Thanks to @randomhouse for sending me Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I read this one for book club. I read The Martian years ago and loved it at the time. This book was fun but ultimately felt like more of the same.

Weir definitely knows how to write a page-turner. This book starts with an astronaut who wakes up on a space ship with limited memory of how he got there, with two other crew mates who didn’t survive the journey. He slowly begins to remember the details and realizes that it’s up to him to save earth from astrophage, an alien organism absorbing the sun’s energy. It’s exciting to see Weir’s problem-solving at work, and I love how based in science his books feel. Eventually, though, this book felt repetitive - every other chapter he has to face a new challenge, and of course since he’s the smartest astronaut ever, he’s able to solve every problem in the nick of time. After a certain point I just wanted the story to resolve.

The other thing that bothers me about Weir that I just can’t get past is that his audiobooks are Audible Exclusives. Someone pinged him on Twitter about it and his response was that writing is his full time job and he needs the money…. Just rubbed me the wrong way because isn’t the revenue from his blockbuster hit movie enough? He couldn’t take a small cut to let his audiobook be available through indie bookstore and libraries? Made me not like the guy. He seems like a jerk.

Overall this was a fun/quick read, but felt very similar to The Martian. Since this was the second of his that I’ve read, it was less novel and exciting this time. I’d recommend if you really really loved The Martian, or if you haven’t read The Martian and want to try some fun sci-fi.