Writings of a Reader: September 2021 Book Club: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Sunday, September 19, 2021

September 2021 Book Club: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi
Content: Strong language

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crew mates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

***

"Another day, another staff meeting. Who would have thought saving the world could be so boring?"

Who would have thought a book about it could be so boring?

I admit I went into this book knowing that I would probably have mixed feelings about it. I had already read The Martian and liked certain things about it and disliked others. It's hard sci-fi and that's not really my thing. Sorry but I prefer space adventure to scientific research.

Structurally this book was a lot like The Martian, with the exception of the dual timelines. Things pretty much happen in the same kind of order in both books, and Ryland Grace felt exactly like Mark Watney, only with no family and friends. The exact same things I disliked about The Martian were here, only in spades. I thought The Martian was tedious in parts and didn't have enough adventure at times, but at least Mark Watney went out and explored the planet. The main character in this book does almost nothing but sit in a lab on a space ship. I mean sure, he's doing stuff, stuff to save the world, but not exciting stuff.

There is so much scientific research and experimentation in this book. It's interesting to a point, but this whole book is full of it. It was like sitting in a physics class and trying not to fall asleep. I was ready for something exciting to happen, and it took far too long for anything remotely exciting to happen. Even then it was only mildly exciting. I was at least 60 percent into this before it stopped boring me to death with the science and actually did something. For me, there is just not enough character, plot and story in this book to make up for all the scientific textbook-like facts. I would much rather read about the results of the science than the science itself, and I would rather read about the people and what makes them who they are.

Ok, so those are my complaints, but I do think it's a well researched book. I can see why certain personality types or people with certain interests would like it, and I still liked things about it, despite the parts I found boring. I enjoyed the bits of humor that were sprinkled throughout, and the banter between characters, so amidst the boredom I would occasionally smile or laugh. That was the only thing that kept me going. I also started to enjoy the book more when Rocky was introduced. He was interesting and I liked the friendship that developed between him and Ryland. These are the only reasons I gave this book 3 stars instead of 2.

I would only recommend this if you like hard sci-fi with lots and lots...and lots of scientific research and experimentation, and maybe also are a math and science geek.

As with most of our book clubs, one of the best parts is coming up with the refreshments that fit the theme of the book.

Here are some photos of what we came up with this time:

Jello with round candies in it: Astrophage being consumed by Taumoeba