I'm taking a moment away from the Champions Let's Read so I can talk about this book. I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie recently, which inspired me to re-read this book. Written by Andy Weir (the guy who wrote The Martian), this is another hard science fiction tale that has much bigger stakes than The Martian ever did. Sure, Mark Watney's heroic efforts to survive on a dead planet were great, but Ryland Grace is trying to make sure Earth doesn't become a dead planet. And he's in a whole other solar system, which is orders of magnitude more awesome than just being on a local planet. And you can consider that your SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!! for this post.
So, this story is told in two parts: Present day, and flashbacks. The present day sees Dr. Ryland Grace trying to sort out the basic questions like, 'What the hell is going on?', 'How did I get here?', and 'Why are there two dead people lying next to me?' He eventually discovers that he is on a spaceship, the sole survivor of a crew of three, and he's approaching the Tau Ceti star and solar system. So he is a long, long way away from home. And he's not alone.
The flashbacks slowly reveal how Grace got to this situation. He was a simple middle-school science teacher who also happened to be a notorious figure in the scientific community. That notoriety gets him drafted to solve a major problem with the sun losing its energy and heat, which threatens to send Earth into a permanent Ice Age that will destroy most life on the planet. Over time he discovers not one, not two, but three alien forms of life in his efforts to solve the problem and save Earth.
Alright, what works here? Pretty much all of it. The mystery of Grace's past and activities leading up to the Hail Mary mission is very well handled, especially the final surprise twist. Grace is recovering from coma-induced amnesia throughout most of the book, meaning we learn pieces of the backstory at the same pace as he does.
The mission itself is a sci-fi nerd's dream. The character of Rocky is one of the best-developed aliens in science fiction. He's not a human with pointy ears or even humanoid at all; he's truly alien, with a whole different math system, an incredible talent for engineering, and almost no clue about science other than the basics to keep himself alive, because like Grace, he's the sole survivor of his own mission. The two of them form an unbreakable bond that enables them to do what they have to do to save both their worlds.
So, what doesn't work? Not much; the story is tightly-plotted and easy to follow even if you're a scientific imbecile. My biggest issue is the character of Eva Stratt. I don't like her. I know, I'm not really supposed to, but she smacks of the annoying 'girl-boss' trope that has infected so much of pop culture over the past decade or so. She's extremely unlikeable, and even resigns herself to being tossed in prison after the launch of the Hail Mary because she's so extreme in her methods to make the mission work. She orders governments around and makes lifelong enemies work together. Sure, the mission requires that level of pigheadedness, but I'm just tired of seeing the necessary characteristics embodied in a woman. If that makes me a sexist or misogynist, so be it; at this point, having a male character in that position would actually feel like a novelty.
Now, don't misunderstand me; I see Stratt's motives and how her way of doing things is pretty much the only way things would ever get done in a crisis like this, especially when you get layers upon layers of bureaucrats all trying to protect their own fiefdoms even in the face of literal global armageddon. Again, though, this could have just as easily been a man. In fact, if you change 'Eva' to 'Evan', you'd find almost no issues with the gender-swap. And that is the biggest problem: Stratt isn't a character; she's a plot device, and a very abrasive one.
Other than that, though, I like how the book reads. The discovery of Rocky's own ship, the tense atmospheric work to retrieve samples, and Grace's reaction to the realization that this was always intended to be a one-way trip is handled very well. And the final chapter is poignant and wonderful all at the same time.
The book is entirely self-contained; there's no point in a sequel anyway, just like there wasn't a point to doing a sequel to The Martian. It is what it is, and doesn't need to be anything more.
This is the second of Andy Weir's books that I have read, and I've read both of them multiple times. I'm looking forward to the movie next year, because I have a feeling this is going to be truly epic.
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