I have descended from my ivory tower and read a fiction book that was written in the 2000s…and I had such a fun time doing it! Andy Weir weaves science into his stories so well, and I loved the relationship between Grace and Rocky. Finally, as far as tropes go, humans and aliens trying to teach each other their respective languages is one of my favorites.
I thought PHM was a slog, personally.
I loved The Martian when I read it in 2015, so I don’t know if my tastes have just changed or if PHM itself just wasn’t for me. Oh well.