And I absolutely loved it. It is honestly one of my new favorite books. I am going to tag basically this whole post as spoilers because the thing that truly makes this book amazing does not start until almost 100 pages in.
SPOILERS
FOR THOSE ON APPS THAT CAN’T HANDLE THEM
SPOILERS
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I love stories about friendship and the friendship between Grace and Rocky was truly beautiful. They are both lost and confused and in a horrible situation but they both take everything in stride. They see a way to help eachother and to not have to do it alone and they grab onto it with both (all five) hands. The way they both accept the other’s habits knowing there are things that are fundamentally different between each other is a lesson for everyone.
The growth we see from Grace is also some of the best I’ve read. We learn later that he chose the self-centered path by refusing to join the Hail Mary crew on his own. Then, when faced with a very similar choice he chooses to save Rocky and his people instead of himself. I honestly cried.
Not only are our two main characters amazing but they are FUNNY! I laughed out loud so many times!
Overall I cant wait to re-read this one a bit down the line.
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So, have you read this one? What did you think?
It’s a great book for sure. Two things I really liked are
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I haven’t read a good alien contact book in a long time, so I really enjoyed that part. Also, the whole arc of “I must have been convinced to do the right thing because I’m here - I guess I’m a good guy, and Rocky did the same.” Was really powerful.
And, of course, Weir does a really good job with hard SF, keeping things anchored and believable.
Yes I loved that arc! I loved that he does prove it true in the end.