Context: I've for a while had a goal to write a post once a week that I've not been meeting. Since I've started writing notes in a journal about each book I've read, I'm going to cheat and start typing up those when I can't think of something more novel to blog about.
Project Hail Mary is a solid scifi story. The amnesia plot device is an interesting method of revealing the back store, and as usual Weir has a reasonably solid scientific grounding for events. PHM continues Weir's standard form mainly being competency porn, with the main character solving numerous problems over the course of the story. This is Weir's style, and he writes it well, although it's definitely a specialisation.
The interactions with the alien are really good and portrays a positive first contact (no Dark Forest in Weir's universe). Rocky is well crafted and the nature of a creature for whom sound is the primary sense are handled realistically (e.g. not realising Grace can tell the planet is getting hot while they are taking the sample by seeing it start glowing).
Overall a small step up from The Martian, and a big improvement on Artemis, which suffered for being much more protagonist vs the consequences of their previous actions rather than the protagonist vs the situation.
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