About

Project Hail Mary is written by Andy Weir. This is a standalone novel.

Project Hail Mary book cover

Blurb

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.

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.

Review

The Martian is one of my all time favorite novels. But I didn't read Artemis given the mixed reviews. Seeing mostly positive reviews for Project Hail Mary, especially from people I trust, I decided to put it on my TBR.

Earlier this week, I needed a book that'd keep me engaged through an anxious period, so I picked this. And it turned out to be a good choice for that purpose, even though I couldn't enjoy the book to its fullest given the anxiety. It also helped that the main character here was significantly less foul mouthed.

I read far less sci-fi novels compared to fantasy, and not interested in detailed scientific explanations these days. Even though I skimmed over many of those portions in this book, I still enjoyed the rest that I could understand without having to think too much. And there were quite a few nuggets that I could relate to as a programmer, for example:

The hardest part ... is constantly having to come up with names for stuff.

The pacing was good throughout. The ending was great but I wish it was longer. I felt that the flashbacks were aptly placed most of the time and moved the plot along nicely. I guess the ongoing pandemic would've been handled better with a character like Stratt at the helm. Speaking of characters, there's an awesome engineer who'll likely warm your heart too.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

What others are saying

From Bradley's review on goodreads:

Clear descriptions, great discoveries, and plenty of normal disorientation to go along with the numerous setbacks surrounding these crazy-cool characters. I suppose I like the snark best of all, but the science, from an extinction-level event, massive resources being thrown at the problem, and then the outright adventure of traveling far away on a mission to save the whole human race, just does it for me.

From Mogsy's review on goodreads:

All told, I had a great time with this book. It feels like as readers, we’re always demanding of our favorite authors something new and different to keep things fresh and exciting, but as Project Hail Mary proves, sometimes sticking to what works can also turn out just fine. Of course, it helped that Andy Weir knew just how to up the ante, tweaking certain aspects of the story and characters to make them bigger, bolder, better, and simply irresistible. Reading this was a delight, and it’s certainly not to be missed.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2021 bingo categories:

  • First Person POV
  • Mystery Plot
  • Published in 2021
  • Genre Mashup
  • Click to view spoilerFirst Contact (HM)