"I’ve decided “Taulight” is a word, by the way. Light from Tau Ceti. It’s not “sunlight.” Tau Ceti isn’t the sun. So…Taulight."

For a book made, presumably, for smart people, this book treats its readers as pretty thick. Every. Thing. Must. Be. Explained. You can't have a simple joke, good or not (mostly not) without an explanation tacked on. You can't just have some nitrogen canisters on the ship for unspecified science reasons, no, you game to have three pages of painful dialogue to provide some contrived justification for having them around. This is a book with fan lore baked in.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind the science explanations. That's what we're here for in a Weir book. That's why The Martian was such a great book. But what I'm not here for is the frankly poor, unbelievable descriptions of human interactions, that I honestly don't feel added much to the book beyond sheer heft.

It feels like, so far, Weir is a one trick pony. It's not that the book is bad, it's just that it's not very good, either, and just feels like more of the same. Two and a half stars.