Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Andy Weir writes exactly one kind of book and this is the best version of it he has written. Competent guy, hostile environment, whiteboards full of math, jokes at the exact volume of dad jokes. If you liked The Martian you already know if you'll like this. If you didn't, you won't, and no one should try to convince you otherwise.
where it beats The Martian
- There is a second character. I cannot say more than that. The reveal happens early enough that most reviewers spoil it and I refuse to. But the second half of this book has an emotional register Weir has never reached before, and it is entirely because of who that character turns out to be.
- The stakes are bigger without ever feeling abstract. Weir keeps the problem-solving small even when the plot is not.
where it doesn't
- The framing device (memory loss) is a bit rickety. It lets Weir withhold information but it's clearly a scaffold, and by the last third he's stopped bothering with it.
- The prose is functional and only functional. Nobody reads Weir for the sentences. That is fine. Just be warned.
- A small subset of the science is more optimistic than plausible. I don't mind. Some people will.
would I re-read
Yes, but not for a couple of years. The joy of this book is the discovery in the second act, and I'd want to forget it a little first.