Project Hail Mary/A Natural History of Dragons: Dual Review

Links to books I talked about in this video
(These are affiliate links. If you buy through these links, I get a small percentage of the sale):

0:00-Intro

0:23-A Natural History of Dragons (Spoiler Free)

8:11-Project Hail Mary

15:08-Project Hail Mary SPOILERS

20:55-Outro

WHERE TO FIND ME:

[lostschedule]

That character from Project Hail Mary (you all know who) is the best side character I read in a long time.

[RKStumblingbear]

I think Ryland Grace being a teacher gave the character a good way to explain science without being overly info dumpy. And his passion just makes me smile.

[UdyKumra]

I was about 1/3 through Project Hail Mary when I realized it centered on a best friendship and my first thought was "Merphy's gonna love this."

[tokiomitohsaka]

Spoilers for Hail Mary…




I loved Stratt’s character, her utilitarian philosophy resonates with my own quite a lot. At the same time, I understand why people hate her.
I love Rocky and Grace’s interactions, it was super enjoyable.

As for why Grace didn’t send one of the Beatles. I wouldn’t have sent any early on either. They gave him 4 Beatles for redundancy so their journey home will be much more likely that at least one of them would survive and save the Earth. Sending a Beatle to Earth without a solution would be reducing the probability of success for the mission. Also, there is no reason why he couldn’t send the Beatles later with the solution AND information about his encounter with an intelligent alien.

Also, I really loved the ending where he is teaching alien kids. That was the best possible way to finish the book in my opinion.

[donsample]

My spoilery response to Merphy's complaint about the beetles:




Sending one of the beetles back early would have been pretty pointless, and might have doomed the earth. All of the info Grace collected on Rocky and the Eridians would have been included on all four of the beetles when they were eventually sent. Sending a beetle back before he had completed his mission would have increased the probability of total mission failure by 1 in 4

[Enigmanaut]

First, I am going to recommend the Martian. It's another sciencey, but approachable story, and despite the dire situation the main character is in, it's fun and funny. It's also a very quick read. Well worth your time.

As for the ending of Project Hail Mary, I actually emailed Andy Weir about it, and he answered me! Space for Spoilers.
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Hopefully, that's enough. This was my question:


Hello, Andy.

First, I want to say I loved Hail Mary. I did have a few questions at the end, though. You were once kind enough to answer my Martian/Artemis question, so I was hoping you might be so generous once again.

I just wanted to know if Grace loaded the Beetles with information about Erid, Rocky, and Xenonite, and did he tell them that he had been the only survivor, as well as his intentions of taking Rocky to Erid?

Would every Earth telescope be trained on 40 Eridani after the Astrophage problem was dealt with?


This is his answer:


I don't define things that aren't on the page. The rest is left open to your imagination.

Though I do have sequel ideas. :)


So, if you want to believe he loaded up the memory on the Beetles (they had just gobs of it) with details about the mission, Rocky, Erid, Xenonite, and a "Dick move, Strat!", well that's your prerogative. He may revisit it at some point, but for now, believe what makes you happy about the details he included.

[hermiona]

Project Hail Mary was a delight to read. There is a lot of science in there but in the end I got the gist of it. This book was so emotional for me that I cried a couple of times. The ending just broke me. I think it was lovely. I love the plot twist and how the main character grows throughout the book. But I really recommend The Martian such a good read too!

[ChrisJones-hvmo]

W.R.T. Project Hail Mary, my niece tried to get everyone she knew to read it, but no luck. Eventually I was persuaded (to listen to the Audible version), and finished it yesterday.

<mild spoilers>

I thanked her for the recommendation and reflected: "I am sure you must have felt a bit like Rocky, alone on his spaceship for more than a decade. He kept trying to work the problem, and you kept trying to get someone to read the story.

Your wait is over"

BTW, I really enjoyed the Audible version. Very good narration, plus Rocky speaks in tunes like an organ 🎹

Rating: Happy, happy, happy!!!!

[kinahthecat]

I read Project Hail Mary as an audiobook and I absolutely loved it. I liked The Martian, but didn't like the main character much. Project Hail Mary is very similar in terms of story structure, but with better characters.
SPOILERS
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I thought the audiobook worked especially well once Rocky was involved. His different mode of communication was shown really well, without distracting from the dialogues.

[Micktrex]

Really happy you loved A Natural History of Dragons!

I'm not much of a classical fan, but I immediately got the vibe of it being 'Jane Austin with dragons' and loved the series. It truly is hard to compare the books to any I've read before. Since you're so positive about the first book and the main character I think you'll love the rest of the series. I look forward to future reviews!

[zugabdu]

That whole Natural History of Dragons series is such a treat! Finish the series if you loved the first one; they only get better as the main character grows and gains more depth and maturity and the setting expands. The main character doesn't get any less bold, but she does become smarter, more self-aware, and empathetic as the series progresses. Anything set in 19th century England or a fantasy version of it has to win me over (I'm just tired of seeing that be the go-to fantasy setting over and over again), but this did the trick.

[andrewf]

100% agree with you about the that character in Project Hail Mary. One of my all time favorite characters. Made the book for me as well.

[wendylowder]

100% on point with Project Hail Mary!! It was fun hearing exactly what I thought verbalized by you here.

[freebo]

came here for the project hail mary review and got put on to a whole other series

subscribed, thanks for the review

[JapanSun]

Spoilers for Hail Mary:



I really liked the endig of Hail Mary, because the book, for me was not really about the earth it was the vehicle to get the story going but. For me the book was about ingenuity, curiosity and the drive to learn more. It shows how people (irregardless if they are human or rocky shaped) can overcome large obstacles through these traits. The best excample would be how Rocky and Grace learned to communicate, it wasn't instant, it was a process.

And regarding Strat, she was the embodiment of the phrase "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of few" and for that I personally loved her.

[SirZeu]

merphy talking about rocky: me: YES YES YES

[Lynn-CA]

Two of my favourite reads this year, so glad you loved them both!

[AdeelTariq]

Spoilers for Hail Mary
I think it was implied that Grace did send all his notes on Rocky with the beetles. It'd won't align with his character to not do so. He was recording the language all along obviously. And I think its mentioned multiple times how important xenonite will be for humans and he had plenty to send back samples. And Grace did say at least at one point something about taking notes on Rocky. AND Beetles had terabytes of data storage so it makes sense for him to send pretty much everything he learned on the mission.

[astellus]

I think I recommended A Natural History of Dragons to you years ago! I'm so pleased you picked it up and loved it as much as I did. I have the entire series and have enjoyed them all...and those covers are STUNNING. Marie Brennan is such an underrated author! I always try to steer people to her books. :)
Also, as I'm watching this video, I'm reading Project Hail Mary and had to stop at Chapter 7, so I'm there. I'm at the very edge of discovering this character that I think you're talking about and I cannot wait to go home and read more of this book. I love his writing!

[themeanderingsoul]

Omg I'm so happy that you enjoyed Project Hail Mary! It's one of my favorite reads this year so far. Such a delightful read ❤️