The depiction of Russians and the Chinese is stereotypical to say the least.

Stratt, the monomaniacal head of Project Hail Mary was a ridiculous two dimensional character. It is absurd that Grace is whisked from his high school teaching job to investigate the astrophage, however impressive his previous life in academia was. Weir is unabashedly geeky in his science – and the excitement of discovering alien life, of investigating the astrophage, of meeting another space ship – and later its sole inhabitatnt, Rocky – is incredibly infectious and charming. And once in Tau Ceti, Ryland Grace realises that humanity is not the only civilisation to suffer from astrophage infection, not the only civilisation to send a ship to investigate. Weir has incredible fun devising ways to send astronauts over the twelve light years to Tau Ceti – aided by the plot point of having the astrophage capable of being used as incredibly potent fuel, capable of sending a spaceship across the stars. To save earth, a mission is sent to Tau Ceti, the only star that seems unaffected by the so-called astrophage. Slowly, once conscious, he deduces that he is on a spaceship having woken from a coma with no memory – for many chapters, he was unable to remember his own name.Īs the memories return – which allows Weit to show us a number of flashbacks – we learn that an alien life form has been discovered migrating between the Sun and Venus… and consuming enough of the sun’s energy to plunge the earth into a new ice age with its concomitant destruction of ecologies, habitats and social order.

The novel opens with our hero – the Gary Stu to trump all Gary Stus – struggling to wake up and being harassed by a computer. Normally, this would cause a book to hemorrhage stars in a review and yet, somehow, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed this one despite – perhaps because of – its flaws. His language is pedestrian, his characterisation limited, his plot points strain credibility and threaten the willing suspension of disbelief.

Andy weir books