I’ve started reading Andy Weir’s novel Project Hail Mary these holidays, prompted by the recent release of the film based on the book. I have read and enjoyed his earlier novel, “The Martian”, a few years ago. I’m only about 20% of the way through the book, so these are early thoughts and we’ll see what I think of it by the end.

My first observation is that I’m finding it hard to suspend my disbelief reading this novel. Science fiction obviously involves situations that aren’t real and that, almost by definition, are outside of our experience. But in the case of this novel, it isn’t the big things that break the sense of belief, but the little details.

The main character, a lone surviving astronaut on an interstellar mission, is careless and cavalier in his behaviour on his spaceship. My understanding is that astronauts are incredibly careful and meticulous in their actions as they are living in a completely hostile environment and the only thing keeping them alive is the spaceship. There are so many ways that a spaceship can be broken through carelessness, that astronauts are extremely methodical and well thought out in their actions.

The Expanse series of novels articulates this well with their description of the culture of the belters - that part of humanity that lives permanently in space in and around the asteroid belt. This kind of small attention to detail is the sort of thing that helps build believability into the fictional world and provides it believeable depth beyond just a fun story.

My other observation is similar to an observation that I have heard about the Twilight series of young adult novels. The commentator observed that Bella Swan, the lead female point-of-view character in the series, is not distinctive and is a character that any young female reader could easily imagine themselves being. Ryland Grace, the lead character in “Project Hail Mary” also seems to be the sort of smart, mathematically competent character that any nerdy young male could easily imagine themselves being, despite the improbability of the plot.

Having said all of the above, the plot does move along at a reasonable pace, and it isn’t a painful read so far. But it certainly isn’t the greatest science fiction I’ve ever read.