"Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir. It's an adventure about science with a purpose.
Much of story follow the structure where the narrator is faced with a problem, has some flashbacks that are contextual to the problem, then proceeds to solve it scientifically and move on the next challenge. The style is reminiscent of certain mystery novels where the narrator does not necessarily have more information than the reader, and manages to make progress through careful interpretation of the clues. Given this mystery style, the diagrams just beneath the cover is something of a spoiler that could have been avoided if they were moved to around pages 55 and 142, but it didn't matter, because diagrams of spaceships are trivial compared to the main theme of this book.
The main plot of this novel is about solving a problem that is much larger in scope and much more universal than The Martian, with many unexpected turns from beginning to end. The only endorsement I got before going into this book was that "if you liked The Martian, you will like Project Hail Mary", which is entirely fair and did not spoil any of the surprises, so I shall repeat the same spoiler-free endorsement to future readers. It's just like The Martian but something of a grade up in roughly every aspect, except perhaps it did not quite have the same sense of humor -- there were definitely some very well timed dark humor, but not as evenly sprinkled as The Martian. But for all the minor flaws I might find, Project Hail Mary makes up for it with interesting puzzles and well-developed characters to solve them.
Project Hail Mary has been very satisfying to read. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction in general, especially to people who enjoys imagining what science would be like when driven by absolute authority.
Previous (2022-03-04): Pluspora
Next (2022-09-05): ICFP 2022