Project Hail Mary

Starring the same character from The Martian, with small tweaks, this book tries to replicate the funny guy doing math & science to avoid death, but weirdly changes the stakes. Instead of the thoroughness from the Mars mission, or the sardonic and casual rebellion of Artemis—also entertaining—this book leaves a lot on the table.

The science is somewhat sloppier, the jokes not as funny, and the relationship rushed. The whole second half of the book feels like it was written hastily under a deadline and a maximum word count.

The main character needed more depth, more difference from Watney, and then about 800 more pages of telling the story properly instead of rushing to an improbable and trite ending. Oh well.