A while ago, I think on the order of a few months, Alex strongly suggested that I read a science fiction book, Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (Author of The Martian – both the book and the film are superb). I listened to the audio version rather than read the book, and I have to say that it was absolutely gripping. If you haven’t read it. I strongly recommend that you do.
Now, here is where a bit of conflict comes in, because today, I went to see the film. From memory, apart from just a couple of places, the film, in my view, stuck pretty closely to the book, and even where it didn’t, the story made sense. But I left the cinema with not quite the same degree of satisfaction as I felt at the end of the book. Would I recommend that you see the film before reading the book? Ooooh, I don’t know, please don’t ask me that question.
Now, let me talk about another science TV series that I love (No, not Star Trek, but yes I love that as well), I am talking about The Expanse. I watched the TV series before reading all of the books. I loved doing it that way, because when I read the books, I knew the characters, I knew the spaceships, I was familiar with the politics.
In the case of The Expanse, watching the TV series first definitely worked for me, and really helped when the books at the end of the series went beyond what was covered in the TV series. I’d go so far as to say that watching the TV series before reading the books could work for you. It certainly worked for me. It was, though, deeply frustrating that the TV series didn’t cover all the books.
Don’t get me wrong, the Project Hail Mary film is very much well worth watching.
Bills Posts 