Project Hail Mary

There is something about this book that just hums with life. Overall I loved it. I loved the plotline and the excitement and the scope. I was swept up in what is certainly a page-turner. But, for the life of me, it is one of the most difficult 5-star reviews I have ever given because in so many ways it didn't deserve 5 stars. The characters, even with nearly 500 pages to flesh them out, are pretty thin, outside of Dr. Grace and one additional character. The science, while fascinating, gets to be ridiculously monotonous. The wooden dialogue in some areas and the caricatures of characters are frustrating. I can suspend my disbelief about the grand ideas and unfathomable twists of the story more than I can for the outlandish notion that nearly all those portrayed in the book exercise the same sense of humor, especially given the gravity of the situation and the life and death circumstances. There were some twists added and arduous detours into theoretical space problems that simply didn't need to exist (the situation is incredible enough, thank you) and that only further exacerbated the book's issues. It reminded me quite a bit of the film, Armageddon, which is absolutely nuts and full of problems but is still such an enjoyable ride that you can't help but smile.
So, in the end I couldn't dock it. The fun of it all just made it impossible to not enjoy.