That character from Project Hail Mary (you all know who) is the best side character I read in a long time.

I think Ryland Grace being a teacher gave the character a good way to explain science without being overly info dumpy. And his passion just makes me smile.

Spoilers for Hail Mary… I loved Stratt’s character, her utilitarian philosophy resonates with my own quite a lot. At the same time, I understand why people hate her. I love Rocky and Grace’s interactions, it was super enjoyable. As for why Grace didn’t send one of the Beatles. I wouldn’t have sent any early on either. They gave him 4 Beatles for redundancy so their journey home will be much more likely that at least one of them would survive and save the Earth. Sending a Beatle to Earth without a solution would be reducing the probability of success for the mission. Also, there is no reason why he couldn’t send the Beatles later with the solution AND information about his encounter with an intelligent alien. Also, I really loved the ending where he is teaching alien kids. That was the best possible way to finish the book in my opinion.

My spoilery response to Merphy's complaint about the beetles: Sending one of the beetles back early would have been pretty pointless, and might have doomed the earth. All of the info Grace collected on Rocky and the Eridians would have been included on all four of the beetles when they were eventually sent. Sending a beetle back before he had completed his mission would have increased the probability of total mission failure by 1 in 4

I was about 1/3 through Project Hail Mary when I realized it centered on a best friendship and my first thought was "Merphy's gonna love this."

First, I am going to recommend the Martian. It's another sciencey, but approachable story, and despite the dire situation the main character is in, it's fun and funny. It's also a very quick read. Well worth your time. As for the ending of Project Hail Mary, I actually emailed Andy Weir about it, and he answered me! Space for Spoilers. . . . . . . . . Hopefully, that's enough. This was my question: --------------- Hello, Andy. First, I want to say I loved Hail Mary. I did have a few questions at the end, though. You were once kind enough to answer my Martian/Artemis question, so I was hoping you might be so generous once again. I just wanted to know if Grace loaded the Beetles with information about Erid, Rocky, and Xenonite, and did he tell them that he had been the only survivor, as well as his intentions of taking Rocky to Erid? Would every Earth telescope be trained on 40 Eridani after the Astrophage problem was dealt with? ------------------------------- This is his answer: ------------------------------ I don't define things that aren't on the page. The rest is left open to your imagination. Though I do have sequel ideas. :) --------------------------------- So, if you want to believe he loaded up the memory on the Beetles (they had just gobs of it) with details about the mission, Rocky, Erid, Xenonite, and a "Dick move, Strat!", well that's your prerogative. He may revisit it at some point, but for now, believe what makes you happy about the details he included.

Project Hail Mary was a delight to read. There is a lot of science in there but in the end I got the gist of it. This book was so emotional for me that I cried a couple of times. The ending just broke me. I think it was lovely. I love the plot twist and how the main character grows throughout the book. But I really recommend The Martian such a good read too!

I read Project Hail Mary as an audiobook and I absolutely loved it. I liked The Martian, but didn't like the main character much. Project Hail Mary is very similar in terms of story structure, but with better characters. SPOILERS ... ... ... ... ... I thought the audiobook worked especially well once Rocky was involved. His different mode of communication was shown really well, without distracting from the dialogues.

merphy talking about rocky: me: YES YES YES

Spoilers for Hail Mary I think it was implied that Grace did send all his notes on Rocky with the beetles. It'd won't align with his character to not do so. He was recording the language all along obviously. And I think its mentioned multiple times how important xenonite will be for humans and he had plenty to send back samples. And Grace did say at least at one point something about taking notes on Rocky. AND Beetles had terabytes of data storage so it makes sense for him to send pretty much everything he learned on the mission.

That whole Natural History of Dragons series is such a treat! Finish the series if you loved the first one; they only get better as the main character grows and gains more depth and maturity and the setting expands. The main character doesn't get any less bold, but she does become smarter, more self-aware, and empathetic as the series progresses. Anything set in 19th century England or a fantasy version of it has to win me over (I'm just tired of seeing that be the go-to fantasy setting over and over again), but this did the trick.

Really happy you loved A Natural History of Dragons! I'm not much of a classical fan, but I immediately got the vibe of it being 'Jane Austin with dragons' and loved the series. It truly is hard to compare the books to any I've read before. Since you're so positive about the first book and the main character I think you'll love the rest of the series. I look forward to future reviews!

Spoilers for Hail Mary: I really liked the endig of Hail Mary, because the book, for me was not really about the earth it was the vehicle to get the story going but. For me the book was about ingenuity, curiosity and the drive to learn more. It shows how people (irregardless if they are human or rocky shaped) can overcome large obstacles through these traits. The best excample would be how Rocky and Grace learned to communicate, it wasn't instant, it was a process. And regarding Strat, she was the embodiment of the phrase "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of few" and for that I personally loved her.

You should REALLY read The Martian!! It's a really good book, and you can tell the author REALLY did his homework for that book!!!

Yay!!! I suggested to Murphy the "A Natural History of Dragons"!!! I'm so happy she read it!!! 😄

came here for the project hail mary review and got put on to a whole other series subscribed, thanks for the review

100% agree with you about the that character in Project Hail Mary. One of my all time favorite characters. Made the book for me as well.

I LOVED The Martian (book and movie) If you enjoyed Hail Mary I think you would enjoy The Martian. I am about 1/2 way thru Hail Mary and I am enjoying it so much! I just want to know what happens next, it is great! I haven't read Artemis by him yet but I want to give it a try since I have enjoyed these 2 books (so far)

I CANNOT wait to read Project Hail Mary, but I have to wait for the library

I imagined in my mind that the character of Project Hail Mary did send a journal, that he did send his story back to Earth, but that, that detail was not written down in the book. What detail struck me as a Dutch person, 'Strat' is not a Dutch name. 😉

Natural history of dragons is great, I love the whole series, and I'd describe Lady Trent as Jane Goodall but with dragons.

Two of my favourite reads this year, so glad you loved them both!

100% on point with Project Hail Mary!! It was fun hearing exactly what I thought verbalized by you here.

Hey I'm Joe, I love your channel!! Your channel has inspired me to read again. I'm 13 which I now is young to have stopped reading. But I've always known that I want to be a writer of some kind, it has boosted that as well, thanks

W.R.T. Project Hail Mary, my niece tried to get everyone she knew to read it, but no luck. Eventually I was persuaded (to listen to the Audible version), and finished it yesterday. I thanked her for the recommendation and reflected: "I am sure you must have felt a bit like Rocky, alone on his spaceship for more than a decade. He kept trying to work the problem, and you kept trying to get someone to read the story. Your wait is over" BTW, I really enjoyed the Audible version. Very good narration, plus Rocky speaks in tunes like an organ 🎹 Rating: Happy, happy, happy!!!!

The moral philosophy conversations around Stratt were my favorite part of this book. Even when they got really really heated in the patreon server lol.

Omg I'm so happy that you enjoyed Project Hail Mary! It's one of my favorite reads this year so far. Such a delightful read ❤️

Every time I had to put PHM down, I had to hug the book. Especially once that certain character was introduced.

This is the review on Project Hail Mary that I want to hear. Now, it's time to put this on queue in my TBR list. Thanks, Merphy! 🥰🤓😍

Project Hail Mary sounds like a brilliant read- I'm hoping to get to it soon.

I think I recommended A Natural History of Dragons to you years ago! I'm so pleased you picked it up and loved it as much as I did. I have the entire series and have enjoyed them all...and those covers are STUNNING. Marie Brennan is such an underrated author! I always try to steer people to her books. :) Also, as I'm watching this video, I'm reading Project Hail Mary and had to stop at Chapter 7, so I'm there. I'm at the very edge of discovering this character that I think you're talking about and I cannot wait to go home and read more of this book. I love his writing!

I read a lot of this book like an audio log that Grace put on the Beatles. Like I'm back on earth recounting his time in space. Kind of like the dialog in the Martian movie.

I would also like a spin off that talked about post Project Hail Mary earth. That would be sooo kool!

I’ve been thinking about reading Natural History of Dragons for a while, but never got around to it. Your glowing praise has made me want to move it high on my TBR list! :)

A Natural History of Dragons sounds like something I would love! I really like Austen and I also have found myself enjoying a less "mystical" take on dragons. (The Temeraire series is a favorite of mine, and I love how it handles dragons!) Project Hail Mary sounds really fun too!

Dragons AND a wholesome friendship? Sign me up because that sounds amazing.

I don’t even really read fantasy anymore but I can’t help but watch your reviews. I do want to read project Hail Mary though.

Love the Natural History of Dragons series! So happy you enjoy it!

Project Hail Mary is such a delight! And if you enjoyed its passion for science and positive outlook on humanity, you'd enjoy the Martian too!

I'm SO glad you enjoyed a natural history of dragons!! I read the whole series within five days during the holidays because I just couldn't put it down

Wow... Project Hail Mary sounds like something I would absolutely adore. I will definitely pick this book up soon.

SPOILERS for Hail Mary He did mention sending the Beatle with the Alien Technology before but then thought of sending all those at the end along with the solution of the Astophage as well. HIs main aim was to protect humanity and sending the solution was higher priority. He mentioned he had a lot of space in those Beatles and could send both of the things. That was his thought process I also loved ROcky and he made the book for me. I found it really boring before he was introduced. I just think I love duos a lot

I really enjoy A Natural History of Dragons, it's a surprise because I never heard of it until it won in the buddy read poll. And it was more enjoyable because a lot of people in the discord also enjoyed it and they are talking about it. I'm looking forward to read the rest of the series.

Project Hail Mary is by far the best book I've read this year.

You've put "A Natural History of Dragons" on my radar. The approach to dragons rooted in the real world during a historical period sounds very similar to Naomi Novik's Napoleonic alt-history series, Temeraire, which I love and I heartily recommend.

Thanks to another video of yours where you talked a little about A natural history of dragons, I bought it and read it and really enjoyed it. Definitely going to read the rest of the series. Glad to see you enjoyed it too. It kind of reminded me of old fashioned pulp fiction books like something Edgar Rice Burroughs might’ve written only way better with regard to female characters obviously. It just had that adventurous vibe that is just so much fun.

I remember reading A Natural History Of Dragons years ago, it's awesome. I also have it's sequals, but I think I only read The Tropic Of Serpants. I did buy up to Part 4 (In The Labyrinth Of Drakes) which was all that had released during that time. I think there's two more now. Maybe I'll get back into it

I knew you would love A Natural History of Dragons!!! I've been trying to convince you to read it for a while now hehhe 😁😁😁😁 so happy

I just started reading A Natural History of Dragons, and am loving it so far. So much about it is just wonderful, and anything about Dragons is going to instantly have me intrigued. Not to mention when it is a more “scientific” look at dragons. I’m so excited to continue the book (and the series, I only knew about 3 books), and I was super surprised and excited to see your review just now! -T

Sorry, you answered my question after I posted my first comment. So excited to hear what you think about the rest of the series...and the one about her granddaughter as well. Loved them all!!!

Project Hail Mary audio book was incredible, I couldn't stop listening. I felt like my grandparents when they'd listen to sci fi stories on the radio.

Weir's other book was 'Artemis', which I really enjoyed. Also, as to Project Hail Mary's ending... SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS ...place me in the camp of those who wanted that moment back on Earth, where someone goes "Holy Bleep, it's a beetle!" And, I suppose, there was no way to give us that moment, without divulging exactly how terrible life is on Earth (we would need to know of the despair so that we can adequately compare it with the jubilation). And it probably would have taken quite a number of pages to give us that full picture. So, I understand it being cut. But, I also found the "We received a report: your sun is fine now" very underwhelming. So, personally, if I had to pick one of the two, give me the "life sucks, but a beetle is here" ending.

If you love the science and humor in hail mary, you will love the Martian. It has an intense situation, but the main character uses humor to cope and never gives up hope that he will get out out of his situation.

I'm so glad you've read A Natural History of Dragons! It is one of my favorite series which I really think deserves more love and attention. I hope you'll stick with the series and keep reading, I think you'll really enjoy the rest of the series, it just get better from here :D

So glad you liked A Natural History of Dragons! The entire series is great

Loved PHM. Really enjoy your thoughts on it! :)

I’ve finished 3 books this week, while vacationing in NOLA! Read Project Hail Mary and Misery, Loved Both! also read the Colorado Kid which was decent. Rocky is the best!

merphy thank you SO MUCH for introducing me to the lady trent series!! i just read and reread it back to back in one month after having never reread a single book in my life so that goes to show how much i loved it. it’s now my favorite thing ever and i would’ve never read it if it weren’t for you because i’ve never seen anyone else talk about it!! please do read the rest of them they get even better as they go on especially starting the third one(the second one was the only one i gave 4 instead of 5 stars but after that it gets even better)

A Natural History of Dragons sounds amazing! Definitely up my alleyway.

Project Hail Mary a favorite of mine. Great writing and storytelling.

Can't wait to read Project Hail Mary. All the nebulous vague reviews are driving me nuts (in the best way). Thank you for the content.

So happy you love Natural History of Dragons!

Strat did what she had to do. Real problems require real solutions. No room for emotions. Emotions cloud logical judgment. The world needed Strat as much as it needed Grace.

"something happened..... in this book..... that i think made this book..... good" -Merphy Napier, trying to not spoil anything

Spoiler for Project Hail Mary The Beatles purpose was to send back information about the "cure". There's four of them because the chance of one reaching earth unharmed is not great. So they have four as redundancies. Simply using one to send just a status update doesn't make sense. And would decrease the chances of the mission being successful. In the end he did send all information he gathered about the astrophage, taumeba, and the Eridians and their tech. Like Xenonite. Also... 100% on Stratt's side. She had one goal... and as fully aware that would spend the rest of her life in prison as a scape goat for the things all world leaders allowed her to do in order to save Earth. She's a hero and is sacrificing herself, just like the crew of the Hail Mary.

Just realized one of my favorites short stories, The Egg is also written by Andy Weir. Def gonna check these books

The Memoirs of Lady Trent is one of my all time favourite series! And they only get better! The third is probably my favourite! And i think Isabella is such a great protagonist, among the best in fantasy. PS: the audiobook is amazing as well, read by Kate Reading.

a nature history of dragons was so good. some reason i haven't finished the series when i read it 3 years ago. i plan to reread.

The audio books for the memoirs of Lady Trent are great, because it's the lady who does the stormlight archives. Great stuff.

Spoilers Hail Mary As for the beetles, I tend to think he sent everything back to earth at the end, including info on Rocky. Wasn't explicitly stated but seems in character for Grace. I liked the ending but wouldn't mind seeing another book focused on the earth after the launch. Also, Rocky is precious and must be protected at all costs!

Project Hail Mary was the first book I’ve read(listened to) in a very long time that has actually made me show emotions outwardly. It’s also on the very short list of books that made me make a face, and then describe the exact face I’m making because it’s the character’s reaction as well. PHM SPOILERS: - - - - Grace didn’t use the beetles to share about Rocky at the start because the purpose of the beetles was to solve the issue of the astrophage. The primary goal for the whole mission was to figure out the solution. If he were to send a beetle back to earth, earth would see it and believe that they had been saved, only for their hopes to be dashed. Grace wanted to share, but he had his mission priorities. Also, “Fist my bumps” -Rocky

GAH! Finally. LOVED the Natural history of dragons. Not alot of people talk about it.... its great and that cover, GORGEOUS. Also truely had fun with Project Hail Mary- can't wait for the movie.

I think you convinced me to read Natural History of Dragons. I've heard of it but never really looked into it. I love classics, so it should suit me perfectly. Sounds almost like a Jules Verne type beast I think I've heard the hardcovers all have different colored ink for the print.

I loved Project Hail Mary too. I read both it and The Martian this month, and of the two I felt The Martian was the best book, but I did love both. I feel similarly to you about the PHM ending and the controversial character!

Spoilers On the beetles point he knew he was there to do one thing. God forbid he sent back stuff that while cool for science was noncritical to fixing the problem and then the one or two he did send back failed. They were there for redundancy. The only thing he should send back is something that fixes the problem. Preferably all 3 with the same info in case of failure. My issue with the ending was less about him not going back to Earth or seeing the fate of Earth as much as everything working out for me at least deadened the choice he made at the end to go back for Rocky. That felt really meaningful and high stakes were created. Then they pulled a solution to keep him alive out of nowhere almost right away and it sort of deflated his choice for me. The suspension of disbelief was a thing for me as well. The ship computer was dumber in some ways than Alexa yet also ran a self sufficient medical droid. Crew member shows up passed out after not wanting to go?

I watched some of this video, read Project Hail Mary, and now I am back! I LOVED the book!! It wasn’t too tense or too scary, despite being intense (stuff goes wrong in space can freak me out to where I dnf a book). This made me think and it was so engaging!

I really loved Project Hail Mary. I think I liked the Martian more, but that didn't detract from this book. The speculative aspect was so much fun, and I also really liked the character he met part way in! I haven't heard of the other book, but it sounds right up my alley so I'm going to have to check it out!

Hail Mary is fantastic and I loved it please stay safe and enjoy your reading love your number one Australia fan John ❤️❤️❤️

I loved both of these books! And if you liked Project Hail Mary you'll probably like The Martian, too.

Oh nice! I've picked up a natural history of dragons a couple of times in the bookstore because a) dragons and b) the cover is glorious, but somehow I felt like it would disappoint me so never bought it. Putting it on the list right now!

I’m sure someone’s already mentioned this but… Spoilers Spoilers Spoilers …Grace did tell Earth all about the Eridians! He sent all the data he’d compiled on them back on one of the Beatles. And he didn’t send one out earlier because he wanted to wait until he had the solution to the astrophage problem so he could send all four out with that, for the best chance of at least one reaching Earth. But yeah at that point he totally included his encyclopedia of Erid! ETA: After reading other comments and asking my husband about it, I’m second guessing myself. I could SWEAR there’s a specific line saying he included that! I’ll have to look through the book tomorrow to see if I’m imagining it or not.

i loved Natural History of Dragons when I read it years ago, but was never able to track down the other books in the series.

I am pretty sure Grace told earth all about Rocket and the Eridians. He sent back Xenonite, I am sure it came with some explanations.

The Martian is such a great book, super good read for those who like the nerdy, sciency talk. Project hail mary was sick too, I binged it in a single day :)

I love A Natural History of Dragons and I really enjoyed Andy Weir's book Artemis. I would recommend Artemis, the female protagonist is really good.

I really enjoyed The National History of Dragons series. I loved the naturalist angle, you don't see that a lot.

This might be the first time you've reviewed a book I'm actually reading. That being Project Hail Mary.

You should try the Martian. My favorite book of all time, though I am a bit of a space nerd. Great book.

I hope you read the rest of the Lady Trent books, ESPECIALLY the Sanctuary of Wings. Would love your take on them/it

I didn't mind the ending or the controversial character. But I wish there was a conversation between the two. Spoilers. Also. He explained why he never used the beetles. He waited till the last possible moment so they would have less distance to travel. Increasing the chance one would make it.

AMAZE AMAZE AMAZE

Definitely recommend the Natural History of Dragons series XD

Such a fantastic book! My alien best friend Aaron loved it.

Very curious about A Natural History of Dragons. The setting sounds similar to the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (although I'm sure the story is quite a bit different) -- both set in the same time period, in a world where dragons aren't mythical but live alongside man.

I really recommend the audiobook for Hail Mary, they take some liberties with dialogue that really makes it flow better and the narrator is top shelf

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

Having read Hail Mary a few times now, I would love to see a sequel that shows the future of Earth with a plot involving establishing contact with Rocky's planet.

I am VERY VERY late but Spoilers I personally came out of this book loving Stratt because OF THIS SMALL DETAIL! Stratt and Ryland were discussing her morality and she acknowledged that what she did was deemed morally incorrect and that she would most likely spend the rest of her life in prison. She did what she HAD to do. About the beetles, he had to send all four at once as to minimise the loss of data. He had to load the exact info on all beetles so that earth is guaranteed to get all of the information. As someone said in the comments, I do believe grace is going to die on meridian with rocky there to witness it and they would take his body back to earth. I feel this ending was GREAT mainly because there is also a harrowing sense of fear because we have NO IDEA about the earth's state. It probably has been set up to have a sequel. Anyways, this book was a 1000/5 to me in the first chapter because the science was well executed. As a former aspiring physicist, I was so happy to find the information being presented in a simple yet thorough exposition. I recognised every single concept placed forward in that book and it just reawakened that love that I had for science. It was simply brilliant to me. It was such a good idea to make Ryland a teacher because the narrative voice and his perspective fit so darn well! AAAAHHH- I THINK THIS KILLED ME READING ANY BOOK FOR A WHILE TOO- because it was such a good read and I can't get over it.

Thank you!

Are you going to read the remainder of the Memoirs of Lady Trent? Since you loved the first one, you will LOVE the rest of them! They get better and better...trust me!