It's difficult to talk about this book without mentioning spoilers (which I hate -- this book is best if you just dive in without knowing anything going into it), so I will keep this brief: I love this book. It is perfect. I think it's my new favorite book. It's like The Martian but better. Thank you for writing it, Andy Weir. Can't wait to preorder a hard copy!

Ryland Grace wakes up on a spacecraft without any memory of his name or how he got there. Unfortunately the robot arms that seem to have control over him refuse to acknowledge him until he states his name. Imagine HAL 9000 with grabby hands, drugs and invasive probes. Before too long memories return in flashes, and Ryland is taking it all with good humor.
He does remember the mission he is on, something about saving the human race as well as the rest of the planet. Of course they didn’t send just anyone on this mission..He has a Ph. D. In biology and has acquired knowledge in a lot of other fields in the run up to the mission. He has an endearing sense of humor and a resourceful nature which allow him to plug on when things go out of whack.(Think Mark Watney of The Martian with literally the weight of the world on his shoulders.)
There are a few points when the amount of information and detail about engineering problems becomes a slog.Other times critical problems seem to be fixed with the flip of a switch. The progress of the mission is engrossing and for the most part this is an entertaining page turner.
Ryland is a pleasure to spend time with and the journey was more than worthwhile.

I didn’t think it was possible but I think I loved Project Hail Mary more than The Martian. Project Hail Mary had everything I could want: near apocalyptic situation, space travel, alien life forms, humor and plenty of action. The research that went into this book was incredible. Weir really “scienced the s*** out this this book!”

Project Hail Mary follows Dr. Ryland Grace who wakes up alone on a space ship with no memory of how or why he was there. The reader learns through flashbacks the backstory and history that brings Grace to the middle of deep space.

I will say that there are complex themes of molecular biology, physics, relativity and engineering that can be a lot of information. Weir breaks down every situation so even a layman can understand what is happening. I loved every second of this book and cannot recommend it highly enough!

I read "The Martian" by Andy Weir and was enthralled. Project Hail Mary is another protagonist that has mad MacGyver skills except that the reader is privy to the way Ryland solves his problems. I have a number of praises so I'll dive right in.

First of all, my science and math skills are pretty basic. It's what I learned in my generals in college, a statistics class in my graduate degree, and the exposure I get while working as a school counselor in a junior high. Ryland Grace uses science and math as well as logic to solve problems. I understood it. I wouldn't have been able to do it myself, but the 9th grade math and science I see every day is sufficient to make sense out of most of his MacGyvering. What you may not have learned has enough of an explanation to put it together.

So the problem solving is always clever. This time, though, there is another aspect that is fascinating. The story is basically told in present tense where Ryland wakes from a drug induced coma with near amnesia. As his memories return, another timeline is revealed in flashbacks. Not all at once but in relation to something that triggers them. This was good writing. In reading the book description and looking at the title of the book, I think it is safe to say that he is on a mission to save Earth. Something is threatening Earth's viability. The something that is threatening Earth and all life on it is an incredibly clever (and terrifying) antagonist. I have a lot more to say about this but I fear adding spoilers. Just know that I really liked the creativity, imagination, and scientific aspects of this threat.

Last, the unexpected ally. Loved it. Loved the details, the strengths and weaknesses. Loved the building of the alliance. That's all I can say.

Great book. It is probably as good or maybe better than "Hail Mary" but it is definitely different. What they have in common is that 1) over half of the story doesn't take place on earth, 2) clever ways of solving problems and creating helpful tools and 3) very well written and fun to read. Where it differs with "The Martian" is everything else. Expect something new.

https://amusingreviews.blogspot.com/2021/04/review-project-hail-mary.html

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401

How do you take the technogeekery and page-turning action of The Martian up a few notches? Although Andy Weir misfired a little with Artemis, in Project Hail Mary he revisits the elements that made The Martian great and ups the ante considerably. It's not really a spoiler to say that the fate of life on Earth hangs in the balance. There's a wise-cracking male protagonist (this time with zero profanity, which I assume is a wink to the criticism of Watney's language in The Martian). And once again, Weir includes a lot of basic science as plot elements, making the protagonist a one-man Apollo 13-style problem solving team. He gets some help, but saying more about that would be a spoiler. There's a metric ton of disbelief that needs to be suspended here, but in the vacuum of space, it doesn't weigh things down too much, and I found it very easy to sit back and enjoy the ride. To Weir's credit, he mostly succeeds with pulling all of this together, and Project Hail Mary is an engaging page-turner--a worthy follow-up to The Martian.

Bottom line: You can't forget this book is by the same author as The Martian. From start to end, the narrative follows the same (thematic) element of "I'll just science my way out of these jams into which I keep getting." Nevertheless, this was enough of a page-turner that it kept me awake late for several nights as I just didn't want to stop reading. So, recommended by me.

Weir uses a different narrative arc this time in two key ways. First, the main character doesn't exactly remember how he came to be at the start of the book. He has a sense of self, but no memory of the past. Memory returns, slowly, as he works his way through the hours & days of existence.

Second, rather than simply being a general mission to Mars, this space flight is rooted in the rise of an earth-bound existential threat, which triggers the need for the space flight to go see if a space destination can teach earth about a way to eliminate the threat.

But, similar to The Martian, the character is presented with an ongoing set of challenges that he must conquer thru science and engineering cleverness, all done with just the right minimum set of resources on-hand, most of which works. (Though there is typically something that subsequently fails, continuing the onslaught of crises the hero must conquer.)

Dissimilar to The Martian, the main character encounters another being in roughly the same straits, and so he is a bit less lonely than The Martian, and can use resources from this new friend that he couldn't have on his own.

I will say that the constant stream of ability to overcome every obstacle thru clever, and nearly always successful science-ing and engineering does start to feel incredibly strained after hundreds of pages of it. Much of the success comes from the author's freedom to ignore lots of the details that would be necessary in order for the solution to *actually* work, and this starts to feel just "too-lucky".

One clever bit: As the main character is slowly recalling his memory, there's a sentence about 20% of the way in that reads "He led me through a maze of twisty little passage, all alike, until we arrived back at the room I'd been in the previous day." Programmers (of which Weir is one) of a certain age will recall this as a famous line from one of the first interactive computer games in history, known specifically as "advent" (short for "adventure"), which is more completely called the Colossal Cave Adventure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure). This is a perfect thing to use in this book, because the way the main character slowly re-builds his memory in the story is very akin to the way the cave reveals itself as you work thru it in old game. Clever stuff indeed.

So, this book merits a solid four stars. It doesn't contend to be one of the best books of all time (a requirement for a 5-star rating), and it's more memorable than not (since a 3-star rating means it was fine, but I promptly forget it)..

Though he feels a bit like a one-method-pony, I'll read more of Weir's work.

A great follow up to The Martian. A few reaches that I quickly got over: science teacher as astronaut, the twist on how he actually got sent. Less of a series-of-cascading-errors (although that happens, its not quite as constant as in The Martian), and stronger story and relationships. Sciency and optimistic with a fitting ending, really really enjoyable.

More compelling than The Martian, the stakes are raised with the future of Earth itself hanging in the balance. Weir takes the existential crisis and somehow it becomes secondary to a new friendship. No spoilers, but this is a mindblower.

Gave up on this. Weirs first book “The Martian” was very good but the single man alone facing odds in space plot was done much better in that book. And the plot and characterization is getting old for Weir.

My first encounter with Andy Weir’s writings came some time ago when I ordered The Martian as an add on to reach a free shipping threshold. I ended up enjoying it much more than whatever I had intentionally ordered. When I first heard about Project Hail Mary I already knew it was going to be GOOD and I thought that it would be similar to The Martian, but no, it was SO much better! fast forward to February, Ballantine Books graciously accepted my request to review Project Hail Mary Andy Weir’s latest masterpiece in which Dr. Ryland Grace finds himself aboard a spaceship with no memory of who he is or how he got there. As the narrative progresses Dr. Grace gradually remembers the startling events that lead to his mission; there is an alien lifeform threating humanity’s survival! Filled with several twists and turns, and a healthy amount of humor Project Hail Mary is Andy Weir’s best novel yet. As always, I am left eagerly awaiting Mr. Weir’s future writings.

Ryland Grace awoke to the sound of a computer. "What is 2+2"? He is unable to answer. He is unable to talk, and does not remember his name or why he is naked and connected to electrodes and ivs.

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, but it was not this. From the first line to the last I was hooked. An alien virus, astrophage, has come to our solar system and it is reducing the temperature of the sun resulting in an ice age extinction. I loved the concept, alone in space trying to save the world. I have read reviews comparing it to The Martian. The humor is similar and there is a great deal of science dialogue. I laughed out loud numerous times, and he is a scientist alone with a ship for a while. However, this is a very different story.

Ryland Grace wakes up alone in space with little memory of how he got there. I really enjoyed him slowly figuring out who he is/was and his relationship with Rocky was precious. Their grueling journey trying to save their species and struggling to communicate was entertaining and heartbreaking.

"The hardest part about working with aliens and saving humanity from extinction is constantly having to come up with names for stuff."

Fans of the authors other book The Martian and fans of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time should like this. It is witty and humorous, with a lot of science talk.

Thank you Netgalley and Ballentine books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This gave me all of the vibes from The Martian while still maintaining originality. We follow a mission doomed to fail and yet I kept feeling so hopeful throughout. This book is chock-full of science, math, and terrible jokes and I absolutely loved it. I'd recommend this for fans of first contact, microbiology, and science fiction as a whole.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Rather enjoyed this one -- a solid return to form following the mostly dreadful Artemis. I won't say much about the plot (and I'd encourage you not to even read the description), but let's just say it's another fun science-based survival story.

Weir still has his limitations -- on his third book, he still has basically one character: Mark Watney. And let's just say he continues to put the "science" in science fiction to a level that I found exhausting. But honestly, this mostly kept me turning pages, I learned some stuff, and it was enjoyable. Did what it said on the label!

Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC!

Andy Weir, the author of The Martian and Artemis, brings us another dose of science fiction fun with Project Hail Mary. And when I say fun, I mean fun. His stories aren’t light and fluffy, his protagonists are flawed, but his characters have an optimistic quality that helps balance out some of the dark in life. I get a lot of enjoyment from reading his stories, and Project Hail Mary is no exception.

“When I’m stressed out, I revert to imperial units. It’s hard to be an American, okay?”

I am relatively new to the church of Weir. Weir’s church? I started a deep dive on his projects last month, obviously starting with The Martian. It is the most known of his stories and was made into a big-screen movie starring Matt Damon that won a slew of awards. What is so incredibly cool about Weir’s personal story is how The Martian came about. The Martian started as a serialized novel. Chapters were appearing daily on Weir’s website, where his 3000 followers vetted the science. It became so beloved that Weir took it and put it up on Amazon as a .99c story. It became a bestseller, which then was made into a movie, then awards, so on and so forth.

Before any of the hoopla around The Martian, Weir wrote a short story called The Egg. It got a following, so much that some have started following it as a philosophy of life or religion a la L. Ron Hubbard. Much to Weir’s chagrin. It, too, was made into a short film and had 20 million hits on youtube. What I am saying here is that folks love his work. It resonates.

This brings us to Weir’s newest novel, Project Hail Mary that is releasing in May of 2021. The premise is thus, “Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish... it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.” Ryland is a brilliant and very ordinary person. There isn’t a glorious charisma about him. But he is an immensely likable character who faces the arduous task of saving the human species. Not only does he have to puzzle out how to save humanity, but he also has to do it with no memory. Alone. It seems like a very similar premise to The Martian, but it isn’t. The vastness of scale changes the dynamics of the story. Ryland has the fate of existence resting on his very confused shoulders.

Ryland is in many ways similar to Mark Watney. This is either because there has to be a little bit of open-mouthed awe and a general sense of optimism to be a scientist or astronaut. Both require an ability to believe that there is more out there and reach for it with both hands. Or, this type of character is one that Weir enjoys and understands. Some authors write snarky protagonists that quip their way through scenes. Weir writes intelligent, optimistic, and ridiculously resourceful scientists. I’d happily read either type. That overt sense of optimism permeates Weir’s writing, and sometimes a bit of happiness goes a long way.

“Maybe it’s just the childish optimist in me, but humanity can be pretty impressive when we put our minds to it.”

Much like The Martian, Project Hail Mary has a whole lot of science. That is Weir’s style. And, much like The Martian, it can get info-dumpy. But, I think it depends on how much you enjoy science, physics, and math. I appreciate those subjects, and Weir’s descriptions got me excited and interested in the idea that the story was theoretically possible. Knowing how much Weir enjoys science, I am betting much of it is possible. Maybe, not probable. But when the fate of all human existence hangs in the balance, humanity would do some crazy things.

Aside from the exciting plot, a significant part of this novel is the supporting characters. Without spoiling the story, one of my favorite characters was that of Eva Stratt. She is tasked with putting together the team, science, and space ship to save humanity. She is a bulldozer in high heels. But surprisingly, instead of going to type and making her a bitch, she is ruthlessly efficient. I would be intimidated to be around her but not because she was going to tell me off. More because she would be weighing and measuring my usefulness.

There are other great characters in the story that, again, without spoiling it, show Weir’s appreciation for science fiction. And, as a science fiction lover myself, I appreciated how he constructed them. I know that you will like what he did too. Rocky is one of my favorite characters in science fiction now.

Project Hail Mary is a great story. It is filled with all the things that made The Martian great but added in a thrilling tale and another empathetic protagonist. It was delightful, and I plowed through it, finishing it off in one day. Come for the fun story; stay for the great characters.

Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

Andy Weir has done it again! I absolutely loved Project Hail Mary. The story grabs you from the very beginning and doesn’t stop. It’s a story of discovery and friendship and persistence. Fans of The Martian will enjoy the mix of humor and science.

What an absolutely fun, humorous, and exciting book. Andy Weir does it again in creating a story that flows with a natural energy. If you are a fan of THE MARTIAN then you will enjoy PROJECT HAIL MARY.
The story immediately begins with fast paced excitement and you simply will not want to put it down. Told in a shifting timeline this aspect adds to the story rather than leave the reader confused and lost. Although the science at times can be slightly overwhelming and dry (if your not a science nerd) Andrew Weir pulls back right in time and it feels like any conversation you would have with someone about their passion. The character of Ryland Grace is likeable and quirky and truly entertaining. PROJECT HAIL MARY may sound like a spinoff of THE MARTIAN but it's out of this world entertaining all on it's own.

Out of this world book!! Too much? Ok, seriously an incredible read! Hopefully the AW novels don’t have the odd number Star Trek curse, because I loved the Martian, not so much Artemis, and now back up with Project Hail Mary! I could not put this down. Ryland Grace has a likability that AW is so good at creating. All the charm of Mark Watney with the language of a 1940s science teacher gosh darn it! As if being shunned into the life of a Junior High School teacher isn’t bad enough, Grace wakes up with amnesia... in space! As his memory starts to return, he starts to question if he is the selfless hero he thinks himself to be. 
One set back for me was that this book really ‘scienced the sh!t out of me’. The pages upon pages of scientific jargon and details were a little much. Some aspects are explained at the level of a high school or college textbook and some are explained with “Rocky is the best engineer.”
 But just because my mind isn’t science inclined, doesn’t mean the thrill aspect isn’t there! I enjoyed the friendship that built with Ryland and Rocky and the ending just solidifies it for me. Seriously, Rocky. He has a built a habitat in my heart and he is everything. So is this book! Definitely recommend!  I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this opportunity! This review will be posted on Amazon (when available) and Goodreads.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3920081100

"Absolutely stunning! Gripping from the first page, Weir takes us on a journey that not only transcends time and space, but reminds us there is no force greater than the human spirit."
—J.D. Barker, NY Times bestselling author of A Caller's Game

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was going to be similar to The Martian. I was completely wrong. I am sending apologies into the ethos because I was dead wrong. This is NOTHING like The Martian. I don't want to reveal too much about the plot because not knowing anything about it is what pleased me while reading. This book took many twists and turns.

One thing that might deter readers is that this book is science heavy...and I mean HEAVY! There were times when my brain was mush after some drawn-out explanations of things but most of them were needed to progress the story...it is a science teacher telling the story for Pete's sake.

I cannot wait to buy a physical copy and read this book again. I think those that have difficulty getting into it might benefit from the audiobook. The story was incredible and I cannot wait to talk to people about this book.

This novel is superb. One of the best sci-fi adventures I’ve read in years. It delivers on every ounce of promise evidenced in “The Martian.” Frankly I have no idea how Weir will top this.