Project Hail Mary

Just devoured this book in three days, absolutely loved it. Compared to Artemis this book is much more like The Martian, a two fisted tale of a man's survival using science and engineering against the odds. Both Hail Mary and The Martian to me read like a throwback to Boy's Life, or those survival-against-nature stories Reader's Digest used to publish. It's kind of a retro genre, and definitely out of step with the contemporary focus on thoughtful social writing from diverse perspectives. It's also for me a really fun kind of book to read full of page turning excitement and excellent fantasy. And that's OK too!

At first I thought this book was basically going to be The Martian 2. But it solves that story's problem by getting significantly more interesting, complicated, and varied as the narrative goes on. No spoilers but suffice to say the problems our hero has to Science and Engineer his way out of are numerous and varied in their problems. Also there's enough relationships and emotions to give our main character some real shape and meaning, not just be some two dimensional Macgyver expert. It all comes together remarkably well, great read.

Update read this a second time excited for the movie and enjoyed it as much or even more. What strikes me this second time is just how well crafted the book. The pacing is exciting all the way through (if a bit relentless) and the scenarios are varied and it's interesting. It almost feels like there's too much towards the end, the last two twists, but then they add a lot of meaning. That he was forced to go on this mission he didn't want to go on. And then that he chose to do the minimum to save Earth and went instead with his new friend. It's kind of a surprising turn for a hero and I liked it.

I'm very curious how the movie is going to work, a lot depends on how they portray Rocky. Also they have to cut some of the story out, right? There's too much to put every action-packed scene on screen.