Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
We had a pretty good turnout for our first book of the month vote. To be honest I did not anticipate the problem of there being a tie. I took the liberty of flipping a coin which came out heads for Project Hail Mary. In the future I might have to come up with a better method of tie breaking. I’m figuring this out as I go and it is all just for the fun of it anyway so please don’t take this too seriously.
I intend to read this book over the month of September and then near the end of the month I will create a discussion thread for it where people can discuss it without worrying about spoilers. Follow along if you want to.
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- Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir - 20 votes
- Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky - 20 votes
- Neuromancer - William Gibson - 17 votes
- Hyperion - Dan Simmons - 13 votes
- Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey - 13 votes
- A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine - 11 votes
- Wool (Silo Series Book 1) - Hugh Howey - 10 votes
- Red Rising - Pierce Brown - 4 votes
- 22/11/63 - Stephen King - 1 vote
I agree completely, and I made the same mistake. However, in this case, I took a chance on a cheap used copy of book 1 from a thrift store and I still enjoyed reading the books. Sure, it’s a bit annoying that the character voices are already occupied in my brain, but the casting and writing for the show was done pretty well, so there’s not too big an issue there.
Reading the books after seeing the show did mean that some parts were a bit of a slog, but there are a few major deviations that make the books worth reading if you liked the show (mostly the show cutting good but unnecessary exposition as well as combining some characters for continuity and messing with the timeline to fit the actors’ ages). Plus, getting chapters written from the different characters’ perspectives is a nice insight into their personalities and it’s done pretty well. I thought the characters were pretty one-dimensional in the show, but IMO they are much more believable and well-rounded in the books.
Also, the show left some significant dangling plot threads, so I’m looking forward to reading the conclusion of the book series. I just finished book 7 (which is the first one where the premise was only hinted at in the show) and I’m glad I took the time.
If you wanted to jump straight into book 7 from the show, there’s probably a recap or something out there to cover the gaps in what you missed (or DM me, I guess, and I can give you a few paragraphs to get you started)
While this wouldn’t be as bad for the Expanse than some other series, skipping would miss out on a lot of little things and characters that either didn’t exist or were combined with others for the TV show. Either way it is still worth reading, but reading them all is superior.
Exactly. It took me most of four months to get to where the show ended but it’s been well worth the investment, if for no other reason than I appreciate the difference in time scale between books. Having years or decades between the plotlines really seems more realistic, especially given how big space is, and it allows for the dynamics between the characters to deepen and evolve a lot more naturally.
Plus, Micchio Pa, Sam, and Drummer deserve a lot better than they got in the show.
Completely agree with you there. The time jump was a really amazing choice and made the story feel that much more real to me. Micchio Pa and Drummer deserve to be their own people and were damned good characters. I wish they had focused on their stories instead of trying to merge them.