I loved this book so so much! Every other chapter had my jaw-dropping! So incredibly well told, suspenseful but hilarious at the same time. You know it's going to be insane but you can't help but laugh along with the main protagonist.

I LOVE books set in space (as a big astronomy geek) but they aren't always done well. They can be confusing to the point of perplexion and even though Weir tackles some very complex content in the book, it not only makes sense but I feel like I GET IT! I'm not just skimming through the technical stuff, I am FULLY engrossed in it!

I love the way Andy Weir builds his stories, I always look forward to his books and I am so thrilled at how this one turned out! Absolutely wonderful!

P.S. The ending had me thinking for days!

***eArc provided by NetGalley and Ballantine Books in exchange for an honest review***

I think about Andy Weir's first novel, The Martian, more often than I ever thought I would when I picked it up. Weir has built his writing career on heavy, and accurate, science along with humor and a vibrant human touch. Which, of course, he's done again with his third book Project Hail Mary.

When scientist Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship, without his memory, he has to piece together the events that led to the deaths of his crewmates, why he's in a different galaxy all together, and (eventually) how to save humanity and Earth as we know it.

Filled with really well crafted comedy and drama, Weir utilizes one of my favorite tropes of first contact (which happens to be the biggest question of them all): how do we communicate. And because the communication is set up so well, and so early on, he really allows the two leads of the novel to shine. Plus, the ending absolutely rules.

I didn't think that I could like an Andy Weir book more than The Martian....I was wrong! What a fun journey he takes us on in Project Hail Mary. Ryland Grace is the only astronaut to survive a Hail Mary trip to space to save Earth. What he does to solve problems and protect earth are both amazing and hysterical! Highly recommend.

Andy Weir's written three books and I've read them all. That might seem odd until you think about how few science-fiction books I read. But Weir hooked me with his debut, The Martian, and he gave me more than enough in Artemis to keep me reading his work.

Weir doesn't need to worry about what I think about this book; it's already a bestseller and is being made into a movie starring Ryan Gosling. But maybe he should because I'm not alone in feeling that this book had so much potential but just missed the mark so many times.

Perhaps a different editor would have said "hey, this book is 100 pages too long," or "you've got this really sexist stuff in here that won't play well with a good part of your readers" or "there are a couple of gaping holes in this story." Weir's developed a bit of a formula now and part of that requires coming up with a lot of problems that his very clever lead character needs to solve. It seems to mean that some things that shouldn't need to become problems do just so that the lead character can solve them. If you've read or seen The Martian, you'll see the pattern.

Don't get me wrong, I love the clever character who has to use all of his (or her) wits to survive. And I'm not opposed to reading a whole lot of science stuff to get there. And since I don't know a whole lot about science and this is largely speculative fiction, I don't really care if the science is even right (except that even I know that if you're going to move into zero g, you'd better have your seatbelt on; Ryland Grace doesn't seem to know that). And I enjoyed the back and forth between Ryland trying to survive and Ryland gradually remembering what happened that got him where he is. As much as I liked Ryland (and I did, even when I wanted to slap him for being stupid), he was not my favorite character. Rocky is by far and away my favorite character. Unlike any character I've ever seen in a book, Rocky is an insatiable learner, highly creative and intelligent, a great friend, and surprisingly emotionally sensitive.

I'm crossing my fingers that when they wrote the screenplay, they winnowed out the parts that didn't make sense or that seemed over the top and left moviegoers with more than enough action and a terrific story. Because there really is a great story here and it did have me racing along, even as I shook my head. Weir has included some things that, literally, made me gasp in surprise and that's always a good thing, right? I Here's where I hope the movie hews to the book - the ending is surprising and unique and I'm afraid that Hollywood will do what Hollywood so often does and ruin the movie by changing the ending.

In the end, I'm glad I read this one, even as frustrating as I so often found it.

Project Hail Mary is the story of Ryland Grace, a high school science teacher who, through some weird twist of fate, becomes Earth's last hope of survival when he finds himself the lone survivor on a ship in the darkest reaches of space on a last ditch mission to save the Earth from a catastrophic event. Misery loves company when an unexpected ally turns up who just happens to be dealing with a similar catastrophic event. Can the two of them find a way to pull their resources and minds together to defeat the odds? The story is told in chapters that alternate between the past and the present times which enables the reader to get the appropriate backstory to fill in the blanks. It also prevented readers from getting too bored with reading chapter after chapter that only featured Ryland as the character. The first half of the book moved pretty well for me, but the second half seemed to drag, especially when Ryland begins working with his newfound colleague. Similar to Andy Weir's other books, there is a good dose of scientific creativity, action, and drama. Some readers may find the science in this one a bit intimidating compared to his other works. Regardless, I recommend this book for those who are fans of Andy Weir and who appreciate an author who isn't afraid to take risks when it comes to utilizing scientific creativity to tell a story.

Wow! I could hardly put the book down! It was just the thing I needed to mix up my reading genres. I was instantly sucked in! There was a lot of science in this, more than I understood, but it was always explained after the fact in more plain English so that made it accessible. The concept of this book was very creative and the plot was entertaining and interesting, but what I loved most of all was the relationship between Ryland Grace and Rocky! It was great reading as they learned to communicate with each other and I loved their banter.

Fast-paced but lacking the same magic as The Martian. Weir’s focus on the intricacies of science are interesting at first, but feel like page fillers after a while. The plot itself is interesting with some good twists but the author doesn’t seem to trust the reader to remember key character traits and moments and ends up repeating them. Good summer fluff, but still a ways to go to capturing that spark that made his debut so memorable.

Lots of fun science more in keeping with The Martian, and some unexpected twists and turns - Weir did well with the back and forth between the Now and the How-We-Got-to-the-Now.

I will read a grocery list written by Andy Weir. I love him humor and he is the only author I will read in the science fiction genre.

Another amazing, immersive read by Andy Weir. Every time I read one of Andy's books, I'm blown away by how scientific his science fiction is. I love reading fiction where everything could be true, especially when the story is literally out of this world.

While it took me a bit to get into the story, Project Hail Mary was deeply imaginative, moving, and an ultimately optimistic read. I had trouble putting it down once I got into the second half of the book!

I also truly loved Grace and Rocky's relationship - so pure, sweet, and such a beautiful example of what the first human/alien encounter could be like.

I enjoyed reading this, although I don't think it's as good as the Martian. I must admit that I skimmed some of the math and science bits. Parts of the plot were even more farfetched than the Martian, so one must be willing to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the ride.

I could not put this down! The sun is dimming and an international team is put together to find out why. Dr. Grace, former disgruntled brilliant researcher turned middle school science teacher, is brought on the team due to a long ago published controversial paper. He ends up going on a suicide mission into space to save humanity. Most of the science in this book was way beyond me but the story itself was so engaging that I kept going. Despite the impending apocalypse, it was even very funny ! Great beach read!

Andy Weir did a wonderful job with this book. The narrator was funny and had me laughing out loud at parts. Although it was a bit scientific for the reader, the author did a good job keeping it readable and enjoyable. I am normally not a fan of science fiction, but after reading his book The Martian I was excited for this one as well. The writing style and the plot set up over more than one timeline was fun and allowed the reader to learn information as the protagonist did. The book did not disappoint and I would recommend this book for any reader, not just fans of science fiction.

Project Hail Mary is the latest science fiction offering by Andy Weir. Earth seems to be losing the strength from the sun that it needs in order to keep functioning. In order to save the planet an elite team of astronauts and scientists is created to determine what the next steps need to be in order to keep humans alive. Ryland Grace is a science teacher who unwillingly becomes a passenger on a spaceship sent to gather the necessary information in order to save Earth. Ryland eventually encounters a character named Rocky. These two develop a relationship that is a delight for readers. Plenty of action and science move this plot right along. Read and enjoy!

The first thing you realize about Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is that it does everything possible to remind you that this is not The Martian. Ryland Grace is the anti-Mark Watney. The most obvious differing characteristics which separate the two are the fact that Ryland is a microbiologist and a teacher, as well as a coward, and he doesn't swear. At all. Whereas Mark used curse words to perfectly indicate his emotions, Ryland sounds exactly like what he is - a teacher who won't say anything that might harm a child's innocence. While he provides some semblance of entertainment, once Rocky enters the picture, Ryland becomes the sidekick. Rocky is hands-down the best part of the story, and their friendship makes you believe humanity is pretty damn good. As is true of most of Mr. Weir's novels, there is more scientific discussion than plot, and it can get pretty esoteric and theoretical. Still, not understanding astrophysics won't prevent anyone from enjoying this survival story.

This book took me far too long to read!! I think not really knowing how long it was (electronic) was part of it. I really liked The Martian and still haven't read Artemis but Project Hail Mary was a good intro back into Andy Weir! The science is overwhelming but honestly, I don't need to understand the nitty gritty to enjoy the book. lol. Project Hail Mary went somewhere I wasn't expecting compared to The Martian and I was afraid it was going to get really corny but Weir pulled it off.

Thanks for the free book, Penguin Random House International @prhinternational #sponsored

I really loved The Martian but Project Hail Mary was everything! The premise seemed somewhat similar to me, however, I did not expect to find something very different and it really exceeded my expectations.

Ryland Grace wakes up in what seems to be a spaceship, only he does not remember who he is and what he is doing there. The only thing he can hear is a computer asking him insistently what’s two plus two. Through flashbacks, Ryland will remember his name, who he really is and the important mission that lead him to be there. He is alone, however, accompanied only by two mummified corpses that appear to have died during the journey, and their identities are unknown since he cannot remember them.

The book is written in different timelines that will make us discover along with the main character, the circumstances that led him to the situation and place in which he is.

I was already impressed by Weir’s The Martian, initially I thought that this book would be something similar but, although there are topics that could be related, it is a totally different book.

Regarding the scientific subject, the book presents scientific theories that, although possibly complex, the author has managed to explain them in a simple and familiar way so that anyone could understand them.

Regarding the scenario, Weir places us from the beginning in an uncertain and claustrophobic scenario, similar to that part in a book or movie when you reach a braking point and say “how are they going to solve this situation?”, which makes this book compelling from the first page, and it just gets better and better.

One of the things that I liked the most about this book was how friendship and empathy is shown. I can’t say much about this without spoiling part of the story, but I can say that this is what makes this book different from previous author’s works. Great chemistry!

I’m sure this book will be one of my best reads of the year and everybody should read it. I will be looking forward to the movie!

5+ Stars

So this is by the same author who wrote The Martian, which was a huge hit movie starring Matt Damon back in 2015. It has a similar premise – an astronaut drifting alone is space - but totally different outcome. Some have called it a space opera. In the book, Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except when we meet Ryland in the beginning of the book, he doesn't know that – or anything. He has amnesia, even worse SPACE amnesia and can’t 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. 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.
I don’t typically gravitate (see what I did there) toward sci fi, but this is an immersive a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian--while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

OK. I'll be honest: I am not the typical reader for the sci-fi genre. Give me YA, give me rom-com, *heck!* give me dark and twisty drama, but sci-fi-alien-meets-human-to-save-the-world-epic??

hahaha!! Oh, OK. I guess I'll bite. ;)

Having loved Andy Weir's first novel, "The Martin," I was immediately drawn to "Project Hail Mary." There is something about an authors' ability to draw me in to a genre I wouldn't normally traverse that I can't help but bite at. And, I can say with confidence, Weir accomplished that feat once again!! From end of the world conflict, to interplanetary travel, to lovable aliens, to Weir's quintissential humor ... "Project Hail Mary" proved to be the perfect addition to his collection of loveable interstellar reads!

I would recommend this book to any reader willing to traverse the world of technical science language for the sake of encountering a delightful story. I did get stalled at times by the mass amounts of science — since many of the concepts and terminology unfamiliar to me — but the plot and characterization won out for me in the end. Who wouldn't be enamored by the story of two unlikely friends and their self-sacrificing efforts to save their home planets??

All-in-all "Project Hail Mary" is a solid 4.5 stars from me!! I look forward to checking out Weir's other book, "Artemis" and — of course — his books of the future!

Really good book. I loved the characters. Weir does an amazing job of developing an alien race (several of them, I guess you'd say) and it shows through the character Rocky in a huge way. This book would have already been good without the alien life, but holy cow is it amazing with it.

I also love that the teacher doesn't cuss, but almost does several times. I think this is how I must look when I'm at home and not on my ship. Anyway, that was cool too.

The only bad-ish part about this book is that once or twice I think he goes just a little too deep into the weeds. I'm sure all the engineers and biologists who read this book love it, and I liked it a lot, but at some point, it was a bit much.

That last point certainly wasn't enough to kill the mood though. This book is amazing and, while I won't give away any spoilers, the end is going to blow your mind.