Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Published by Ballantine on May 4, 2021
Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera
Pages: 496
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Apple
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.
Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian--while taking us to places it never dreamed of going
I loved The Martian, in fact it made my top 5 the year it was published, and Andy Weir has captured that same magic for me again in Project Hail Mary.
Ryland Grace wakes up in a room with no recollection of how he got there and what he is supposed to be doing. All he knows is the computer isn’t very smart and keeps knocking him out when he answers a question wrong. He has got to figure out where he is, what he is supposed to be doing, why things feel off and why there are two other people in beds that have been dead awhile. He is a lone man figuring out what he needs to do to survive and to do that he will need to science the crap out of stuff.
The world is doomed, but at least this time it isn’t due humans. We can blame some space algae feeding on our sun for this calamity. In a long shot to save humanity, all of the earths resources are combined to put the best people through a space voyage to figure out why another system with the same space algae isn’t dying like ours and a few others are. Grace has boldly gone where no man has gone before. What he finds there is so unexpected, the scientist in him just might have squeeded like a little girl.
Grace thought he was going to have to save the world all alone. He thought he was going to have to endure all of the hardships by himself. He did not expect another ship to be there waiting trying to figure out the same mystery. Alien life has been found and it is not like any I’ve seen before. I applaud Weir’s direction and imagination here in the best intergalactic bromance since Enemy Mine (I might be showing my age with that reference) or more widely known Han and Chewy.
This is a fantastic story told in both Present and Past as Grace tries to figure out how he even ended up on this suicide mission. Along with his new bff, they will try to figure out how to save two solar systems and possibly make it back home. There are plenty of obstacles stacked against them and they will need to solve some huge problems and do a few very dangerous things.
I loved the format of this story. It really added to the suspense to try and see what happened in the past to put a junior high teacher on a spaceship towards certain death. Stratt, the woman who put everything in play and made sure the mission happened was fantastic and exactly what humanity needed to cut through all the red tape and keep everyone on target. She was an administrative super hero. Giving Grace an alien bff to talk was fantastic as well. Rocky is unexpected and perfectly named really. He adds both someone for Grace to interact with and an interesting look at a different possible evolutionary track.
If you enjoyed the Martian, then Project Hail Mary should scratch your Sci-Fi reading itch. The blend of survival story and science as Grace MacGyvers it all up is a really fun read for someone like me. I personally loved this book and can see it making my top 10 this year, also I’d love to see this in a limit season or movie format so I hope that is a possibility.
“Forty-six years?! i gasp, “Earth years?!”
“I am here forty-six Earth years yes.”
He’s been stuck in this system for longer than I’ve been alive.
“How…how long do Eridians live?”
He wiggled a claw. “Average is six hundred eighty-nine years.”
“Earth Years?”
“Yes,” he says a little sharply, “Always Earth units, You are bad at math, so always Earth units.”
About Andy Weir
ANDY WEIR built a career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, THE MARTIAN, allowed him to live out his dream of writing fulltime. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects such as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail. He lives in California. Andy’s next book, ARTEMIS, is available now.
| Rating Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Plot |
|
| Writing |
|
| Characters |
|
| Dialogue |
|
| Overall: | |
Friend me at Goodreads.
- 🎧 Yours Truly, the Duke by Amelia Grey #AmeliaGrey @McMeireKat @BlackstoneAudio #LoveAudiobooks @SnyderBridge4 - March 27, 2023
- 🎧 The Queen’s Price by Anne Bishop #AnneBishop #GaryLittman@PRHAudio @AceRocBooks @BerkleyPub - March 25, 2023
- The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix @garthnix @harperteen @SnyderBridge4 - March 20, 2023
Yay! I am so glad to see your stellar review, Robin? I’m going to try and get this on audio.
Oh…the audio should be fantastic Ray Porter is the narrator and he is sooo good. I hope you love it.
I really need to be reading this author. Excellent review!
This and the Martian were really some great Sci-Fi. Totally my cup-o-tea. Plus the audio’s are really well done.
I really loved this book too. It was so fun watching Ryland geek out over all of the science even in the midst of trying to save the world.
Right! He was really quite a likable character.
I heard a lot about this book and I’m curious after hearing so many great things about it
It is a really well done story. I enjoyed the entire experience.
I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to this book. The Martian was okay for me and his other book just didn’t appeal to me. Now that I have read your review, I feel like I need this book. I need to read this Enemy Mine bromance 🙂
Ha…someone else who is old enough to remember that movie. Two aliens stuck together trying to survive. This one has more science in it but really a great time.
Great review Robin! I loved The Martian and have been hesitant to try more of his work because it was such a unique and magical experience. I will have to try this one – I’ll see if my library has the audiobook later this summer. THANKS!
If you liked the Martian I really think this will be a good read for you. After I read Artemis, which isn’t bad it just isn’t the Martian, I wasn’t sure he could recapture that magic. But he totally did in my opinion. I hope you give it a shot.