sh00g reviewed Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
A Fun but Tedious Journey
3 stars
Content warning Spoilers
This book is a good time. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was generally good, the exception being the choice to attempt accents for all characters in the book which led to some pretty problematic portrayals. This is sort of handwaved away by constantly reminding the reader that Ryland Grace is a "cool" white guy, including many quips where he accuses the no-no sense Stratt of various types of discrimination.
The most enjoyable part of this story is the science. This book is fun to read for the same reason that many childrens' fantasy stories are fun to read—all the scenes are, fundamentally, mysteries. It is genuinely satisfying to see a scientific problem being slowly described and come to the right conclusion just before Grace does in the story. That happens a lot, however, so if that small burst of satisfaction at "cracking the case" isn't for you, this book will be a long and dreary read. There are many, many scenes that, if plot were the only concerns, could be cut entirely from the book without losing anything of substance.
Regarding the plot, it's a fun concept connected by lots of assumptions. If you can buy that those assumptions make sense, the story will be entertaining to you, but I found many of these assumptions so outlandish it diminished the story. The entire world unanimously agrees to give Stratt, who has a degree in history, the ability to do whatever she wants and break any and all earth laws and control the most powerful militaries of the world? A public school science teacher with no formal astronaut training or history of government service is third in line to go on a mission that will doom or save all of humanity? Humans collectively agree to engage in widespread biosphere destruction on a scale never before witnessed by Earth and not a single state or terrorist group or other rogue actor is able to mount a competent defense?
Yeah. It takes a lot of handwavium to get through it. The single biggest detraction from the story in my opinion is the infantilization of Grace. He even jokes about it early on when he opts to say "fudge" instead of "fuck," but it gets downright annoying by the halfway point that this character is seemingly incapable of expressing true emotions about anything, including expanding his vocabulary to include words that are beyond what middle school children would use.
Aside from those issues I did enjoy the book. It is overwhelmingly optimistic with the "best case" ending, so if you're expecting any tear jerking you won't get it here. Character development is paper thin, but the plot is interesting enough to keep your attention.
