I have no qualm in saying that this book is AMAZING!! I am not a big science fiction reader. Don't get me wrong, I love science fiction, but I usually watch it, not read it. This book was so good, that I could see it playing out in my head. (seriously, this book needs to be a movie)

Ryalnd Grace wakes up to find himself not only way far from home, but he doesn't remember his name or why he is where he is. Eventually he starts to remember why is not on earth anymore and through flashbacks we learn what has happened on earth and who Ryland is.

I am not going to give away the plot, but I will say that Andy Weir has another hit on his hands! I finished this book and immediately wanted to pick it up and read it again!!

I loved the story, the characters, every single bit of dialogue and I loved Ryland as the narrator of this story!!

This book comes out tomorrow (May 4th, 2021), do yourself a favor and buy it... You won't be disappointed!

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Publishing and Ballantine Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Project Hail Mary heartens back to the golden age of science fiction, a more innocent time when one could build a rocket ship in one’s backyard and teenagers could outfox alien hordes. In Hail Mary, a junior high school science teacher, Ryland Grace, stars in saving the earth when the sun begins to dim. (Get it? Hail Mary, full of grace...? Andy Weir does enjoy sprinkling a gentle self-conscious and frequently self-deprecating humor throughout his stories.)

Weir employs his signature hard science methodology to solve the nitty-gritty physical, chemical and ecological problems that confront his hero (e.g. does that screw tighten to the right or to the left?, how can I get food? ), but this time around those problems span star systems and cross the boundaries of at least four species. The result is suspenseful and exciting but also somehow comforting, illustrating that humans, with all their fears and animosities, can still prevail when the chips are down.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I never knew exactly how dumb I was until I started reading Andy Weir's books. He's really good at dialing down the dork-dom, too. I think regular people can probably understand the science-speak in an Andy Weir novel. I can't. Therefore, I have accepted my stupidity. I do, however, have a measure of emotional intelligence, and this book went a long way towards enriching it. In Project Hail Mary, Dr. Ryland Grace awakens aboard a spaceship, many light years from Earth, his only companions two nearly mummified corpses. Dr. Grace is the last hope for humanity, his mission literally a Hail Mary pass. It's rather unfortunate, then, that he has absolutely no idea who he is, or what he's doing on a spaceship in a distant solar system. The more he encounters, the more hazy memories he gains, until a sobering conclusion is reached: Ryland must battle his terror and amnesia to save all of humankind.

I want to stay vague on plot details, because there are some things coming that will absolutely sucker punch you, and I dare not give you any hints. Andy Weir has infused this book with his trademark humor and plucky heroism, cranked up to 100. Some of the science does indeed go over my head, but I'm completely unbothered. The incredible warmth and unfathomable depth of feeling Project Hail Mary evoked more than makes up for my ignorance. I could read Andy Weir's grocery list and be happy, but I know there are a faction of readers who were less than pleased with his last novel, Artemis. To them, I'm delighted to report that Project Hail Mary is not just a return to form, but an elevation. This is one of the best books I've read in 2021 so far. Thank you to Ballantine Books and Netgalley for the chance to review this advance copy.

This is in the running for my favorite read of 2021, and I can easily say that even with more than half of the year still to go. 

The book alternates between past and present time. In the present, Ryland is alone on a ship millions of miles away from home and isn't exactly sure what's going on. In the past all hell has begun to break loose on Earth. The structure and methodical unravelling of the overall story made it all the more interesting and compelling. 

I was nervous beginning this one because science is not my forte at all, but Weir did a great job making the science accessible. Even for the non science-minded person, he makes it easy to comprehend. I feel smarter for having read this book. 

The overall premise of the story is great, and Weir's writing-style is exceptional! This was my first Weir novel, and I was pleasantly surprised by the humor and the several scenes that had me actually laughing out loud. The humor provided some comedic relief but didn't detract from the suspenseful or heart-wrenching moments. So much suspense!

But by far my favorite element of this book is the perfectly imagined, well-rounded characters. They are all complex and multi-faceted. Ryland is sarcastic and insanely intelligent with a penchant for good. Eva Stratt is a driven, hardworking woman with a world to save. And well, Rocky may be one of my favorite characters of all-time. 

I would confidently recommend this book to anyone and know that they would love it. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy!! Review will be posted on my Instagram @tasteoflit on publication day!

Earth is in peril, and the savior of humanity is....a middle school science teacher?

Ryland Grace is content with his job as the "cool" science teacher, and has left his life as a researcher behind him. But when something starts eating the energy from the sun, he's called upon to investigate. What he finds will be responsible for the next ice age, and the fall of humanity if it isn't stopped. This sets off a chain of events to stop the coming apocalypse, with Grace as a leading scientist. He also is chosen as an astronaut on the Hail Mary, the ship sent to find a solution, but he's not quite sure how he ended up there. All he knows is that when he woke from his induced coma in space, he was the only member of his 3 person crew still alive. Told in alternating timelines between the now (Grace in space), and the past (Grace on Earth), it is revealed how he became the 3rd crew member. Can Grace stop what seems to be an inevitable extinction event?

I really loved The Martian, and I was worried that this new book would be a disappointment. I honestly really enjoyed this one as well. Weir has this way of giving you all kinds of scientific information that is way over the average reader's head, but doesn't make you feel stupid or overwhelmed. I didn't have to understand physics or chemistry to enjoy this book, even though there were a lot of references to them. The writing and humor carried the story, and though I honestly didn't understand everything (hello, relativistic and Newtonian physics!) the plot was intriguing and I couldn't put it down. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you liked The Martian, you'll enjoy this one too.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir just wowed me on so many levels, and I cannot talk about very many of them without giving away spoilers. But here is what I can say:

I loved the theme of friendship and how it developed, grew, and ultimately played out in the novel. It gives the story heart and meaning outside of all the fantastic science and science fiction details. The power of the bond between friends is everything. It makes people a better version of themselves and leads to personal fulfillment in ways we never expect. This aspect of the story is surprisingly heartwarming and completely relatable.

The science is so incredibly detailed that I was unsure if I was getting smarter by the second or if my brain was going to explode with information overload. I loved this because even if the facts were not accurate (but they did seem to be spot on), they gave the story an authenticity it would not have had otherwise.

The story is interspersed with a dual timeline, all from the main character’s, Ryland Grace, point of view. For the most part, this worked seamlessly, though I occasionally got confused about whether I was in the past or the present. However, the confusion did not last long as the two periods are quite different. I could not decide whether I would consider the story character-driven or plot-driven as both aspects are powerful, but that says so much on its own.

If you want to be wowed over and over again, then this is a book you will not want to miss!

The nitty-gritty: Thrilling, emotional and very funny, Project Hail Mary is a winner!

*Spoiler free review

This is a tricky book to review, because as you might have heard, there is a spoilerific element to the story that should be kept under wraps at all costs. I have to admit I went into Project Hail Mary completely clueless (I don’t think I even read the blurb on Goodreads) and it made the experience all the more wonderful. So this review will be on the short side, as I don’t want to give anything away! I loved this book as much as I loved The Martian, and I really loved The Martian. Kudos to Weir for writing something new and not rehashing his bestseller, even though the basic concept—a man gets stuck in space by himself and has to figure out a way to survive—is similar.

The story opens with a mystery. A man wakes up in a strange hospital bed with no memories of why he’s there and who he is. He’s alone except for two dead bodies, and he doesn’t recognize them either. Little by little, his memories float to the surface, and he remembers that his name is Ryland Grace and he is on a spaceship. Ryland soon realizes that he understands all the technical equipment on board and that he’s very good at math and science, but he still doesn’t understand the why part of the equation: he eventually remembers that he is a junior high school science teacher, but what the heck is he doing on a spaceship, alone and—another startling realization—in another solar system? And why did he lose his memory?

In an alternating timeline, we learn the answers to all those questions as Ryland’s memories slowly return. It turns out that Earth is on the path to an extinction event and the crew and spaceship—the Hail Mary—have been launched into space in order to find a solution to the problem. Scientists predict that another ice age is imminent in the next twenty-six years or so, unless the Hail Mary and crew can save the day.

So that’s the set-up, and it’s up to you lucky readers to experience the rest of the story for yourselves. Weir does a great job of utilizing a dual timeline in Project Hail Mary, and it works perfectly for keeping us in suspense as he slowly doles out the answers to all of the story’s burning questions. Back on Earth, we meet the team of scientists who not only discovered the life altering event that’s about to happen, but those who can solve the problem and save the planet. I loved these sections as well, and it was fascinating to watch the process of all the top scientists in the world come together to help solve an insurmountable problem.

Weir is simply full of surprises, and I was delighted by the creative and unusual ideas in this story. It’s almost like The Martian was a warm-up for Project Hail Mary. We get a lot of the same elements, but Weir takes things up several notches, uses even more science, and comes up with some truly mind-blowing scenarios. And yes, there is a lot of technical information and info-dumping in places. But hey, building a spaceship and figuring out how to get a crew into deep space is technical stuff, and I wasn’t really bothered that most of it went over my head. As for tension and thrills, I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of the story, worried sick about Ryland and the Hail Mary. I’ll admit some of the situations were way over the top, and it’s hard to imagine that anything like this would ever happen, but you have to just go with it. I’m quite sure Weir did his homework, and even if parts of the story feel like speculation, it’s all based on science and physics, especially the scenes back on Earth and the extreme measures the team has to take to save the planet.

Ryland Grace is a fantastic character, a man who loves to teach and gets very excited when confronted with new ideas and problems. He’s on par with Mark Watney when it comes to problem solving, and the crazy ideas he comes up with were some of my favorite parts of the story. I also loved the way he refused to swear, using phrases like “what the fudge” and “motherfluffer” in lieu of swear words, although eventually when the shit hits the fan he does swear, lol. There are so many laugh-out-loud moments in the story, and I’d love to mention a few choice quotes, but I’m afraid they would spoil things for you. And did anyone else pick up on the name of the ship and the main character and think “Hail Mary full of grace”?? Ha ha.

The villain of the tale—of course there has to be one—is Eva Stratt, the all-powerful, driven woman who facilitates the entire operation. At first I cheered the fact that Weir gave us a strong woman who can literally command the President of the United States and every other world leader in order to get what she needs for the project, but it doesn’t take long before you start to realize just what a horrible person she is. There is one reveal in particular near the end that nearly made me throw my Kindle against the wall, I was so enraged by her choices! However, on the surface she's annoying as hell, but she has mankind's best interests at heart, so you have to give her credit for that.

And I wouldn’t have given this book five stars if it hadn’t resonated with me emotionally. Unfortunately I can’t talk about the emotional parts because of huge spoilers! But let me just say that I didn’t see that ending coming and I sobbed like a baby.

Andy Weir has another winner on his hands, one that takes all the best parts of The Martian and spins them off in different and surprising directions. The book isn’t perfect—it’s pretty long and there are many many paragraphs and pages full of technical information—but honestly, I’d put up with those things all over again if I could read this again for the first time.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Review will be published on Goodreads by 05/03/2021

Andy Weir’s humor and attention to detail definitely continues in this new book. The slightly self deprecating humor of the main character is the driving force behind this exciting, out of this world, novel. Who better to save humanity than a Junior High School teacher, right? I have to say for a man who has amnesia and can’t even remember his name, Grace is doing a pretty good job aboard a spacecraft heading for a new star.

*** Spoilers ahead ***

I have to say I was not expecting the good doctor to meet sentient life, but the logical yet humorous way in which he interacted with them is perfect. Rocky’s attitude about how frail and useless humans are is highly entertaining and like most of his previous novels, Hail Mary is highly researched and well thought out. It is definitely in the realm of realistic science fiction and it makes me wonder if NASA will reach out to Weir again and ask who his alien contact is?

Overall, it was a wonderful story filled with well thought out and unique characters. The story was full of low and high points of action and possible heart ache and kept me simultaneously rolling in fits of laughter and on the edge of my seat.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC!

Andy Weir is back with an incredible science fiction novel that will have fans of The Martian excited to find out what happens next!

When Ryland Grace wakes up, he realizes that something is very, very wrong. His memory is gone, and it feels like he has been asleep for years. When he finally able to get out of bed, he can’t figure out why he is so sluggish and then he realizes, it’s because gravity is heavier than normal. But that doesn’t make sense. Perhaps someone has placed him in a centrifuge, but that can’t be because of the amount of gravitational force that he is experiencing. There is only one other possibility: he is on a spaceship. Once he makes his way to the control room and sees the panel, he realizes that not only is he on a ship, the star he is heading towards is in a completely different solar system than his own. As his memory begins to return in bits and pieces, he realizes that he is on a last-ditch effort mission to save Earth and all the people who live there.

How to review this book without giving anything away? Let’s just say that if you loved The Martian and where then slightly (or horribly) disappointed in Weir’s second book Artemis, then you are not alone. But rest assured, this book gets back to what Weir did best in The Martian. Readers will ride alongside protagonist, Ryland Grace, as he struggles to understand why he is on this mission. His amnesia allows readers to discover the same tidbits of information at the same time he does so that the revelation is gradual. Grace is a microbiologist with a great understanding of science that explains everything to readers. It does get technical at times, but the plot and story line make up for anything that readers may not fully understand. I’m married to a mechanical engineer and he got even more out of this book than I did. Plus having the science mixed with humor throughout makes for several good laughs. Readers will also experience some emotion throughout the book, but you’re just going to have to read it for yourself to understand why.

Compared to the previous books, there is only a fraction of foul language. There is also some discussion of sex, but nothing graphic and it is written in a humorous manner. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoyed The Martian or just love science fiction.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Wow! Andy Weir does it again! This book is INCREDIBLE! Who knew a single male character for a good chunk of the book could be so compelling. Once he finds a companion, who knew this could have so much heart. I am not really a sci-fi fan, but this very well will be one of my best books of the year!

Oh Andy Weir, you've done it again. I can never get enough of your acerbic wit while talking astrophysics. In the same vein as the Martian, but now with the whole of Planet Earth in peril, a middle school science teacher is thrown into a mission to save the world. The only trouble is, he can't remember anything, not even his name. And unlike the Martian, Ryland Grace is not alone. This book is sci fi, yes, but also lots of warmth, heart and humor (and it makes you WANT to learn about the space-time continuum, and brush up on the theory of relativity - what kind of a book can do that?!). Another 5-star winner for me! So happy for this one to hit the shelves.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - All The Stars in the Universe!

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.
"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."

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.

What can I say that hasn't been said? This is a terrific read that transcends genre. And don't worry if you, like me, get lost in the science and therefore decide to skip around it- the novel works just fine that way because of the humanity that Weir brings to his tale. Ryland Grace, who finds himself in an impossible situation, is a wonderful character as is Rocky (I know, I know). Thanks to netgalley fo the ARC. I suspect many will pick this up because of the Martian and might put it down again when confronted with the aforementioned science. If they don't pick it up again, they'll be missing a great story. Highly recommend.

This was my first Andy Weir book. I really need to go back and read the others. You would think that a book that spends a good deal of time with one character alone in space working out problems in great detail in his head would be pretty boring and hard to get into. The internal voice of Dr. Grace is witty and engaging enough to make it really fun and interesting to read. I'm afraid that if I were ever stuck in a space ship that my confidence would be way higher than it should be after reading this book. Grace faces down just about everything you can imagine in his quest to save the Earth from an alien life form that is draining the energy from our sun.

I have to say that one of the best things about reading this story was the fact that it didn't go where I thought it would all of the time. Choices Grace makes as he faces more and more decisions he just doesn't feel prepared to make lead places I didn't imagine they would. In flashbacks, we find out how this unlikely middle school science teacher ends up in space with the entire planet's future in his hands. Characters are all so well developed, even when we don't get a lot of time with them.

I am so glad I was able to get my hands on a copy of this book to review.

<strong>Project Hail Mary</strong> is the newest novel from Andy Weir, soon released in a few days on Star Wars Day (May 4). Sci-fi fans should feel free to getting excited now. I was so thrilled to get an early copy of it and absolutely tore through this story about scientific research, evolution and interstellar exploration.

I loved, <em>loved</em> the movie <strong>The Martian</strong> and have been wanting to read something of Weir's for a while now. However, I ended up skipping Weir's follow-up novel, Artemis, since it had mixed reviews and the plot seemed kind of wonky to me, with stuff like space heists and gangsters and whatnot.

In <strong>Project Hail Mary</strong>, Weir gets his footing back on more comfortable territory: a dude in space doing science-y stuff.

<strong>Project Hail Mary</strong> involves quite a bit of scientific experimentation since the narrative involves a backstory about an astronomical anomaly. Weir does a fantastic job of explaining this all in a way that includes a full explanation of the science behind it while still making it very accessible and narratively interesting. This book is so impressive in that respect.

Chances are, if you read this book, you're going to learn quite a few fun science facts! Here's a good litmus test for whether or not you are a good reader for this book: If you read that sentence and thought, <em>oh cool, science facts</em>! You are a good reader for this book, and I bet you'll love it. If you read the first sentence in this paragraph and thought, <em>ugh, bleh, science</em>. You are a bad reader for this book, and you will probably DNF it.

I don't want to spoil any of the plot, but Project Hail Mary involves more speculative aspects of the story than <strong>The Martian</strong> did, so it involves similar territory but then extends outwards from there. There's some portions of the book deals in evolution and the ways that species evolve. These were some of my favorite parts of the book, and I thought the coverage of it was compelling and astute.

It's a very ambitious book in terms of what it's trying to cover, and the science and technology aspect of it are so carefully and deliberately thought out. Weir's use of actual science as a foundation for his science fiction is a particular strength of his, and it's an understatement to say that it's on full display in <strong>Project Hail Mary</strong>.

In terms of some general descriptors of the writing, the book progresses forward at a moderately rapid clip. The writing is what you'd expect from someone who's more of a science guy than a writer in a literary sense, but it's serviceable. It helps a lot that the narration and dialogue is often genuinely funny, which helps to smooth out most of the edges.

There's one point towards the end where I thought the plot went a little off the rails and starts to get messy. I think Weir is better off sticking to science-survivalist stuff than trying to mess with plot points that involve human nature and whatnot. But I think it's a small enough part of the book that it won't ruin anyone's enjoyment of the book if they feel similarly as I do.

This is a solid, sometimes quite funny and very meticulously thought-out book. In essence, it's a great read ... if you enjoy hard science. Overall, I thought Project Hail Mary was very good. If you like science at all, read it! If not, I'm sure it'll become a super flashy movie at some point, so you can watch it then. Yay, space!

(Caveat)

There's (very) brief mention of the lack of women in STEM and the need to allow less qualified women in their selection criteria. ("Stratt stayed firm and insisted on only the best candidates, but some concessions had to be made. 'Women,' I said.") Then, Weir has a character say that the way to change things is to "encourage your female students to get into STEM".

Hm. Okay. Let's be clear, that's not enough. Yes, people should encourage women and girls to get into STEM. But say that's <em>the </em>reason there aren't more women in STEM is inaccurate. Ultimately, having more women in STEM requires addressing the structural issues that keep women out, such as not having proper mentors and not having work or school environments that are free from sexism and harassment, etc.

To be fair, this is just a mention made in passing, a few sentences out of the entire book, and I moved passed it. Still, I am disappointed by this nonetheless. I don't understand why Weir felt the need to include a sexist character without having another character provide a counterargument.

First off, I love "The Martian." Love the book, love the audiobook, love the movie, love the whole idea.

After you read "Project Hail Mary," you realize that Mark Watney had it easy.

Weir's second book, "Artemis," was good but it didn't engage me the way "The Martian" did with its emphasis on problem-solving and good-natured determination. He came roaring back to that with his new one, and his protagonist has a lot more lives than his own to save.

All of humanity, in fact.

Ryland Grace realizes this when he wakes up hurtling through space on a small ship with his two crewmates dead and, oh yeah, he can't remember why he's there. He gradually works out enough of the situation and his scattered memory to understand that life on Earth is under imminent, unstoppable threat and he is the only chance to find a way to stop it.

If he can just remember what he's supposed to do.

Problem-solving is once again front and center here as Grace has to, basically, deduce what the problem he left behind was so he can try to figure out what the one-in-a-million chance was that he's speeding towards on what he also figures out is a one-way mission.

Fortunately, he gets some extraterrestrial help, and that's where things really pick up.

"Project Hail Mary" is a triumphant return to the territory of "the Martian" and the movie "Apollo 13" where the only enemy is nature and time and the only real tools are intelligence. science, and perserverance. And luck. Like Mark Watney from "The Martian" Grace has a sense of humor and a strong grounding in science (although he cusses significantly less, if that matters to you) and stands up to the truly crushing task and assorted defeats that come at him.

Andy Weir takes us to a whole new galaxy in his third novel, Project Hail Mary. When mankind learns that the sun is dimming at an alarmingly fast rate, the world comes together in a Hail-Mary attempt to save the planet and prevent an instant ice age. Ryland Grace is at the helm of this page-turning sci-fi thriller and the last man standing on what’s basically a suicide mission to a star called Tau Ceti. Grace was practically laughed out of the scientific community after he wrote a paper arguing against the assumption that all lifeforms require water to survive. As it turns out he was more on the mark than he ever could have imagined, making him an ideal candidate for the international task force that’s racing to find out why the sun is dimming and, more importantly, how to stop it. Once again, Weir has given us a character with a razor-sharp voice and electric personality we want to follow, and since space does not cooperate, Project Hail Mary’s plot is full of twists and turns as well. There are definitely more than a few parallels between Weir’s latest novel and The Martian, and Ryland Grace definitely gives off Mark Watney vibes. At times it does feel like deja vu, but without a doubt, this interstellar roller coaster is an enjoyable ride that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Andrew Weir does it again. In his latest book, Project Hail Mary, he writes a gripping tale of space exploration. The hook came in the first paragraph and kept me enthralled throughout the whole book.

At the beginning of the book, we discover that the main character has amnesia. He gets bits and pieces of his memory back as the book progresses. It is this journey of discovery that keeps the reader rushing to the next sentence. As with any of Weir’s books, he will make you laugh and cry. I am excited for everyone to get their hands on a copy.

I want to thank NetGalley for providing me a copy of the book.

He wakes up on a spaceship hurtling through space at enough acceleration to create gravity. There are two skeletons in the beds next to him, and a robot that monitors his health. To access the ship's controls, he just needs to give his name as a password—but he doesn't remember his name. He doesn't remember why he's on a spaceship, or where he's going, or who the skeletons are next to him. But as his memories start to surface, he realizes that he's the only one who can save the Earth he left behind.

With that kind of premise, it's no surprise that I think it's best to go into this book completely blind. After all, the narrator is almost completely blind; he hasn't forgotten how to speak English, and he has an absurd amount of math and science knowledge stored in his brain, but it'd seem unfair to tell you why he's flying through space when he doesn't even know himself. I feel like everything I can say about this book is a spoiler, although it ranges from mild spoiler to big spoiler, so I'll try to stick to mild spoilers for the rest of this review.

Let's just get it out of the way: in terms of characters, Andy Weir is a one-trick pony. Ryland Grace, the narrator, is basically Mark Watney in a microbiologist hat. Oh, and he doesn't swear, because he's a junior high school science teacher. Besides that, pretty much the same person: smart enough to jerry rig a bunch of stuff in space without killing himself, pretty much the least capable person on his team yet ends up being the only survivor anyway, and a sarcastic joker. He does actually have some flaws, which is more depth than Mark Watney, but ultimately this could have been a direct sequel to *The Martian* and Weir would have needed to change only a handful of details.

Below the surface, though, *Project Hail Mary* is a very different story than *The Martian*, that feels fresh and new despite similarities. I found it to be an extremely compelling story, that was focused on the survival of not only Ryland Grace, not only humans, but all life on Earth, and perhaps even life—if it exists—across the galaxy. The stakes are high, and it really drives the story forward.

I do think that this book was perhaps a little long for what it was at nearly 500 pages. There were a few points in the first half of the book that dragged and the pace didn't really pick up until the fifty percent mark. I also thought that the way Grace recalled his lost memories were a little too convenient—rather than coming in fragmented bits and pieces, he managed to remember a couple years of memories in chronological order, but also managed to recall exact moments when he needed to without breaking that chronological order. There's an argument that this makes it more accessible for the average reader, but personally I think I'd have enjoyed it more if his memory had been more fragmented.

All in all I think this was a pretty fun read and good for folks who don't read a lot of sci-fi and would like to try one out. Additionally, if you liked *The Martian*—either the movie or the book—you should enjoy this as well. Although I haven't read *Artemis*, I know it was disappointing for a lot of readers, but here I think Weir has returned to play to his strengths. Altogether a strong book, and I hope to see more in the same vein from Weir in the future.

***Note: Review will go live at provided link at 7am EST on May 4, 2021

PROJECT HAIL MARY is as if Contact, Arrival, and Interstellar had a very smart baby.

It IS that good.

Andy Weir wrote a phenomenal book and hit a home run of interstellar proportions–pun intended. In this story, we witness Rylan Grace’s interstellar journey to the unknown in an almost-impossible attempt to save humanity from global catastrophe. And he is desperate, and sarcastic at the same time, a thing I loved in The Martian, which is here, too.

A huge deal of research went into this book, because the story feels modern and very real. How everything unfolds has an scientific explanation, which won’t confuse you, even if you’re not that much into hard science fiction. In my very humble opinion, PROJECT HAIL MARY is a masterpiece and will become an instant classic.

Do yourself a favor and snatch a copy of PROJECT HAIL MARY–don’t wait for the movie. The novel will take you unimaginable places.