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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.
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.
I’m about 2/3 of the way through the book and have only watched the first part of the trailer. Got a glimpse of Rocky, and tried to avert my eyes.
Yeah, Ryan Gosling doesn’t fit my mental image of a nerdy science teacher, but he’ll put butts in the seats. I think I’ll go see the movie in the theaters, something I hardly ever do nowadays.
I’ve finished the book. Being no science geek myself, I had to lightly skim the parts that were big chunks of math, physics or chemistry - rather like skimming the sailing lingo in the Aubrey/Maturin series. I liked the book very much. It was a satisfying finish and I look forward to seeing how close they stick to it in the movie.
We saw the trailer when we saw Wicked, and as a result I decided to give the book to my geeky STEM-oriented 10-year-old for Christmas. (I’d already read it when it came out, when obviously he was much too young to read it, and had forgotten about it as a potential book for him until then.) He absolutely adored it, inhaled it in a way that I don’t see him do with most books, and is so excited for the movie, which is coming out near his birthday.
I was thinking it might be a good birthday-party-ish thing for him (he’s not a big party kid, he would just invite a few friends). Would it be appropriate for a bunch of 10/11-year-olds? I get the impression it’s going to be rated PG-13 which gives me a bit of pause. If it’s rated PG then I’ll definitely do it for his birthday.
…Hmm, after writing that I am leaning towards just letting the parents know and discussing with them, since it would only be a few of them. I already know one set of parents would be “of course that’s totally fine,” and another would be “probably not if it’s PG-13,” lol, and I don’t know about the others.
I suppose it could, given that The Martian was PG-13. There’s no sex or violence, but I guess the threat of an apocalypse or the mummified corpses of the other astronauts could be scary for some kids. And there will probably be some profanity.
I like your idea to go for it and let the parents decide. Most PG-13 hesitant parents I know are concerned with sex and/or violence, so maybe this one will be fine.
Ohhhh that’s useful to know that that would be why it would be PG-13. My brain also immediately goes to sex or violence and I thought maybe there could be, like, idk, space-related violence they interpolated in? (but why?) but I was racking my brains to figure out how or why they’d put sex in this one, lol!
The Martian was PG-13 mostly because of 2 seconds of Matt Damon’s bare ass and two voiced “fucks”. So yeah, one or two swear words, and maybe a quick shot of Ryan Gosling’s rear getting out of a cryo chamber.
I just learned about this from this thread! I’m thrilled because I loved the book…and now I only have to wait two months for the release of this film instead of eight months. I definitely intend to see this in the theater. While it’s mildly unfortunate the trailer spoiled the beginning of the book (with its locked room puzzle), I guess they figured the point of a trailer is to get people to see the movie. Mission accomplished in my book…I think the trailer looks great.
A few people have noted they really liked Artemis. I loved The Martian and Project Hail Mary, but haven’t been able to get into Artemis. Guess I should try again.
One thing I didn’t love about Project Hail Mary (book version) is how f**cking whiny the protagonist is. The fact that they ultimately had to induce anmnesia and put him on the ship involuntarily reflected extremely poorly on him, especially when (as the trailer points out) he would otherwise die with everyone else on Earth…and BTW also condemn all of his students to death. The whole “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few… or the one” is pretty compelling, and he resisted being “the one” to such a ridiculous extent that it took me out of the story. I just wanted to slap him after a certain point. The reaction of Eva Stratton in the movie trailer is completely on point to me, and it looks like Sandra Hüller is going to do a great job portraying her.