A great hard sci-fi story that kicks off when an astronaut wakes up with amnesia and slowly realizes that his mission is to save the Earth from dying. The sun has started dimming and he is humanity’s only hope to find a solution to stop the dimming before humanity starves from the upcoming ice age.

*** Review has spoilers ***

I sped through Hail Mary; the pacing and suspense were exactly what I've come to expect from Andy Weir. The characters and dialogue are a bit cheesy, but that's never why I pick up one of his novels. I'm here for the over-the-top nerdtastic science!!! This book delivered on that point, but I do think it was a bit weaker than the Martian.

At no point did anything ever seem as dire for Grace as things did for Watney, even though the stakes are objectively much higher in this book (fate of humankind vs fate of one dude). Grace encountered a few sticky situations, but they seemed to be resolved quickly and with few lasting consequences. I think Weir also leaned on Rocky as a deus-ex-machina device a little too heavily. In a nice twist of fate, Grace fills this role for Rocky at the end...but then the Eridians turn around and save Grace (so the scales definitely tipped back toward Rocky saving the day).

Again, it was cheesy as heck, but I kind of loved the ending. Grace gets to have his "kids" back!! I would have really liked to hear more details about Erid. Part of me also wanted some kind of epilogue to find out what happened on Earth. I guess it's fitting that we are left to wonder and hope, just like Grace.

For anyone who has read The Martian this book if very similar in style. If you are new to Andy Weir beware that he references science and math throughout the book. I personally find it sometimes slows down the story but for the most part I find them interesting sidebars. The humor he injects lightens heavy concepts that are difficult to understand for non-science/math people. As an educator this book illustrates how important it is we encourage students in these two fields. We all need a better understanding of how the world works. Personally this book"s take on friendship is the best part for me. To me it is the core of the story. There is also a important thread that runs through the book relating to making hard decisions and the need for people who are willing to take on that job.

Okay wow this was amazing! I read The Martian years ago and was obsessed, then was a little disappointed by Artemis but this is back to the amazing level of The Martian! I kept getting hooked and reading until very late at night. Rocky. I never got bored of Rocky and just wanted more. This book really was just so so good.

"You three are going to Tau Ceti. The rest of us are going to hell. More accurately, hell is coming to us."

Project Hail Mary was utterly fascinating. I devoured all 500 pages in just 2 days! This was my first Andy Weir novel, and it won't be my last. From the incredibly detailed scientific descriptions to the tense, atmospheric world-building, I was hooked from the first page.

"Knock-knock-knock. No, that’s not creepy at all. Being in a spaceship twelve light-years from home and having someone knock on the door is totally normal."

The story is narrated by Ryland Grace, a man who is the last living passenger on a suicide mission into outer space. The results of this mission could save Earth and all of humanity, if Grace does his job right.

"Earth is in trouble. The sun is infected with Astrophage. I’m in a spaceship in another solar system... all this can only mean one thing: The Hail Mary isn’t going home. This is a one-way ticket."

The trouble is, he's just awoken mid-interplanetary-flight, from a coma with a degree of amnesia - he can't remember his name, how he got here, or what he's supposed to do next. With limited food and fuel on board, and with an extinction-level event facing Planet Earth back home, time is running out in both directions.

"I am truly alone. The sole living human within several light-years, at least. What do I do now?"

I did have moments where I questioned the central character's personality and qualifications a little bit. It felt a little unbelievable that a junior-high teacher would be selected at random to participate, somewhat unwillingly, in all of this advanced research. (Although, what does it say about me that the most far-fetched thing, in a book about extraterrestrial life and alien planetary forms, was that a middle-school science teacher got to be involved?)

"I’m all that stands between humanity and extinction. Will an alien math error doom my entire species?"

Character issues aside, having never read any of Weir's work before, I wasn't expecting the jaw-dropping moments and thriller-level suspense as his characters seek elegant solutions to complex problems. Overall, I found Project Hail Mary to be an absolutely fascinating read, perfect for anyone with any degree of "inner nerd," and I've already bought a copy of The Martian to read next! 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

"Do you believe in God? I know it’s a personal question. I do... It’s like He’s inviting us to explore the universe, you know?"

——

A huge thank-you to Andy Weir, Random House, Ballantine, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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I didn’t love this one as much as I thought would. This character felt very similar to Mark Wattney from Weir’s previous novel The Martian. Also, the amnesia got really old after the first 20% of the book. It was researched very well, but the mathematics and science were a bit over my head in this one. I know I keep comparing it to The Martian, but I thought the scientific info-dumps were handled better in that book.

⚠️ Minor Spoiler Alert Ahead ⚠️



There’s an alien! This is the part I liked the most. I enjoyed the learning curve and the struggle of understanding each other’s language and culture. Rocky, the alien, is by far the shining star of Project Hail Mary.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine for this early copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending me an ARC of Project Hail Mary in exchange for an honest review.

It’s impossible to talk about Project Hail Mary without comparing it to the author’s bestselling smash, The Martian. Both books revolve about a man discovering he’s alone, far from Earth, facing an impossible task. Admittedly, the stakes in this book are quite a bit higher. If Mark Watney failed, he would die; if Ryland Grace fails, all of humanity may die. Why? Funny you should ask, because at first Ryland can’t remember either. So the story moves back and forth between what’s happening in the present and memories he’s starting to recover that explain why he’s alone on a spaceship millions of miles from Earth with humanity’s fate in his hands.

Ryland Grace isn’t exactly like Mark Watney, but they’re definitely more similar than they are different. So once again, there’s a lot of deadpanned humor and sarcasm in this story. And like with The Martian, the main character is once again required and able to perform a staggering amount of tasks—theoretical, engineering, astronaut stuff, and more!—that stretch the bounds of believability.

With all that said, Project Hail Mary is a difficult book to talk about because it has a secret that I’m simply unwillingly spoil. It’s revealed about a quarter of the way in—early enough that a person could bail if it was a hard pass for them. But while it took me a little while to accept what was happening, once I did I really enjoyed this book. Yes, things work out pretty conveniently at times, but the story works. It’s fun and very imaginative, with some good action sequences and a couple of nice twists. Maybe most of all, as with The Martian, there’s a sense of joy about science and discovery in these pages that’s just a pleasure to read. Recommended. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

I really enjoyed this book. I really liked The Martian so I might be biased. It had a lot of similar elements in it that I enjoyed in The Martian: it takes place in space, lone guy in space, snarky narrator. Plus some other things that made the book enjoyable (which I can’t say because then it would be a spoiler, LOL). Again, there is a lot of science. If reading too much science isn’t your thing, I think you can let your eyes glaze over it for a few seconds and continue on and still enjoy the story. Unlike Mark Watney, there isn’t an F-bomb to be found. It had a satisfying ending and a bit sad and not sad and one I didn’t expect.

I enjoyed The Martian, but I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did. It's sort of as if Weir took The Martian and combined it with "Arrival," the movie about the linguistics professor who learns to communicate with aliens. This one is full of fascinating science (you'd better like both physics and microbiology) including more fascinating details about space travel. But it is mostly a story about overcoming adversity and coming to love people (or aliens) who are extremely different from yourself. It's a great book. Highly recommended.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book is absolutely stellar (pun intended); it kept me hooked from start to finish and was impossible to put down. It’s been a long time since I’ve consumed a book so quickly, and I’m already considering a reread; it’s just that good.

Though this book was extremely heavy-handed with the exclamation points (our main character is a very enthusiastic fellow), overall I loved the casual, fun, smart and witty writing style that was reminiscent of The Martian. Ryland is like a quirky, PG version of Mark Watney; some people might take issue with the similarities between the two characters and the general themes of both books, but I found The Martian and Project Hail Mary to be significantly different (and enjoyable) enough that it wasn’t a negative for me.

Some people also might not enjoy how science/math-heavy this book can get, but I personally appreciated it because it made the scientific explanations for the storyline feel well-researched and within the realm of possibility. Again, if you liked The Martian, or Dark Matter or Recursion by Blake Crouch, you’ll probably enjoy the science-y-ness of this book.

Despite being so science-heavy, this book was surprisingly moving and reflective, and also had several great plot twists. It’s definitely best to go into this one knowing as little as possible about the story for the full effect.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed Andy Weir's book The Martian, so I was eager to read his latest. I am happy to report that Project Hail Mary is just as good, if not better, than The Martian. Usually I end up a bit bored with a book like this where the science details are so prominent, but I didn't have that problem here. In fact, I found it to be such an easy and fun read that I finished the book in a single day. The plot is fascinating, the main character Ryland Grace is interesting and well-developed, and the ending brought everything around full cicle which I found extremely satisfying. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a healthy dose of science in their sci-fi.

Thanks to the author, Random House-Ballantine, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an ARC of this novel.

I’ve enjoyed Weir’s other books, so I was excited about this one. We follow Ryland Grace, a man on a suicide mission to help save Earth from a Sun-eating (literally) little microbe by traveling to a nearby system that isn’t be effected by Astrophage. But he is doing it alone because his crewmates died en-route (they were placed in comas to survive the journey) and he can barely remember his name. But there is an unexpected ally in this fight that might save everyone. The story jumps back and forth from present time in the ship back to when Grace was back on Earth and everyone was attempting to prepare for Project Hail Mary. We slowly piece the story together as he remembers more and more. Like other Weir’s books, be ready for a lot of science and nerdery. But it doesn’t overwhelm the story. Grace is a solid narrator, but he can get a little annoying at times. By far the best part of the book is Rocky. Hands down. I don’t want to say much more about that, just read it!

I have truly enjoyed all of Andy Weir's novels, but this one was definitely my favorite. Fun, fast-paced, and so difficult to put down. I can definitely see myself re-visiting this one as well. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free e-copy for review.

Loved! Will be recommending to library patrons who are already fans of SF and those just starting out. I also plan to purchase for my nephew who is a Andy Weir.

I feel as though this may be Andy Weir's most fully realized character, and the plot, while a bit juvenile, was really compelling, and I couldn't put this one down.

**Thank you, NetGalley for providing me the opportunity to review this from an advanced reader copy**

Ho, boy, I have thoughts. So many thoughts. I'm not going to put spoilers in this review since it's such a heavily anticipated book with us sci-fi nerds. First off, I want to say I enjoyed The Martian, a lot. Read the book, took the kids to the opening weekend of the movie, I was pumped for that book. I was a little hyped about The Martian, so I might have waved away some of Andy Weir's faults, but no amount of hand-waving is getting rid of the mess that is this exposition-heavy novel.

So, back to The Martian, Mark Watney's science experiments on Mars were *endearing*, seriously, adorable. His triumphs were amazing to me, things he discovered, I felt like I was along for that ride.

This? If you cut out all of the science exposition, you'd be left with a 70-page book. Seriously. And if you took out all of the exclamation marks? A 65-page book.

I wanted to love Project Hail Mary with all my heart. But the "gosh darn its" felt so fake. that I wanted to laugh. I don't know a single human who talked the way this guy does. Maybe a couple of Mormons.

Also? Don't do this: I, as an author, need to explain the science shit they're about to do, but my character is not an expert in this field, so I'll say, "The guy is having the worst day in his life, if he wants to vent to me about it, who am I to stop him?" And then let that guy explain all of the science for the next 3-4 pages. That is some freshman creative writing shit right there, friend.

There is one thing that his agent must be SUPER bummed about... this book would be utterly unfilmable unless they changed a LOT about it. And after coming off a mega-watt all-star cast movie, that agent must've looked at this manuscript and cringed.

Look. I like science. In fact, I love it. I didn't need Bill Nye here explaining ever single fucking thing he's doing and slowing down the pacing to a snail's pace. This book took me a little over a week to finish, it usually takes me 3 days to finish a book. I ended up just skimming past all of the science after the 2/3 mark.

If you’re looking for a sci-fi thriller to read and you enjoyed The Martian, then this is for you! I loved this book! It does get a little bogged down with the technical explanations, but you could skim past them enough to get the gist, or you can soldier on as I did, as they do help make the story more believable and it’s all well-explained.

So basically, there’s space algae that’s eating the sun, which in turn is killing Earth. The world bands together to send three saviors out to space to find a way to kill the space algae. Yada yada yada… the main characters are a junior high school science teacher and a space alien, which I picture in my head as one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Both species breathe totally different air, speak different languages, eat different food, have their own peculiarities as a species, but somehow figure out how to work together in their common goal of survival of their worlds. I loved their interactions and can’t wait to see this as a movie like The Martian, which I haven’t read but saw the movie, and after reading this book, I will definitely read the book because I really enjoyed Weir’s writing style. BTW, the Internet has told me that Ryan Gosling will be producing and starring in the movie version of this book!

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for the advanced copy of this book. It had me hooked from start to finish!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir / Pages: 496 / Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller / Release Date: May 4, 2021

Thanks to Andy Weir, Random House - Ballantine, and Net Galley for providing me with an advance copy of this novel. I’m a big Andy Weir fan, having loved The Martian, and so I was really excited to read his latest novel. Project Hail Mary did not disappoint — it has an intriguing premise that hooked me from the beginning, a likable main character, and science that is interesting and accessible. Having said that, I felt like it could have used some editing — it bogged down in a few places, and while the science is a big part of the adventure of an Andy Weir story, sometimes I felt like the detail got in the way of moving the plot forward. Still, this was enjoyable read that I would recommend.

Interesting plot but it didn’t quite hold my attention. Dr. Ryland Grace, a junior high school teacher, is enlisted by the government to save Earth from microorganisms dubbed “astrophage” which are absorbing the sun’s energy. At the beginning of the book, Grace wakes up from a coma in the depths of space to find that he can’t remember his name, where he is or why he’s in a spaceship with two dead crew members.

My experience with this book can be described as “it’s not you, it’s me”. While I liked the plot, the execution just didn’t do it for me...there were so many info dumps, endless math calculations, and scientific descriptions that my head was spinning. I’m sure this book will appeal to many but unfortunately it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Overall, 3 stars for the storyline.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballentine books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This hulking novel is full of science and space and friendship and loneliness. Definitely pretty dense with the science and the first 30% was a a bit slow for me, but enjoyed the dual timelines and just had fun with this one. It's already set to be made into a film and while Ryan Gosling does absolutely nothing for me, I cannot wait to meet Rocky.