Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Author: Andy Weir
Edition: Paperback
Publisher: Del Rey (May 4, 2021)
Genre: Science Fiction
Synopsis
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, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that’s been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.
My review of Project Hail Mary
Warning: this review contains spoilers, especially if you’ve only read the back copy of the book and nothing else. If you don’t want to know any spoilers, stop reading now, you’ve been warned…
With Project Hail Mary Andy Weir delivers a fun and highly realistic sci-fi thriller that manages to be complex yet accessible. Oh, and it’s basically a space buddy comedy that’ll leave you amazed and hopeful for humanity.
Plot and Pacing
Andy Weir truly puts the science in science fiction. The setup of the story feels eerily possible and watching the plot unfold as problems arise was absolutely delightful. Having the science be realistic and based mostly on current knowledge made this book feel very grounded, even in its more speculative parts. Admittedly, I may be biased simply because I spent a lot of time last semester in a seminar about SETI considering the issues and possibilities of alien intelligence and how we might communicate with it.
Project Hail Mary is effectively told in a dual timeline. Personally, I found this a great way to get to know Ryland better and introduce some other characters! However, the amnesia that starts the plot disappointed me in its execution. I would’ve liked it to be more than just the hook for the story, the way the book was pitched made me expect it to be a bigger part, which it ultimately wasn’t.
Additionally, Ryland’s grief doesn’t really play a part either. There’s probably more moments where he makes jokes about imperial vs. metric measurements as an American scientist than moments where he grieves his crew. He mostly suppresses his emotions. And yeah, this is mostly a feel-good book, but I can’t help feeling like Weir missed a chance for some more emotional moments.
Unfortunately, somehow the stakes didn’t feel as high to me? Probably because it’s mostly an “all of humanity will die” situiation. But at that point, Ryland isn’t exactly part of humanity on earth anymore. Besides, it’s very likely a suicide mission for him anyway, and there aren’t as many personal stakes for him.
But overall, I didn’t mind it that much because I loved Rocky’s and Ryland’s friendship and dynamics so much fun and the overall plot science caught me enough. But if you’re expecting this to be a super tense high-stakes sci-fi thriller, it might fall a bit short!
Characters
Speaking of Rocky: what a fun character! I had a blast watching Ryland understand Rocky. The logistics of communicating with an alien species are fascinating in theory and getting a version of what it might actually look like was incredible. Project Hail Mary is effectively a buddy comedy…but in space with two species at stake.
I truly appreciated Rocky’s character design. Weir clearly put a lot of thought into how the Eridians would have evolved and that scientific knowledge comes through! Of course, it’s still all speculative, but it feels plausible within our current knowledge of the universe and the conditions of life. I also enjoyed how the unique qualities of the Eridians were plot-relevant!
Ultimately, Project Hail Mary was a wonderfully accessible complex sci-fi novel with a great central friendship and many jaw-dropping problems and solutions. Andy Weir’s mind seems like a wonderful place and I am always happy to watch him build and solve problems I can’t even fathom!
This book is for you if…
…you are looking for a fast-paced highly realistic sci-fi story with plenty of Andy Weir’s signature humour
…you enjoy books that approach known ideas and tropes from a new perspective
You might also enjoy: My review of Sleeping Giants
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