Andy Weir Archives - Gary David Gillen

Introduction

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is the author’s most recent novel. Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship flying to a destination unknown. He has no memory of his past, of why he is on this interstellar mission, or why his crewmates are dead. He must discover the nature of his mission. If Ryland doesn’t solve these problems, the human race will perish.

Summary

In Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, Ryland Grace wakes up to a feminine computer voice. They hooked him up to monitors, and he was tired, so he goes back to sleep. They locked him in a room with two more patients who are dead in their hammocks. Ryland doesn’t remember his name or where he is located.

Ryland tries to get up, and the trauma causes a flashback. In the flashback, he gets an email from a Russian scientist urging him to help her with a problem involving an unusual IR emission headed toward Venus. He drops out of the flashback.

Ryland discovers they connected his chamber to a laboratory. He examines the equipment and performs tests that convince him he is not on Planet Earth.

Ryland must put these revelations together to understand his mission. His life and all the lives of the people on Planet Earth depend on him solving the problems put before him.

Recommendation

I thought this was a great novel. Ryland Grace was an engaging, smart, and resourceful character. He used the resources available to him to try and solve a difficult problem. I was surprised and pleased when the story turned from a problem-solving story to a story about first contact. I thought the ending fit the character and was happy with how it turned out.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

My book review of Artemis by Andy Weir. Jazz, a poor smuggler & thief on the moon colony of Artemis, dreams of being rich. A little sabotage and she can retire with a million slugs. She must improvise or face death. How can she survive and get her money too?

Introduction

Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara is a poor smugggler and thief on the moon colony of Artemis. She dreams of being rich, but won’t get involved with drugs and guns though that is where the most money is. That is until she gets an offer she can’t refuse. All it’ll take is a little sabotage and she can retire with a million Artemisan slugs. But the best laid plans never work and she must improvise or she’ll be killed by a Brazillian drug cartel assassin or die with everyone else in Artemis by poisoned air. How can she survive and get her money too?

Summary

Jazz came to Artemis as a little girl, she is 24 at the time in the novel, so the moon is all she knows. Her father is a welder who wants her to work with him, but she doesn’t want that boring vocation. She works as a porter, waiting until her plans pay off. What she wants is to earn her EVA license, so she can get big money conducting EVA tours at the Apollo 11 landing site for tourists, but she fails her test which sets the caper into motion. She longs to pull off the big score. She’s small, smart, and sassy. The novel is seen from her perspective. Any task she tries, she succeeds, but she is usually unmotivated to try. Trond, a billionaire speculator, makes her an offer she should refuse, but she decides to take it to accomplish her goal to become rich. Jazz starts her scheme but must rely on her friends; techno geek Svoboda, smuggler partner Kelvin, and her EVA master friend Dale, the gay guy who stole her boyfriend for himself. All of them and Jazz’s father get involved with her plans. To accomplish her goal, Jazz must face Rudy the cop, an assassin, the Artemis colony leader, and the architect of the Aluminum smelter that Jazz must sabotage.

Recommendation

I enjoyed reading this novel. It runs at a brisk pace. Jazz has a sarcastic voice like Mark Watney from The Martian, also written by Andy Weir, but she remains a young woman. Her challenges come quickly one after another. The science is woven into the story deftly. She analyzes her options and figures out ingenious solutions as she goes. The story barrels on to the end. The side characters are memorable, and the conclusion resolves the plot satisfactorily. Highly recommended.

Links

Link to Goodreads page for Artemis

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34928122-artemis?ac=1&from_search=true