[Not moderating]
The bit that @Stranger_On_A_Train mentioned didn’t bother me, given the context and given that we can’t really say for sure that it’s wrong. And I rather liked that the problem was also the solution: It was a clever way of making that sort of story work, in the way the author wanted. But the Macguffin absolutely does not obey the laws of thermodynamics, as applied to light. Which, granted, is an application of thermodynamics that isn’t as familiar to those who don’t work with it directly.
Overall, I still found it a good book, and there’s a convention in science fiction that a work is allowed one outright impossibility, so I just filed that away as the book’s one impossibility. But I would still rank it lower than both The Martian and Artemis, largely for that reason. Also, Grace is a little bit too Mary Sue-ish for my tastes: OK, one individual can make a couple of the key discoveries, but not all of them, and it felt a little artificial that he was also one of the 0.1% of the population who was able to handle an induced coma.
I was listening to an interview many years back with Neil Degrasse Tyson and they asked him what science fiction movie or book had most accurate depiction of science. He said The Martian.
Sounds like not so much with Hail Mary, but I’m not a sticker for that stuff, I just want a good story. And I love Ryan Gosling. He’s a damned good actor with incredible range.
And the Spider-Verse movies are exceptional so I’m optimistic about the directing, even if it’s not Ridley Scott.
Apparently I’m an outlier. I felt Artemis was a much better book than Project Hail Mary.
I am the rare person who liked Artemis best of the 3 Weir books, in large part because Jazz was not a white guy. Still snarky and hyper-competent, but I liked the differences. Also, Artemis is the first lunar colony that made any economic sense to me. Nice world building there, Andy!
For PHM, I like the trick of turning the problem into the solution. I’ve seen that done in real life science, and it’s a rare and wonderful treat. The stakes in PHM were much bigger than the other 2 Weir novels. Both of those are classic SF features. I did have problems with the unobtanium breaking physics rules it didn’t have to. And with the other unobtanium being just too damn perfect for what was needed. Those are also common SF features, unfortunately. The book’s still a fun ride, IMO.
Oh, one other thing I didn’t like: When he eventually found the solution, it was annoying that it hadn’t already been considered by all the Big Brains back home. I mean, obviously, they didn’t know it would be the solution, but it should have been discussed as a possibility, and plans made in advance in case it was. As it was, Grace had to kind of kludge together a way to implement the solution.
All I have to say is that my mental picture of Ryland Grace was literally the exact opposite of Ryan Gosling. The only thing they have in common is the similarity in names. He’s supposed to be a self-conscious chubby awkward nerd, not a GQ cover millennial hipster.