Project Hail Mary

Yesterday afternoon I bought Andrew Weir's Project Hail Mary which this evening I have finished. I didn't buy it last year; I had the suspicion I could get a used copy soon-enough. Last weekend was soon enough, $10 hardcover.

I don't like this book enough to avoid spoilers, but I like you dear reader enough to forewarn you that spoilers be forthcoming. Also I am sequestering the Kulturkrapf upon which other reviewers have insisted.

Weir for this book takes themes from Asimov's B tier of novels, of which I caught The Gods Themselves (language translation, alien genitalia, a new energy-source for good or for ill) and The Stars, Like Dust (dying suns, forced amnesia). In their spirit, I guess, Weir's science depends on some conceits as are likely unlikely, like a star-eating chemical organism that absorbs... neutrinos. But if you're watching any "kino" with faster-than-light travel or alt-universes then you don't get to complain.

More unfortunate is that 40 / ο² Eridani (A) seems not to own the advertised planet. This prospective superearth was un-found during the runup to publication, which is how come the Wikipedia page looks messy right now [UPDATE 2/20/23: and how]. It was always unlikely given 40 Eridani A shares its space with a binary of smaller stars revolving a common barycentre; one of them is white-dwarf so has blown up and imploded already. Thus, you'd think, nuking A's planets. Thus, before any of this even formed, making a hash of A's disc.

As for novel quality: it's just The Martian In Space. ο² was likely chosen in the first place only because of Star Trek lore re: Vulcan. The book's protag is Weir's self-insert who loves science carnally, whose interpersonal relationships revolve around work - here with an alien rather than with a crew across dozens of millions of km of space. Where Weir's avatar is left to himself, he solves all problems by himself. This worked for Matt Damon in The Martian - perforce; it does not work where Damon (or Gosling I hear) is on Earth with some access to staff. Later we do learn of this character's personal flaws but not before we see how AWESOME he is, at SCIENCE. Some editor needed to stop there, flip back to the beginning, and Aristotle the sh1t out of the earlier chapters.

I am glad I did not pay full price for this.