Andy Weir
Book Review
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I am 40 pages in and so far a majority of the book is different journal log entries from the single perspective of the astronaut trying to survive Mars. Coming from the Project Hail Mary book, this one is different from what I expected.
When there is only one perspective and it’s a long, drawn out, survival story, I usually pass. It gives me 1,000 hours vibes and I don’t need to relive someone sawing their own ligaments off to escape.
It is packed with theoretical botany science and goes into depth of how to make a greenhouse etc, so it is neat from that perspective. See, I want to geek out about light waves and sound waves and how our species fundamentally developed over time and what makes us human. I want to see what Mars might look like, rather than a survival story.
AHHH I just skipped ahead 20 pages and peaked. I see dialogue and different characters. I need to give this book more of a chance, as it might just have a fairly slow, dense start.
UPDATE!
I am now on page 55. I AM HOOKED. This is why it is so important to try to get to the half way point of a book before giving it up. I get so impatient sometimes.
Be warned, any discussion further will potentially contain spoilers!
Ok, I am a bit bummed.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but this story just didn’t do it for me. I persevered and finished the book, but I won’t lie, I skipped a page here and there.
Why?
More than 80% of the book is log entries.
I thought, ok, well hopefully this will be jam packed with science.
I forgot the protagonist is a Botanist and fixes things – so not the science I have much interest in. I do not care about the specifics of growing plants – I have a garden in my backyard I can learn from. I do not care about how fast a theoretical rover could go with enough solar power. I was aching for cool science and felt this book didn’t deliver for me.
Now, this is obviously a very personal experience I had with this book. Had it been more focused on computer science or on the NASA headquarters, I likely would have been more intrigued by this book.
I am giving it 3 stars because I did not enjoy finishing this book. It was a DNF initially, was a 5 star book around 60 pages in, and then dwindled down to three stars by the end. I hope this makes sense as a fair rating.
After doing further research, it looks like Artemis has a similar issue. Not enough of actual science and space is mentioned, and it seems the book is not well liked. Hail Mary may have been his best work. This is a typical issue I have noticed, as it’s reallly really hard to make a good book excellent. Typically even in a series, fans heavily dislike and struggle to get through at least one book. I will forever love Hail Mary, but I will be adventuring into other authors like Martha Wells for now.
See you online!
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