing up to Earth alive BUT I also get that she would have been in her 50's or 60's, and may not have even survived the wars, famine and mini-ice age either. Her character's closure was fitting; do evil, to save the rest of humanity.
I do think that if Dr. Grace decided to stay on Erid; he ought to have asked Rocky and the other Eridian's to make a few Astrophage-powered engines that would be powerful enough to give energy to a few large cities that would last them 200-300 years, put them on the Hail Mary, and then send the ship back to Earth with Dr. Grace not on it. That way, humanity would have a fantastic energy source that would help pull them out of the ice-age and back on course of being a interstellar species.
I want to try a Meburger. Just once. For science!
Also, the story IS "woke" and political. I don't care what Andy Weir says about his own writing; Project Hail Mary is clearly a metaphor for Climate Change. Even the main character tells his class of 8th graders that Climate Change is absolutely real and being caused largely by humanity within the first four chapters. Astrophase is basically Climate Change on steroids; instead of warming the planet, it causes an ice-age.
All major nations working together to save the species? Woke and political.
Those same nations electing a single individual to make all the tough decisions, regardless of how big or small they are, and they elect a woman? Woke and political.
Having the main character spend a lot of time on a Chinese air-craft carrier alongside Russians while they do math and science for the sake of humanity? Woke, political AND Communism!
Having the original lead scientist that was supposed to go on the Hail Mary and the woman that would have taken his place if she didn't die with him, be a black man? Woke and political.
Have the main character, Dr. Grace, not declare he believes in a higher power or the afterlife? Woke and political.
Intelligent alien species and the theory of Panspermia? Woke and political.
I can't help but think the author is just saying the story he came up with isn't "woke or political" because he WANTS those, who would otherwise not read his books or watch the movies based off them because it's "woke/political and therefore bad", to read and watch them, thereby exposing them to those same "woke and political" idea's in the first place. It's like putting a pill in some food to trick the dog to eat it. I get why he's doing it, but it comes off as a dad slightly embarrassed by his own son.
