??Spoilers ahead — Wow. As a physics nerd, this book was such a treat. Weir does a fantastic job of thoroughly explaining the scientific elements of the story, yet at the same time it doesn’t feel redundant for the average person’s knowledge of physics.
This book has a tendency to monologue in a way that I found to be very entertaining. Grace is a charismatic narrator (with good development and growth, even if it is happening out of order!) and he is fun to listen to. It’s essential for a book where the protagonist spends so much of the story in solitude. Plot development is a bit slow compared to many other novels, but I really didn’t mind. Even if the plot developed slowly, it was never ever boring. I may have felt differently about this, though, if I knew too much about the plot beforehand. I’m glad I went into it knowing as little as possible—it was fun to discover the story at the same pace as Ryland.
I do have a few complaints, despite how much I loved it. Many of the characters from other cultures were displayed quite stereotypically. Yáo’s politeness and Ilyukhina’s drinking come to mind as primary examples. It would have been good to see more diversity in personalities and mannerisms in the characters from other cultures. Grace’s casual male-centeredness was frustrating, too, but I know these criticisms are things that other readers have mentioned. I haven’t watched the new film yet, but I’m hoping that it corrects some of these issues.
Lastly, and though I liked Grace’s overall growth (from someone afraid to step out of his comfort zone to his willingness to sacrifice his life for an alien race) I wish the emotions in his relationship between Rocky were explored more thoroughly. It’s such an important part of Grace’s development, especially since he was so lonely on earth, but the heart-to-heart moments between them were a bit sparse for me. Some of that emotion gets lost between the many pages of dense science (which I loved otherwise). I guess I was just looking for more of a character driven story overall.
Overall, though, this was a very good book, and I liked it a lot! Amaze