Book Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Let’s start with what a Hail Mary pass is. I knew that it was a desperate, last ditch effort, and that the only place I’d heard of it was in relation to American football.  According to Wikipedia, “A Hail Mary pass is a very long forward pass in American football, typically made in desperation.” There’s generally a pretty low probability that it will succeed.

This tells us right off the bat that the story is opening in a bad situation and someone is trying something desperate to fix it.

The main character is Ryland Grace, something even he doesn’t know at the beginning of the book. Grace awakens alone, not even knowing who he is, on a ship in space, with two clearly long dead crewmates. Are there other crew mates on the ship somewhere, dead or alive? Why is he here? What is his goal? How can he accomplish it on his own? Most importantly, who the heck is he?

Surprises abound throughout this book for me, always a pleasant thing when I can’t predict how a book is going to go. In fact, I often try not to read the description of a book ahead of time so that it can’t give me too much information. (That's easier to do when I've read something else by the author that I've enjoyed. I loved his first book, and enjoyed his second book as well.)

Action on the spaceship is interspersed with scenes that explain how he came to be there, why he’s there, and the challenge he faces, as Grace remembers things from his past. They are just as much a revelation to him as they are to the reader. 

I really appreciate how the author describes scientific information in simple, accessible ways, often by creating a question in the reader’s mind before answering it. He also describes the science without trying to tell us the exact formulas most of the time. It’s far more accessible to those of us who don’t have the math knowledge to truly understand the science.

I also really appreciate how he takes us through Ryland Grace’s thought processes as he poses a question, thinks through it, and eventually answers it, mistakes and all.

I can very much see this being made into a movie, though I’m concerned that they would leave too much out, as they did with The Martian, another book by Andy Weir that was turned into a movie starring Matt Damon. I enjoyed the movie, don’t get me wrong, but it left a lot out that explained some key points for me. I don’t think I would have enjoyed the movie nearly as much if I hadn’t read the book first.

I listened to this book on audio and found myself continually picturing William Hurt as the main character for some reason. The voice actor, Ray Porter, does a wonderful job bringing the story to life. His female voices leave a little to be desired, but I’ve found that to be the case with virtually every reader who is doing the voices for a character who is the opposite sex to their own.

A friend who is still reading the book told me that it really pulled her out of her reading slump as each chapter drew her on to the next. She didn’t want to put it down. Personally, I am a little sad that I’ve reached the end, though I found the conclusion perfectly satisfying.

This was a great journey and I heartily recommend it to anyone.

Book Review: Artemis by Andy Weir

 

Artemis

by Andy Weir

This month, the theme for my book club is a whole genre, science fiction. I admit I haven’t been reading much of that lately, but a friend reminded me that one of my favorite science fiction author in recent years, Andy Weir, had a new book out recently. (I talked about his book, The Martian, on this blog some time ago, you can find that post at https://storymusing.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-martian-by-andy-weir.html ) My library doesn’t have his newest, Project Hail Mary, available in digital format yet, but they did have his second book, Artemis, which I had not read either.

Artemis is a fascinating story set on the moon in a settlement where people live in bubbles, and far underground. The main character, Jazz Bashara, is a young woman who workers as a porter, and as a smuggler. The story is told in the first person from her perspective and her voice is fantastically distinctive.

“Whatever it was, I couldn’t find any mention of it online. That meant it was a secret. Now I really wanted to know what it was. Turns out I’m a nosy little shit.”

By her own admission, Jazz has made some pretty poor choices in her young life, and it is her propensity for making such decisions that drives this story forward. It seems perfectly logical at the time, as she relates the story, but we can see her life going off the rails. She’s a little bit of an anti-hero, but she has her own standards and sense of honor. She won’t take payment for a job not completed.

Jazz has been smuggling stuff people need for a while, but here she takes on a different job, much more complex, with dangers she has no idea exist. Every time I turned around, this book morphed on me into a slightly different story. There are revelations about things that happened in the past through letters with her pen pal on Earth, and revelations about things Jazz doesn’t know yet. I love twists and turns in stories.

Another thing I love about Weir’s writing is how he works explanations of fairly complex science into the narrative by creating a question in the reader’s mind that he then answers in fairly conversational language through his narrator. It makes it so much more accessible and interesting than the information dump that writers are often prone to in trying to set up a reader for a situation.

The setting itself is complex and fascinating. The gravity is 1/6^th that of the Earth and they have a terrible nutritional food named gunk. Then there’s the whole issue of how oxygen is created, which plays a central part in the story.

This one is compulsively readable and I highly recommend it.

Book Review: The Witchcraft Mysteries by Juliet Blackwell

 

The Witchcraft Mysteries

by Juliet Blackwell

This is a long running series with the 11^th set to come out soon, which I found via my library’s digital catalog. I’ve now read through the sixth book, A Vision in Velvet, and don’t find myself tiring of it at all. It’s a cozy paranormal mystery with a light touch of romance.

Lily Ivory is a natural witch who just happens to have settled in San Francisco and opened a vintage clothing store. She doesn’t shy away from using her witchcraft but not indiscriminately. For example, Lilly can sense some of the past of the owners of the garments, and she uses her magic to cleanse them of those impressions before she resells them. Brewing is her area of expertise, using supplies from the garden she seems adept at nurturing.

Lily had a difficult childhood, growing up in a town with people who were not okay with her natural talents, and her parents were not nurturing. Her grandmother raised her and taught her, but the town ran Lily off before she could finish her training, so Lily has a lot of learning left to do.

One of her closest friends, who runs an herbal counter out of her vintage clothing store, is Bronwyn. She is a witch too, but of a more conventional nature. Through her store, Lily begins making good friends for the first time in her life.

Over the course of the first few books, there are several romantic entanglements with several different men as Lily searches for someone she can be herself with. She also acquires a rather unusual familiar who is part gargoyle and goblin but transforms into a potbellied pig. He can be a bit unethical but he’s very cute.

If I were pressed, I’d say the one thing that slightly annoys me with the books is the way the author information dumps details that don’t change from book to book, such as who and what her familiar is, her friends like Bronwyn, and the store itself, instead of weaving the information into the story. It’s a minor irritation and soon past.

Each book brings Lily up against a mystery, a demon, other witches, and a wide variety of difficulties. Each story is unique, picking up on urban legends, history of witch hysteria, or love curses. Each story has offered something different and I can’t really say which one was my favorite of those I’ve read. I can say that I think Lily ends up with the right guy. I just hope they manage to stay together, since I still have several books to read in the series.

The books that I’ve read has been thoroughly enjoyable, engrossing, and satisfying. There is just enough depth to make the story satisfying while staying light enough to make it relaxing. A perfect cozy mystery.

 

Secondhand Spirits

A Cast Off Coven

Hexes and Hemlines

In a Witch’s Wardrobe

Tarnished and Torn

A Vision in Velvet

Spellcasting in Silk

A Toxic Trousseau

A Magical Match

Bewitched and Betrothed

Synchronized Sorcery (forthcoming)

 

 

Book Review: Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough

 

Blood Water Paint

by Joy McCullough

Reading a biographical book in verse from the perspective of Artemisia Gentileschi was very unusual. I did not know her story prior to picking up the book and this telling of it is decidedly dark in nature, as befits what she went through.

The story is told in poetry, some of it in the perspective of Artemisia Gentileschi during her late teen years and some during her childhood at her mother’s knee, while her mother recounts historical stories to educate Artemisia about what it means to be a woman at that time.

“She knew I’d need Susanna

when I found myself

a woman in a world of men.

Girl as prey.”

Artemisia works for her father in his studio, painting many of the works commissioned by others, but it is his name, not hers, that is signed on the paintings. Very few have any idea that she is the painter.

“No: the painter merely signs his name

                                    and takes his gold.”

Artemisia’s father is volatile, often drunk, and derogatory toward Artemisia.

                                                “What is that ridiculous

                                                expression on her face?

I redirect my eye

to the Madonna’s face.

He is my teacher, after all,

for what he’s worth

                        (not much).”

At the same time she is required to paint, or at least fix, her father’s commissions, she is also having to put up with his derision, and help the housekeeper clean and go to market, and prepare food. Her younger brothers are only required to do their school lessons, something Artemisia has never really had.

Then her father brings home another painter, Agostino Tassi, who has a large commission and will need other painters to work with him. Artemisia’s father is hoping she can convince him to bring her father on board as one of those painters. From the first moment she meets him, Artemisia is smitten by him, praying that he might fall in love with her and take her away from her menial existence. The author portrays him as intelligent, handsome, and kind. We quite like him, until he demands more than Artemisia is willing to give.

This is one of those places where the story diverges to some degree with the biographies found online. Here, Artemisia gets to know him, trusts him, he acts as a mentor in her painting, and then he betrays that trust.

In the biography I read online, she barely knew who he was. He and a friend were merely let in by the housekeeper, seemingly with the express purpose of taking advantage of Artemisia. Her father is out, and the housekeeper has been bribed to turn a blind eye.

As I said, this is a dark story. One wants to say pessimistic but the court records show that to some degree, it is an accurate and painful one, though artistic license is taken in the story arc. It is beautifully written but a wrenching story, that left me a good bit nauseous.

Still, Artemisia wins her court case, she survives, and becomes one of the best painters of her time. She also becomes the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. Her story has been portrayed many times in both literature and stage.

The prose is very easy to read, clear and compact, words chosen carefully for maximum impact. McCullough makes judicious use of spacing to indicate the reading, through line breaks and tab spaces. Punctuation is minimal but traditionally used. Broken up into 100 “chapters” – each chapter is either a short poem, the equivalent of a few sentences, or a more traditional paragraph, still lyrical in nature.

I would recommend this for its’ literary qualities, but with reservations based on the content.