Any fans of The Martian out there? Because I’m a big one. I re-read it this summer – I decided to give the audiobook a try – and loved it every bit as much as I did the first time I read it. And I instantly wanted more. The combination of complex scientific problem solving (no idea if it was real science, but for this layperson, it fit the bill), nail-biting adventure and a charismatic and humorous character is catnip to me. I had concerns that The Martian was a one hit wonder, and didn’t want to ruin my love of it by trying another book by the same author that didn’t live up to it. But when I received some recommendations for this book in my comments, I decided to put aside my misgivings and give it a try. A huge thanks to Lydia, Lauren and Sue, because this was so good!
Now, I’ll say up front that this book is going to be so hard to review without spoilers. But I’ll do my best.
In his newest book, Andy Weir puts the world in peril as a strange phenomenon seems to be killing the sun – and the earth with it. True to form, Weir ramps up the suspense from the very start. When we enter the story, an astronaut is waking up on a spaceship – alone. He has no memory of why he’s there, who he is, or what his mission is, and has to piece together what’s happened based on the information he can find in the spaceship around him – starting with his fellow astronauts, who are not only not awake, but not alive.
One of the things I enjoyed about this book was that our main character, later identified as Ryland Grace, is discovering who he is and what has happened to him along with the reader. We learn about the ship he’s on, we learn about the threat to earth, and we learn that this is a one-way trip, a hail Mary mission (hence the title), and the earth’s last chance. So no pressure.
Now, here’s where things get potentially spoiler-y. In typical Weir fashion, Grace is a scientist who has to solve problems and assess his situation. One major plot development shifts the entire trajectory of his mission, offering either danger or salvation. Over the course of the book, we get to understand Grace’s conflicting motivations, we learn his back-story, and we learn along with him what he’s really capable of – and it’s much more than he ever expected of himself.
I really can’t say anything more than that, or risk giving away the biggest twist! I will say that, like The Martian, this book is evenly spread between character development, problem solving and a nail-biting plot. I couldn’t tell you which element I enjoyed the most, but combined, they worked really, really well. There’s a good reason I devoured this book in a day. It lived up to my enjoyment of The Martian, and I’m so glad I was prompted to give it a try, despite my low expectations.
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. – Goodreads
Book Title: Project Hail Mary
Author: Andy Weir
Series: No
Edition: Hardback/Audiobook
Published By: Ballantine Books
Released: May 4, 2021
Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Space, Adventure
Pages: 476
Date Read: August 17-18, 2021
Rating: 9/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.55/5 (114,509 ratings)
Woohoo! I’m glad you liked this book so much.
Thank you for the rec!