I love Andy Weir’s books (yeah, only two before this one, but they were both great) and after Project Hail Mary, I can say that he is still batting a thousand in my opinion. This book was so incredibly good. And I definitely cannot wait to see this one as a movie. I hope Ryan Gosling is going to play Rocky….okay, from here on out there will be spoilers.
I love how the book starts out with us and the narrator being completely confused as to who he is and why he is waking up from a coma. As the story goes, he has flashbacks of memories that help fill in the gaps and help him remember what is going on.
I loved that Weir brought in aliens, since his first two books did not have them at all and stuck to the more realistic parts of sci-fi. He still has plenty of cool science stuff (the whole Xenonite thing made me think it was just made up, but then I looked it up and it turns out that xenon does become metallic at high pressures. How cool is that?
Also, the fact that Rocky and the Eridians are in some ways more advanced than us, but also slightly behind us. No computers (they are incredibly good at math and their memories are way better than ours). They do not understand relativistic physics, nor do they know about radiation. It is such an interesting take on an alien species.
But honestly, the best part is the bond that Grace forms with Rocky. There are multiple moments when it seems that Rocky is a goner and it definitely brought some tears to my eyes. I could totally see this being a Wilson moment in the movie. Imagine seeing this ugly spider-like alien who looks unlike anything on Earth, and by the end of the movie we totally love the guy and want him to save his planet.
The ending was good. Ryland Grace chooses to send the Beetles home and go back to save Rocky. Then the Eridians find a way to keep him alive on their planet and they synthesize food for him (he eats MEburgers, hahaha). He has the option of heading back to Earth, but at the moment he is enjoying his life teaching Eridian children (and maybe he and Rocky could go out on another mission to search for more life).
Anyways, if you read it, what did you think? Also, if you listened to the audiobook, how did you feel about Ray Porter reading instead of R.C.Bray who narrated The Martian? It was weird since the Bobiverse is narrated by Porter, so it felt like this book belonged in that series.
