Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Adventures in Space That Live up to the Hype

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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I’ve been itching to read this since I finished The Martian, and my expectations did not let me down. I was so surprised by the unexpected event that occurs partway through the book – not a twist, but not something I was expecting, and it was so exciting! I’m trying to avoid spoilers, as you can see. The book starts with Ryland Grace waking up with amnesia from a coma and discovering that he is on a spaceship and that that spaceship is not in […]

Lost in space, above all drifting…

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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Official book description: Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission – and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses […]

Determined Optimism

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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Project Hail Mary was a real interesting thing to read in April of 2022. I struggled with Weir’s premise that the world would come together to save Earth. I switched back and forth between this and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Eyes of the Void (review coming soon), and I think that helped me appreciate Weir’s optimism. Do I think it’s realistic? No. Do I think it’s necessary? Yes I do. This is going to be less of a review and more of me back on my bullshit […]

Recaptures most, but not all, of the magic of The Martian

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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I, like most, loved Andy Weir’s debut The Martian. Maybe it helps that I don’t have a firm grasp on the vast majority of the science in it, but it felt grounded in reality in a way that lots of science fiction isn’t. Naturally, then, I knew I had to read Project Hail Mary as soon as I learned of its existence. I couldn’t not return to that well with Weir; I watched the Matt Damon-led Martian film without hesitation for that very same reason. With […]

Can’t believe I’m saying this, but… Meh.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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Aw man. I was so excited for this one. It’s been on my wish list since it came out. I haven’t read anything else by Andy Weir, but the reviews were fantastic and the premise was cool.  It’s been a few days since I finished Project Hail Mary, and I’ve been putting off this review, hoping I’d like it more upon reflection. That didn’t happen, and now I’ve got to put it into words. What it boils down to is that the narrator drove me […]

Saving Grace

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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I’ve read all of Andy Weir’s books. He’s written three so that’s not exactly a major achievement, but it does give me the opportunity to compare and contrast them. Like most people I enjoyed The Martian but did not care very much for Artemis (which, well-intentioned though it may be, is a textbook example of how not to write a strong female character). I loved Project Hail Mary, though with a couple of caveats. But hey, that’s what reviews are for.  First up: it’s really […]



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