An enjoyable science fiction book that is very deep into science fact. The structure of the book is similar to some others, particularly Weir’s first book The Martian, where once a problem is solved another one crops up.

This book finds Earth in peril due to something draining the sun’s energy, which once isolated is called astrophage. The substance is also a highly dense energy source that can propel a spaceship to speeds faster than we currently have available. A spaceship The Hail Mary has its mission to go to a nearby star to find out why it doesn’t have the same sun dimming problem, which hopefully will help solve the problem in our own solar system.

One of the best parts of the book was the new alien life. I don’t want to give much away, but I did enjoy that aspect of the book.

The frame of the book is told in current time and many flashbacks. At times it's awkward, or left me wondering why that particular passage was added in. Overall the book isn’t perfect by any means, but I enjoyed the book, and found myself thinking of it, such as what will happen next, when I wasn't reading. If this gets made into a movie like his first book, I’m sure it will do well.

[4 Stars]

-- Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review --

The Martian is one of my all-time favorite books so when I saw Andy Weir was coming out with something new I just had read it. And while this wasn't quite as incredible as The Martian was, I still really enjoyed this. As always the science is spot on and so incredible. It definitely is a large part of why I enjoyed the story. I think the couple of twists at the end were great and they helped keep me engrossed.
The only things I didn't particularly like were: (1) the pacing got a little messed up near the end and that threw me off, and (2) I think some stuff was just a litttlllleeee toooooo convenient at times. The speed in which solutions were figured out and problems were solved was hard to believe but hey, I'm no physicist.

Anywhoo, if you like space and/or science in action I'd definitely recommend you pick this up!

I loved The Martian, so I really wanted to love this too. But it just seemed like a cheap knockoff of that book. The first chapter was good, but the book got tiring pretty quickly after that. The main character was annoying. He woke up in a hospital bed with no memory of who he was or where he was. But his major priority seemed to be getting excited about his knowledge of science in a way that seemed like the reader is supposed to be excited as well. The way that the science is explained in The Martian makes it easy to understand without it feeling like the main character is talking down to you and it feels like there's a purpose to it. In this book it's like an overly enthusiastic science teacher trying to make you excited about science but is just giving you a lot of information at once without actually explaining anything in a way that makes since. I feel like I would have liked this better as a short story that just got to the point, because the plot was pretty interesting once we got there.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Ballantine.

I didn't know what to expect from this book. I read and loved The Martian before it was made into a movie (that I also loved). I haven't yet read Artemis except for a preview chapter. So I was looking forward to seeing where this would take me. It has an interesting premise with similar themes to The Martian. Set in the near future, a disaster is threatening the Solar system. Something is causing the sun's output to decrease significantly which in a few decades will be so great to essentially make life on earth extinct. The protagonist, Dr. Ryland Grace, starts the story waking up on a strange ship with no memory of how he got there. As he regains his memory we are treated to his flashbacks of recall and how the crisis unfolded and how he got to where he is now.
The flashbacks are added into his story of discovering where he is and what he evidently is supposed to be doing (which is searching for a solution to the problem causing the dimming of the sun). Unfortunately, he is the only member of the crew to survive the journey and with his memory loss, has no idea where he is or even what he is supposed to be doing. The similar themes aspect is a scientist using their wits to solve a problem (or rather a series of problems) similar to The Martian except the stakes are higher. He not only has to save himself (maybe?) but also send answers back to Earth to try to save the planet.
Mixed in with dangerous environments and research are some interesting propositions and theories about life in the universe and on earth.
It was an entertaining read and I read it in one sitting while home sick from work. I would recommend it to fans of the Martian and anyone who enjoys this type of problem solving adventure! I'm giving it 5 stars, but it was more likely 4.5 just because I found some bits to be predictable.

I finished Andy Weir’s new book over a week ago, and I’m still screaming about it. After being blown away by The Martian in 2016, I’ve been eager for another space adventure of the same caliber (Artemis was fun but just not at the same level), and Weir delivers and then some with his upcoming May release, Project Hail Mary.

If you, like me, like science fiction but find yourself craving explanations for the phenomena happening in these stories, then Andy Weir is your guy. The man’s author bio says he is “a devoted hobbyist of subjects such as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight” (!!!) and his novels prove it with in-depth, layperson-friendly explanations of relativity, space travel, alien life, atoms, and all things science.

Project Hail Mary‘s protagonist is likable middle school science teacher Ryland Grace, who gets roped into helping a bunch of “legit” scientists save the world when his PhD thesis ends up being relevant in the research of a newly discovered, planet-threatening species.

The organism ends up being lightyears ahead of some of Earth technology, and scientists determine they can use it to power a ship to help them find a solution to save the world.

Spoilers ahead!

Project Hail Mary is something akin to what The Martian would have looked like if Mark Watney had run into some real-life Martians while he was stranded up there. And also if Watney had woken up on Mars with no memory of his past or his training or what the heck he was supposed to be doing.

Ryland Grace slowly figures out his mission in flashes as his memory returns, and he soon runs into an alien ship. From that point on, Project Hail Mary departs from and far surpasses The Martian in complexity, intrigue, detail, and jaw-dropping wow factor. Knowing as little as I know about space and given the problems in PHM have been invented by Weir (though they feel so, so realistic), I found myself gasping anew on every other page when a problem arose, a crazy space thing happened, or Ryland learned a new word from his alien friend, Rocky (because of course aliens don’t speak English and of course Andy Weir found a way to tie yet another cool science thing into this book).

Grace soon learns that his new friend Rocky is at the same spot in space because he (as Grace refers to him) is also looking for a solution to the same apocalyptic problem happening on Earth, and the two begin to work together to save their respective planets.

I could spew about this book and its incredible plot and Weir’s insane ability to make me care about a nonexistent space spider all day, but I’ll just blanket statement say that if you liked The Martian or you find science interesting in the slightest, this book is for you. I’ll be recommending this one to pretty much everyone I know (mostly so I can finally find someone willing to talk about microbiology, ammonium, and alien linguistics).

Many thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, let's get this out of the way early: The main character of this novel, Ryland Grace, is the same character as the main character of his previous novel Artemis, Jazz Bashara, who is the same character as the main character from his first novel The Martian, Mark Watney. Weir knows how to write one character, and it's a good character, and I suspect it's basically Weir. So if you know that going in, you might like this more. As for me, it lost a full star because...well, learn to write a different character.
But beyond that, this is a terrific science fiction novel.
Watney Grace wakes up on a ship circling another star. He can't quite remember who he is or what he's doing there, but he slowly regains his memory and realizes he's been sent on a desperate mission to stop a threat that will destroy all life on Earth. His only hope on this mission is an unexpected ally.
I won't go into more because I don't want to ruin things. The structure is somewhat reminiscent of The Martian, in that things seem okay-->things go horribly wrong-->he has to solve the horrible problem using science/engineering-->yay! Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I will say that it still feels different enough from The Martian to warrant reading, despite that same framework. The aforementioned ally takes this to a whole different level and place. It's great.
And the ending is just lovely.

Andy Weir returns to the emotion and excitement of The Martian with his new title Project Hail Mary. When the world is in trouble, the powers that be turn to a middle school science teacher to help. What follows is a harrowing journey through his own memories, to find the answer and save the planet. Luckily he finds some help along the way.

I don't know how Andy Weir does it. I do not have a brain inclined to science or mathematics, but somehow he tells me a story that's chock-full of that stuff and I still love every second of it. Not to mention, you don't even really have to understand the science behind it (and to be honest, I skipped whole paragraphs at some points because I just knew I wasn't going to make sense of it) but the story still works and you get a broad enough understanding to follow along. This was delightful to read and so much fun.

This book was a much fun as Artemis and The Martian and seems to be a staple of what you’d expect from Weir. The character is fun to unravel from beginning to end in figuring out literally who they are and where they are.

4.5 stars

Andy Weir has done it again. I adored The Martian, and never read Artemis, but Project Hail Mary is proof to me of Andy Weir's sci-fi genius.
I really felt for the main character, Ryland Grace, and I loved reading from his perspective. He was hilarious and also extremely smart. At some points the science was a bit too much and I found myself glazing over while trying to understand it, but that also makes me admire the writing in this book even more. Because what I did understand seemed to make sense, at least to me (not a scientist). I felt like I experienced all the ups and downs of his space-adventure with him.
I love all of the plot-twists and trying to solve the problems along with Grace and his friend. I thoroughly enjoyed this. The only reason it was 4.5 is because I found the beginning 1/4 of the book a bit slow and difficult to get into.

In Project Hail Mary, @andyweirauthor returns to Martian form. A lone (reluctant) astronaut has to not only survive but save Earth from a dimming sun - with some unexpected help. Ingenuity, ad hoc science, and a protagonist that you root for from beginning to end. 👍👍

A fantastic outing from Andy Weir. A very original plotline, with likable characters and a great resolution to the continued tension. Dr. Grace wakes up on a spaceship, completely unaware of how he got there. He is clearly on a mission, but has to slowly piece together the clues he finds to determine what to do. Eventually, he has a series of small catastrophes to solve, and manages to save the universe in the process. A really well written and engaging space adventure.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Andy Weir is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I loved the science and the space and mostly, the unlikely friendship between the two main characters. I appreciate the authors talent to write science in a way that anyone can understand.

Brace yourself for a wild ride to a universe far, far away in Andy Weir’s latest science fiction/thriller novel along the lines of 2014’s hugely successful The Martian. Ryland Grace wakes up groggy and unable to comprehend where he is, who he is and what’s up with the tubes attached to his body. All that confusion aside, who are the two dead and mummified people near him? Soon enough we learn through flashbacks that Ryland Grace is a microbiologist who in a snit abandoned his research and began teaching middle school science. Oh yeah, Rylan finally figures out he’s in a spaceship traveling over a dozen light years to another star. Through humor and simplistic explanations, Weir clears up complex science topics of fuel consumption, how rogue microbes are draining our sun’s energy and Ryland’s actual mission. Checking in at over 1000 pages, this title moves remarkably fast…sort of like speed of light interplanetary travel.

Andy Weir knows how to tell a story! I love how he adds humor. He makes catastrophes challenges to get through one moment at a time. A lot of math and science, but not overwhelming or forced. The story is twisty-turny - it takes a while to figure out what's going on, but he tells it so well (not frustrating like some authors). It'll keep you up well past your bedtime!

I don’t want to say too much about Project Hail Mary and spoil the fun of reading it yourself, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The premise is one of the most terrifying things I can think of – waking up alone on a ship, who knows how far away from Earth and home, with little to no memories. But it made for a very interesting read, slowly putting the pieces of this puzzle together along with the main character.

I love science fiction that gives me hope for and in people. Bad things will happen. Sometimes we’ll be the cause of the bad things. We’ll make mistakes. But we love to problem solve and we tend to keep fighting, even in the face of impossible odds. What risks are worth taking? What or who are you willing to die for?

I did feel like the science/math bits were a bit more overwhelming for me personally, but that might not be an issue for others. The main ideas and points are accessible and I was able to follow the story overall. I can’t say I would find myself rereading Project Hail Mary but I enjoyed the ride and I highly recommend giving it a read.

I really enjoyed Project Hail Mary, it reminded me of the Martian which I loved. For those of you who like me really did not like his second book I would encourage you to give his third book a try.

Yes it is full of math but I felt that did not take away from the story (and of course you can skip over the math parts). I was glad that instead of just having us start with Ryland waking up it did go back and forth and showed us how everything began and progressed.

Without giving anything away I felt the story made sense and could happen. I LOVED Rocky!!

You are humanities last hope, but right now you are stuck to a bed in a space craft of some kind and you can't even remember you name. This is where science teacher Ryland Grace finds himself. He also knows he has been asleep for a really long time and that there were three of them on this mission, because the other two bunks have corpses in them. As things start coming back to him very slowly he finds he is in a race against time.

This book will give The Martian a run for its money, and keep the reader on their toes with all the suspense. The action is high octane and doesn't let up until the end. This is the kind of book that will keep you up past your bedtime just to see what happens next. I loved the book and think others will too.

This review will appear on my blog on May 2nd.

Ryland Grace wakes up alone, light years from Earth. He has no memory of how he got there, and his two companions are dead. As his memory slowly returns, he remembers he’s on a mission to save humanity—the sun is fading and triggering an extinction-level event back home, and it’s up to him to stop it. If only he can remember.

I excuse myself for an hour to write some software. I’m not a computer expert, but I know some rudimentary programming.

I think the collection noun for Andy Weir books is a frustration. Because after the incredible The Martian, I was massively disappointed by Artemis, which was basically a white man attempting to write a woman of color and getting female Mark Whatney, and then I was like, okay, Project Hail Mary is getting great buzz, let’s try this. And I got…Mark Whatney Light.

Which would all have been fantastic, except I was hoping for something a little different, not just the same character over and over and over, each version a little more muddied down, a little more obnoxious.

Ryland Grace is basically a watered down version of Mark Whatney, and his voice and personality (or lack thereof—being excited about science! and being a little sarcastic do not a personality make) really dimmed my enthusiasm for this one. He is a very excitable Gary Stu in the trappings of an everyman. And, quite frankly, he just felt really gimmicky and more of the same type of main character Weir has produced.

Plus, the other human characters, particularly those of color, were one-dimensional stereotypes of their cultures, if that. And there was that wonderful conceit of treating Africa like a singular, homogenous country instead of a continent filled with a diverse group of communities, countries, tribes and peoples, all with different values, needs and resource levels.

Sure, there were some great quips. This one, in particular, had me laughing:

So I’m a single man in my thirties, who lives alone in a small apartment, I don’t have any kids, but I like kids a lot. I don’t like where this is going…A X! I’m a X! I remember it now! Oh, thank God. I’m a X.

Those moments were few and far between, as in between Ryland going into flashbacks, he’s getting very, very, very excited about sciencing all of his solutions, complete with lots of exclamation points.

So. Many. Fucking (oops, my bad, I swore, and Ryland Grace rarely swears—it’s always some milquetoast 1950s euphemism). Punctuation Marks.

For example:

“Why?!” I demanded. “Why the heck can’t you just be normal, Stratt?! If you want fast military transport, well, okay, but why not just work at an air base or something sane people would do?!”

I lost count at 50 for the double use of ?! used in this book. Don’t get me started on how many fucking exclamation points there were, in places where there does not need to be one (including the doubled question mark and exclamation point). I don’t know if the final book has these, or if the editor did one last run through and toned it the fuck down, but let’s just say that punctuation rarely gets me heated but this abuse was pissing me off. Thankfully, it does settle down towards 75%, but that is…the majority of the book reading about a man who is just so! Excited! About! Everything! And! Is! Just! So! Smart! And! Happy! To! Science! It! Out! With! His! Big! Brain! I really just…could not buy it, even with the half-assed explanations for why Ryland Grace was the Forest Gump (always there in the room where it happens) of Project Hail Mary.

Of course, I’m being incredibly vague here (I even x’d out what Ryland’s job is) I because there are some plot points that really need to be experienced going in knowing just as much (okay, far less, because as an X Ryland knows everrrrrrrrrrrything).

So if I hated the character so fucking much I just spent multiple paragraphs ranting about this, why did I give it two stars instead of one?

Well.

Gary Stu aside, this was a fantastic story! Unfortunately, it’s trapped inside poor story telling, with a main character who has the personality of a golden retriever! Enthusiasm and a touch of snark!

With all seriousness, the concept of space algae eating the sun was brilliant, and I adored Rocky. I even enjoyed the sciencing of it all (just not how the sciencing was approached or written, because it felt like Ryland was on the verge of jacking off each time he got near a microscope or did brilliant thinking). Although that ending was obnoxious as hell, but, very fitting for a man like Ryland Grace.

However, this book has a 4.46 rating on Goodreads (pre-release rating), so I highly suspect my opinion will be in the minority.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Project Hail Mary releases May 4, 2021.

I think the reason I enjoyed Weir's massive hit, The Martian, so much was because the main character used science as a means to survive a nearly hopeless situation. The plot of the author's latest novel, Project Hail Mary , centers around a problem humanity will probably never face: the Sun is cooling. As the world tries to science its way out of the coming apocalypse, we see the epic space journey to save humanity, interspersed with the background of how the project came about. This was a very entertaining, suspense-filled story that is Weir's best work to date.

What I Liked:

Premise:

The Sun is cooling and it's due to an organism that's taking energy from the sun at a small, but significant, rate. Scientists notice this is happening in other solar systems as well. What this means for Earth is a cooling of the earth that will bring on another Ice Age. And it will happen in the next dozen years, wiping out food supplies, and causing mass starvation.

Could all the countries on Earth find a way to solve the issue together? What kind of effort would that look like? And what might happen if it fails? These are all parts of the plot of this novel. Unlike scenarios such as if a meteor were about to hit Earth, the kinds of steps the world's scientists take seem plausible.

Characters:

Due to the structure of the book, we see all the people who work on finding a solution to the problem, and to what lengths they will go to achieve it. The head of the project, given unlimited authority by all the world leaders, is Eva Stratt. Stratt is a no-nonsense, ruthless person who is single-minded in her search to solve the problem. She is willing to do anything to save the planet, including massive environmental destruction, kidnapping, and who knows what else. She has unlimited resources, and her authority is absolute. She fully expects to be tried for crimes against humanity when the project is complete. But she feels it's all worth it to stave off a world -wide disaster.

Ryland Grace is the main character, a brilliant scientist who's had some setbacks in his career. At the start of the book, instead of leading ground-breaking research, he is teaching science to middle school children. He is not someone who seeks conflict. Instead, he craves safety. No high powered career, no exciting love affair. He seems quite content to live a quiet life. But, when Stratt discovers Grace's doctorate thesis, concerning organisms that may not need water to survive, he is plucked from obscurity and lands right in the thick of Project Hail Mary. Will he rise to the occasion? Or will fear hold him back from making the ultimate sacrifice?

Science:

I really liked how the characters use science to work out the various issues of the problem. When they realize they will need to send astronauts deep into another solar system to find the answers to how the organism can be stopped, they must solve a host of issues. How can they create enough energy to power the ship for the several years it will take to get there? How can they ensure the astronauts survive years in space? Can they do anything to buy the Earth some time?

While purists will likely find some fault in the science presented (as they did with The Martian), most people will find the explanations plausible, and not too confusing. I didn't need a degree in astrophysics to understand the gist of it.

Story:

Ryland Grace starts off as a middle school science teacher, but winds up in a space ship headed to a far away solar system. How does this happen? The story is told in a series of flashbacks as Ryland awakens from a deep sleep and finds he doesn't remember anything! Slowly, as his memories return, we see what happened.

We also see how he works on the main problem. What can kill the organism that is cooling the Sun?

What Ryland doesn't bargain for is... finding something astounding in space. I cannot reveal what this is, as I do not want to spoil it. But it's a doozy! A good portion of the book is about how Ryland interacts with this revelation. It's wonderful, and I hope a movie is made of this book as soon as possible (actually, I hear that Ryan Gosling has optioned the book!)..