Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
Y’all. There is so much I want to say about this book. So much. So I’ll start with this: It was beautiful.
Ryland Grace waking up with no memory of who he is was such a fantastic way to open the book. I loved learning about him as HE learned about himself. It made for an excellent way to pass on information about Ryland without overwhelming the readers with expository paragraphs of information.
I felt the mixing of the two timeless was excellent, especially when certain things in the present would trigger memories of the past and readers would be forced to just dive right in. It felt like being on a rollercoaster but in the best way possible (and I hate rollercoasters).
In addition to the timeline weaving, I felt that Weir did an excellent job in explaining the math and science involved, just as he had in The Martian. Strictly speaking, as an English major through and through, I never felt overwhelmed or bored by the science. It was very reminiscent of Michael Chrichton in Jurassic Park, except with space instead of dinosaurs. I thought he executed it excellently.
There are aspects of the novel that I can’t comment on without ruining spoilers and surprises but just understand that inside I am screaming to be able to talk about this book with someone. These aspects are important and beautiful but in the interest of not ruining anything, I am keeping mum. All in all, I went into the novel not knowing what to expect and came out amazed. Amaze amaze amaze!
I would seriously recommend science fiction fans read this. Any readers that love a great protagonist (a brave, kind, and endearing protagonist, to be exact) a little adventure, and don’t mind a healthy dose of science jargon (which is all explained), please pick this book up. It is so well worth the read. And please someone come talk to me about it.
The Book Wench 