The Martian is one of my favorite books of all time, so I was anticipating that it would be hard for Andy Weir to one-up himself. BUT HE DID. This book was so fun, so different, and kept me on the edge of my seat while feeling like I was becoming some sort of space scientist myself (lol).

This is a totally inventive story about kinds of aliens you've never imagined. It is also incredibly well researched and scientifically sound. I feel like Andy Weir is a master of this genre and I greatly appreciate having my wish granted to receive and read this book. I feel this would be enjoyed by anyone who is intrigued with space travel, aliens, physics, and the science that ties is all together!

I liked The Martian from this author so I gave this a read. Very enjoyable! I was unable to put it down, wanting to know what was going to happen next. Science teacher sent off into space on a death mission to attempt to save the earth. An interesting curve on what would never happen with a very surprise ending.

Um so waking up naked hooked up to machines in a room with robotic arms... And no memory of who you are or how you got there.
Great start! Sounds like my twenties! Jk maybe. 

As our mc slowly starts to get his induced coma addled memory back we get a very startling scary picture of what the heck is happening. And why he is in a rocket in space. It's more of a puzzle we are putting together but I love puzzles! 

Yikes! Ok extinction events are terrifying but it's great we have scientists that can identify issues and find solutions. The solutions they come up with as our star starts to become infected. Don't ask me to repeat any scientific jargon.

I love stories when you are moving in present tense and memories are interspersed. The memories slowly start to reveal more and more of the mission and what he should be doing.

Honestly, this may be my favorite adult book this year. I love all the trial and error of science and being stuck 10 light years from space. And Rocky is the best supporting character ever!

I am finding it hard to share too much since you really just have to read it. I can't wait for the movie lol! Though the book the Martian was better than the movie imo. I'm not a scientist I'm just assuming that with the scientists he talked to and referenced at the end that this is all possible.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you Net Galley and Penguin Randomhouse and Ballantine books for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

I also may have just selected this as my add-on for my May Book of the month

I really don't like science fiction books but Andy Weir seems to write so well, I have no chance but to
love his books and read them very quickly. I won't give away much of the plot but Dr. Grace, a disgraced scientist teaching middle school finds him at the center of saving Earth and all its life against an extinction event. An unlikely hero; this book takes you on a great ride and will certainly be one of the great reads of 2021..
Thank you Netgalley, Andy Weir, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Ballantine Books for the ARC for my honest review.

Andy Weir does it again. In the same vein as The Martian, Weir builds a rich and intelligent story based around a single character. Dr. Grace is a teacher and former researcher shunned from the community for his theories. But when it comes time to save the Earth, Dr Grace uses his ingenuity and wit to help in any way he can.

This novel is funny, smart and riveting. You think you know what is going to happen and are surprised at every turn. You will laugh out loud one moment and gasp the next. A summer must read!

Andy Weir’s books always promise a blend of well-researched science, suspenseful plot twists, and a boundless curiosity for “what if...” scenarios. Hail Mary is no exception. While the ratio of story to science feels a bit askew, it’s still a fun read. Although the conceit of the book - once again, an astronaut alone in space - feels repetitive of The Martian, Weir mines it for new scientific plot points. But spending a whole book largely inside the mind of a single character is hard, especially when he is a less than like able person.

Wow! Never have I learned so much about science and still been 100% captivated the entire time. I'm a huge, huge fan of this book! I loved the flashbacks that slowly explained things, and I loved the other major character (no spoilers here!). I highly recommend reading this book as soon as you can!

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Warning--this review contains spoilers!

I absolutely loved Andy Weir’s first book The Martian--it’s one of the few books I have re-read both in print and on audio. HIs second book Artemis was a DNF for me, but Weir returns to form with Project Hail Mary and I can honestly say this is by far my favorite. I will be purchasing this book in audio so I can reread it over and over again.

While reading the book I was constantly pulled between laughing out loud, wanting to cry, feeling anxious with anticipation, and overall just feeling ALL the emotions. Weir takes one of my favorite premises (is there life on other planets, and what would it be like to interact with them?) and turned it into a book that I would absolutely describe as a page turner.

What delighted me the most about this book was Grace’s friendship with Rocky, the alien he meets while in Space (also kudos for the constant references to the Rocky movie franchise). I loved the process of how they learned to communicate, but more than that the dynamic between them was so funny and real. At one point Grace reflects on how in his life he hasn’t opened himself up to really connecting with other people for fear of rejection or loss-that’s something I think we can all relate to-but in Rocky he finds a true kindred spirit and understands what it means to truly make a sacrifice for someone you care about. At one point he even says that Rocky is “his only friend” which honestly just squeezed at my heart strings. The ending was just perfect as well.

The only downside to this book is there are some parts where Weir gets so into the weeds with science that it did take me out of the story at some points. But these were not enough to lower my rating--if I could give it higher than 5 stars I would. And by the time we meet Rocky, those moments disappeared for me entirely and I was completely engrossed.

Ok, now I should go get all the sleep I missed since I could NOT STOP reading this book!

Oh thank god this is good. Glad for it, especially since Artemis was uh. A let down. Weir's tone is still a little crass, but it feels natural coming from a dude alone in space, which is what made The Martian soar.

WOW! Andy Weir has done it again.
(note: light spoilers below)
I am a science nerd. Like I-am-a-Chemistry-PhD-Candidate science nerd. But I also have a second love of books. I read a TON of scifi/fantasy in what spare time I have.

I absolutely devoured this novel over the course of like 6 hours. The science was fairly accurate (as accurate as a novel that contains information about extraterrestrial life could be, considering that in and of itself creates variables to the science).

The characters were great. I saw some negative reviews about the main character, but honestly I found him realistic and relatable. He is a failed academic who instead taught middle schoolers, but who then gets sucked back into the kind of work that caused his career to implode. He doesn't curse- like at all- which is a result of well...teaching middleschoolers. The secondary Earth characters- most of which are scientists- were very realistic to me as well. Scientists as a rule are well...weird. We spend so much time just submerged in instruments and data that we end up kind of kooky when it comes to interpersonal communication.

My only cons of this book is that I wish there were more of it!! I would love to know what happened to the other astronauts and what happened on earth.

I received this book as an ARC from random house publishing through Netgalley

(4.5 stars)
Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up in space, his crew mates are gone and he has no memory of how or why he is lightyears from his home. He eventually gains some memory back and learns that this space expedition is the most important mission of his life. Because if he fails then Earth will become inhabitable.

What a ride! This book sent me on a roller coaster of confusion, emotions, adrenaline, and joy. Weir has a way of writing science and math that makes it easy to consume and to actually understand. Trust me I am terrible at Science and did not go into this read to learn, but having the main character as a teacher just felt like I was being taught science through a fun story.

I think the science aspect scares people away from Weir's books but I have to tell you to not let it. Because there is so much more than science in this book. There is such sadness and impossible decisions that have to be made. I loved the satisfaction of Dr. Grace finding solutions to the crazy issues that kept happening. I wish I could talk in more detail without giving away specifics but I was fascinated by a secondary character and found them so interesting.

The only flaws I could find in this book was that there could have been a more profound message on the importance of pronouns as a personal choice. I also did find some science aspects of it a bit hard to understand at times, it just felt overwhelming but it never deterred from the story. I did love the messages on climate change and how it is going to be a collective battle everyone on the planet is going to have to get behind. Sci-fi is not a genre I reach for too often but when it is Andy Weir writing it, I know I want to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine books for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Fantastic book. Bromance book of the year! Kudos to Andy Weir for taking 400 pages of his book to set up a Rocky and Bullwinkle joke, you have moxie sir. Man against world using science resonates with me more, so The Martian gets the edge personally. This book is right there, can't wait for the movie.

Like many, I read and loved Andy Weir's The Martian, but did not enjoy his sophomore effort, Artemis. I am happy to report that with his newest book, Project Hail Mary, Weir gets back to (and even exceeds) some of the elements that made The Martian so great.

Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up from a long-term coma on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or why he's there. As his memory slowly returns and he begins putting the pieces together, Ryland realizes that he is the sole survivor of a desperate mission to save Earth. The book follows Ryland as he attempts to save Earth and also fully regain his memory (told in flashbacks). I don't want to say too much more, as there are some twists, but let's just say there's a character named Rocky that I adored and wanted to protect at all costs. :)

This book is hard sci-fi with lots of math and science, but don't let that intimidate you! It still feels accessible and fun. It starts as a space survival story and then becomes a fun, beautiful story of interstellar friendship. I have few complaints about Project Hail Mary, and the ones I do have are similar to the few issues I had with The Martian: some events in the book feel like a bit of a stretch and there's some cheesy humor. Ultimately though, I found it refreshing to read a space survival story where the main character actually made decisions/choices that made sense.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone, especially fans of The Martian. I have posted a similar review of this book on my bookstagram @coldbrewbooks and will link it below.

The newest engrossing SF thriller from Andy Weir presents a Feckless Hero thrust onto a Hero's Journey Quest unparalleled and unimaginable. A simple Science teacher, denigrated by Academia for his postulate of anaerobic life [life not relying on water] by an incredible confluence of circumstances becomes The Lone Astronaut on the essential mission to save Earth....and in a position to achieve First Contact.

PROJECT HAIL MARY is electrifying, and in Ryland Grace, Andy Weir creates the perfect, endearing, Feckless Hero.

Science fiction, even though probably misnamed, has been an identified genre for a century now. This has benefited speculative fiction works by the establishment and evolution of a rich set of tropes known to readers within the genre, where there is no need for wordy re-explanations and re-justifications. One writer can build on or contrast the speculative concepts of an earlier writer, and know that the readers will understand when a comparison is being made. On the other hand, this has been a limitation, as readers not experienced in the genre are confused, or even worse, are put off by the less than total emphasis on character development. Film and television have been the only exposure many non-genre readers have with science fiction, where the emphasis is on visually stunning fantastic adventure. So, sometimes, we see mainstream writing in which SFnal concepts are used - but as they are read outside the genre audience, are received as if they invented something that has been explored extensively in SF for decades. Example: Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro. Meanwhile, SF writers can make a go of it, writing to the numerically limited but fanatically loyal SF audience. I tend to be one of those – writing reviews steeped in the context of the genre. It has been called the ghetto-ization of science fiction.

And sometimes, a work that is by all classical definitions science fiction, comes to be widely read by a mainstream audience. Andy Weir’s debut novel The Martian was such a book. His second novel Artemis was not. However, his latest, Project Hail Mary, has the potential to do it again. It is told by a protagonist with personality similar to The Martian’s Mark Watney, and is a story of survival in a space environment made hostile by unforeseen circumstance. The naiveté of the non SF reader is accommodated by the gimmick of amnesia – at the beginning, the protagonist cannot remember even his name or that he is in a spacecraft. He performs experiments to determine the nature of his environment and theorizes about where he is. At the same time, his memories are slowly recovered, and he learns that he is a junior high science teacher, which explains his basic experimentation technique. That’s just about perfect, because sadly, that is approximately the level at which non-technical readers understand things. And fortunately for the narrative, his memories are restored in chronological order, creating a second storyline. Part of the pleasure of this read is reasoning along with the protagonist, consequently there is very little else a reviewer should divulge. But I can’t resist letting you know that this is a First Contact story. (If you don’t know the trope, go look it up.)

I enjoyed this novel, it reminded me of the SF of decades gone by. Probably it would not stand up to a re-read, as I now know the solutions to the puzzles. But I feel that finally Weir has a successor to The Martian. We’ll see if it plays outside the genre, as the character development is somewhat streamlined.

I read an Advance Reader Copy of Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir in ebook, which I received from Random House Publishing through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 4 May 2021.

I am so excited about this book!

Having read The Martian I had high hopes for this book and it did not disappoint. It was even better than I expected and I dare say this is my new favorite book right now.

Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up knowing nothing about his current situation, including his own name, but is still immediately hilarious and likeable. Over the first few chapters he regains his memory to discover he's on a spaceship on a mission to save Earth, and he is alone. Over the course of the book we learn about Grace's present and past, the details that led to him being on said spaceship, and incredibly cool things he is doing that will have a major impact on Planet Earth.

This book is crazy funny. It's not that Grace is running around doing funny space things, though he kind of is, so much as his genuinely funny personality, the subtle meme-style humor interjected into conversations, the pop-culture references, and a pretty epic pun regarding the name of the space ship.

Weir has inserted an amazing amount of science into this story in a very accessible way. Don't worry if science isn't your thing. Our main character is a seventh grade science teacher, and just like Mark Watney in The Martian, he's perfect at explaining all the details.

Speaking of the science end of things, Grace has a few conversations about evolution, the Goldilocks principle, and species intelligence I found fascinating. The book is substantial enough that even if you were trying to burn through it like I was, you'll still have several hours of reading enjoyment. This will definitely be a re-read for me.

For fans of The Martian, also by Andy Weir, and Blake Crouch's Recursion and Dark Matter.

A Red Line has been discovered extending from our Sun to Venus. The Sun's brightness is noticeably decreasing. The science community becomes very concerned prompting a global interstellar mission called, "Project Hail Mary".

A three member crew of specially trained astronauts is sent to Tau Ceti to hopefully find the solution to avert the coming apocalypse, a 6th extinction event of Earth caused by the cooling of our sun.

Ryland Grace awakens from his medically induced coma to find his two comrades dead as a door nail. In fact, the amount of their decay shows they have been dead for a very long time. The coma’s side effects make things worse. He can not remember much of anything. Nothing about the mission, why he was there, even his name.

Eventually, Ryland is able to mostly piece together what the mission is (even his name), but many pieces are still missing, though much more comes to light as his journey continues. How does one person complete a mission that required three astronauts to be sent in the first place? One thing after another happens and he finally sees the answer. With the answer in hand more discoveries occur with unseen disasters cropping up.

This Sci Fy adventure is full of suspense and mystery that is well balanced with plot, characterization and dialogue. I must FYI for the parents: there are about 4 incidences of a swear word or phrase, and for the concerned parent these can be easily covered without interfering with the story.

Note: Math and Science are woven into the storyline, so some readers may find this a bit boring. If this is the case, they could skim through these areas and still experience a satisfying read. Predicaments and decisions having to be made in the story parallel our real life analysis in choices we make.

What is human nature, a hero or a friend can be seen within the pages of “Project Hail Mary”.

Austin Public Library (TX)
Library Associate
Bruce DeVore

“I penetrated the outer cell membrane with a nanosyringe.”

“You poked it with a stick?”

“No!” I said. “Well. Yes. But it was a scientific poke with a very scientific stick.”

It feels impossible to talk about Project Hail Mary without bringing up The Martian. When I first attempted to read the latter, I was put off by the amount of both science and swearing.* The movie adaptation helped me better visualize what was going on, and I’ve since read The Martian twice and struggled to put it down both times. Weir’s writing is like “The Magic School Bus” for adults: it’s funny and entertaining while teaching you about science. Plus, there’s an exciting survival narrative that pits the human brain against the unfeeling forces of the universe.

While The Martian was deeply satisfying, Weir’s next novel Artemis was decidedly not, and Project Hail Mary feels like a return to a formula that works. Both novels center around the similar premise of one man finding himself very far from Earth and having to depend on his own ingenuity and knowledge to solve problem after problem. There’s scientific explanations that will make you feel smarter just reading them (even if you don’t quite understand everything) immediately followed by immature humor. This time, however, the wisecracking protagonist Ryland Grace is not only trying to save himself, but all of humanity as well.

Compared to The Martian, Project Hail Mary is similarly heartwarming and inspirational, but also a bit bleaker (think Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar**) and a lot weirder. For the first quarter or third of the book, it feels like things are just warming up, but once Ryland arrives at his destination, things really get very strange and intriguing (no spoilers). While The Martian feels like something that could happen five minutes in the future, or even like something that did already happen, we’re firmly in science-fiction territory in Project Hail Mary, and I really enjoyed Weir’s unique spin on some familiar tropes.

What I didn’t love: I have personally never enjoyed “main character wakes up with amnesia” as the opening to anything. Ryland starts regaining his memories quickly and in convenient chronological order, so the amnesia is mostly used as a vehicle for doling out background information to the reader throughout the book. I understand why Weir wanted to do things this way from a narrative perspective, but I wasn’t sold on it. While the scenes on Earth are essential to understanding the stakes of Ryland’s mission, the other characters felt one-dimensional and inauthentic, and left me chomping at the bit to get back to the present day.

While not as smoothly written as The Martian, Project Hail Mary is still thoroughly entertaining. Once it got its hooks in me, I couldn’t put it down and stayed up late to finish it.

*the copious swearing in The Martian is something Weir nearly breaks the fourth wall to joke about in Project Hail Mary

**yet another movie about Matt Damon stranded on another planet

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for review.

This book made me feel things I haven't felt in years—not since I first read An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. I was so excited reading it, and despite how long it is I couldn't put it down, and finished it the day after starting it. I would really, really recommend this to anyone who likes sci-fi, and especially anyone who enjoyed The Martian.

Some of the big eureka moments made me want to screenshot them and send them to friends—like, as if they were real and we could all get excited about this huge discovery together. It's definitely a good book for a book club or to read with friends.

Compared to The Martian, this felt like it had more suspense/higher stakes, because The Martian basically had a sad ending or a happy ending (and I always assumed it would be happy). Project Hail Mary has a lot more room for complexity in terms of what a "happy" ending looks like, so I definitely felt unsure about how certain parts would end.

I'm also glad I didn't really read the description of the book before reading it; all I knew was it was by Andy Weir (and that Hank Green liked it). It allowed me to truly learn everything along with Grace, and to be surprised by even basic functions of the plot in a really rare and enjoyable way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

*major spoilers below*
I just really like non-hostile first contact stories I think. When he waved at the alien and then it waved back, I actually teared up a little.