Totally fine to not be into sci-fi in general but I will say I don't feel this book is representative of the genre. I would broadly agree with the review you mention as to why I didn't like it.

I love this book <3

This is so exciting! Congrats

Great, thanks! I’ll be in touch when I can get started. R.e social media scraping that can be quite tricky depending on the site but I can have a look at what’s available.

Hey, I’ll probably have some free time this weekend and could do some coding or data work - what do you need the most help with?

Probably the worst book I’ve read for a bookclub and that’s saying something.

Night watch was the first Terry Pratchett book I ever read. I loved it so much and I love it even more now that I’ve read the other guards books.

Night watch is definitely my favourite but I also quite like Thud. (I thought Snuff was awful unfortunately)