Andy Weir has done it again. Project Hail Mary had me laughing, crying, and flipping pages at the speed of light because I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. I loved the characters (especially Rocky) and their relationships. The timeline maintained mystery while also being clear and concise. A little science-y at times, but hey, it’s sci-fi. Highly recommend.

BOOK REVIEW // WOW has it been a minute since I posted here. This year has been hot and cold for me reading-wise — I watch all of Netflix, then read 5 books a week, then switch back to binging Criminal Minds. But I did get a chance to read Andy Weir’s new sci fi novel thanks to @netgalley, so I at least wanted to give it a #pubday shoutout!

TITLE: Project Hail Mary

GENRE: Science Fiction

SYNOPSIS: Ryland Grace is the world’s last hope. A middle school science teacher-turned-astronaut set adrift in space and tasked by every government and agency in the world with finding the solution to the pending extinction of the human race, he is the lone person able make a difference in this race against time. There’s only one problem: he doesn’t remember any of this. Waking up from a years-long coma, all Grace knows is that he is alone, he is not on Earth, and he’s here for a reason. If only he could remember what that reason is....

THOUGHTS: Andy Weir is a genius at writing HIGHLY readable but also very technical sci fi. To be very clear, I am not a science expert — I took one college science class, and it was intro to geology. But somehow I found myself nodding along as Grace conducted increasingly bizarre experiments, not entirely lost in the technicalities. It’s accessible science fiction for the general public, but detailed enough for hardcore fans. The humor and heart of the story and characters drive the plot — Grace is an unlikely but endearing hero, and without him being so engrossing, the action would fall a little short. But as it is, the book is captivating.

Side note — yes, I am going to try to get more than posting more on here! Thank you for bearing with me while I totally flaked out for a while there, but you should be seeing more of me! 😆😅

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So. I’m a reader who often opts for lyrical writing, novels-in-verse, literary fiction — I gravitate toward fluffed-up or “romantic” writing styles, and rarely do I read sci-fi as a genre, let alone a 500-page, detailed space tale. I am not the primary audience for this book, but I’d heard good things from those with the early ARC and knew that people enjoyed the author, so I decided to try something new…and was shocked to fall in love with it.

Going into a book with the premise of a single guy operating a ship light-years away from Earth, I didn’t expect the dialogue and primary characters to be the holy grails of the story, but they certainly were for me. There’s also quite a bit of fairly dense science talk woven throughout, but as a definite non-scientist, I found it to be laid out in a way that was accessible without being condescending to the reader. I found the time jumps/flashbacks to be easy to follow, as well, and I was hooked into the plot far faster than I’d anticipated.

Like Susanne Clark’s “Piranesi”, Weir managed to create a very small cast of characters in an isolated environment that were capable of carrying the book and more, which is no easy feat. All in all, it’s one of the only “hard sci-fi” books to hook me and keep me invested until the end. It has heart, and I adore it for that.

There is a lot of math and science in this book, mostly over my head. But to me this book is really about friendship and working together. I love he Rocky and Grace connection.

"Time for science!"

Project Hail Mary is the third book by Andy Weir, and possibly my favorite (with The Martian in a close second, followed by Artemis). I really enjoyed all of these books, but in different ways: though they have similar themes, they tell vastly different stories.

Project Hail Mary follows Dr. Ryland Grace, a scientist who wakes up on a spaceship light-years from home with nothing but two corpses and a medical mechanical arm to keep him company. He doesn't initially know who he is nor how he got there, but as his memory starts coming back in pieces, he starts to remember this very important fact: he is where he is to stop an extinction-level event from happening back on Earth. He is humanity's last chance for survival, and if he fails, well, it's lights out for Earth (literally).

I feel like Andy Weir has a really unique voice for his characters. He doesn't try to hard to make himself sound smart (though he obviously is). His characters (Dr. Ryland Grace) are down-to-earth and nerdy; I also loved the little nods to pop culture (e.g. The Beatles, Rocky, etc.) -- it really feels like you are in someone's head following along with their internal monologue. This style of writing also really makes the science feel accessible. And, as a scientist myself, I really appreciate Weir's attention to detail about the different minutiae of what can go wrong...and thinking through how to fix it. It's a little bit of a departure from The Martian (and Artemis) in the sense that Project Hail Mary feels a little more *fantastical* (and maybe slightly less technical), but it was a really good read, and I highly recommend it.

4.5 stars, though I'll round up to 5 because I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Andy Weir has returned! Back to his ole geeky, science-y self, just like in his big hit 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯. I adored this book from start to finish! The premise is pretty straight forward: middle school teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a space ship light years away from Earth. His mission? Save the planet. Yep. That’s all. Just a simple lil mission to save all of humankind. That alone should keep you reading. But Weir’s ability to go back and forth in time, to show us how Ryland, and Earth, got to this place, is fascinating, mysterious, humorous, and just so darn engaging. And the friendship between Ryland and his buddy, Rocky - well, if it doesn’t melt your heart, your’s is made of concrete. And NO, you do not need to be a sci-fi lover to love this book. I just rolled with my scientific ignorance when the story got into the geeky weeds a bit and it was all good. This book is just rollicking good fun!

Please find our interview with the author and podcast review on Genre Junkies. Available on most podcasting apps.

Andy Weir has truly outdone himself. This beautiful, exciting, and hilarious book poses age-old questions in new ways. What does it mean to be “human”? What does it mean to sacrifice? To love? To find community and family? Weir has the most remarkable ability to make science fact and fiction understandable and fun. We think audiences from all reading backgrounds and walks of life will fall head over heels in love with this moving story that stirs intellectual curiosity and brilliant creativity. This may just be his magnum opus.

Talking with Mr. Weir only made this experience more enjoyable. He is just as warm, smart, funny and well spoken as one would think.

Andy Weir definitely creates interesting Sci-Fi tales! This one is on par with his other work. I read this very quickly because I had to know what happens. Unfortunately, I wasn't thrilled with the ending. It felt very rushed and anti-climatic. The book was still enjoyable but felt a bit deflating.

Dr. Ryland Grace has been sent on a suicide mission to the Tau Ceti system to try to figure out why, of all the nearby systems, it remains unscathed in the face of an instellar infestation that's causing our sun to dim, which will result in another extinction event on Earth. His crewmates have died, and he's got coma-brain, so it takes him a while to remember where he is and why he's there. The reader follows along with Dr. Grace as he slowly regains his memory and sets to work. As a narrator, he has an extremely accessible voice. You can totally imagine yourself being friends with this wry, sardonic, and wickedly smart guy.

As engaging as Dr. Grace is, this book is not without its flaws. For one thing, there is a lot of math in this book. Like, a lot. And I'm sure it's all completely correct, though I confess that I kind of skimmed those parts. But as much as the author seems to think that we're all going to understand the math, he also seems to think that we need to be told that Venus is the 2nd planet in our solar system. Also, the Hail Mary is the most advanced piece of engineering and technology ever assembled, but its computer isn't even as smart as my home assistant. It doesn't help Dr. Grace do anything (except stay alive through his extended coma, which, ok, yes, is pretty important, but once he's awake, he's on his own).

Still, these are easily overlooked in favor of this compelling story, as we wait with baited breath as Dr. Grace holds the fate of humanity is in hands. Can he solve this seemingly insurmountable problem? You'll be rooting for him, and you'll find his experiences stay with long after you read the last page.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for access to this arc.


Oooh, the science and space porn. Ryland does dry humor with a soupçon of snark. I thought it was a clever way to explain all the science by having Ryland have to slowly remember it after his coma. But as interesting as the science is to read about, there came a point when I started to skim read it, too. Why? Because a little bit went a long way and it usually only served to slow down the action. Something interesting is about to happen and BAM – Ryland has to explain yet another scientific thing then describe how he comes up with a way to test a hypothesis or determine some data he needs to know or wants to check. Zzzzzz. I also got really tired of the description “back of the napkin math.”

So many things made me question – why doesn’t he do this or use that rather than reinventing the damn wheel? He’s supposedly got SO MUCH tech in his space lab (despite how small it seems to be) and every damn thing ever written by a human on his computer drive so (1) why does he have to invent ways to check data and (2) double yes – why didn’t the program directors make sure that the user directions manual for the Hail Mary were loaded! Oh yeah, because we need to see him being clever and inventive, that’s why. Uuuuggghhhh!

And where is all Ryland’s food stored? He mentions the medical “hands” retrieving his food packets and parcels from above his head which would then have needed to be in some compartment between the sleeping area and the lab but this was never truly discussed. It might have been the only thing that Ryland didn’t mentally jabber me to sleep about.

Rocky is initially doing all the work. But then Rocky quickly became my favorite character. I did like Stratt because – woman in charge of steamrolling everyone in order to figure out how to try and save the world – but Rocky was wonderful. Rocky is also the brilliant engineer character who can build practically anything which is handy as Ryland needs so much stuff built.

A big problem for me is that the bro relationship between Rocky and Ryland was by far my favorite part of the book yet so much time was spent with them figuring each other and language out then doing more science over-explaining that I often found myself mentally urging the book to get back to, you know, saving their planets. Except they were trying to figure out how to save their planets but still I was bored with it taking three pages to explain something to a half page to actually do it! I’ve thought this some more and though it still bothers me, I can see that compared to the number of years it took Ryland to get to Tau Ceti and the number of years it will take any information he finds to travel back to Earth, this time spent language learning in order to work together to solve the problem was actually probably time well spent.

There is so much time spent inside Ryland’s head and when we’re not privy to his thought processes, then we get to hear him talking to himself. I get that since for a lot of the book he’s the only character on page this is the only way to know what’s going on but it gets old fast. There is some diversity to the characters—gender, ethnicity, nationality—but mainly these people are seen during Ryland’s flashback / memory sections and often there is little to these people beyond these descriptions and stereotypes. I did like Rocky and his sense of humor and I did keep reading. I did want to know how astrophage was going to be tamed and (hopefully) Sol saved. Because if it hadn’t, this book would have ended on a downer. The way it does end is actually … nice and heartwarming. Fist bump.

A man wakes up on a spaceship. Alone, he has no idea why he’s there, what is happening or even who he is. 👩🏻‍🚀🚀
.
When the sun begins losing power, scientists scramble to find the source of this mystery. And it’s worse than anyone feared. Earth’s fate hangs in the balance.
.
So begins the new book from Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary. I was hooked from the beginning chapters and I don’t want to say too much about this book because I went into it without knowing anything about it and I think that’s the way to go. There are some similarities to The Martian, but PHM is also quite different. This is a sci-fi mystery/thriller grounded in science (lots of science!) and a scary reality.
.
Even with all the science that was sometimes hard to understand, this was such a fun book. I love the main character and he takes us on an incredible journey through dual timelines. The fact that part of the book takes place on Earth makes it more grounded and accessible for those than don’t normally read sci-fi.
.
Project Hail Mary is filled with action, adventure, humor, friendship, courage, and the science isn’t too overwhelming. It was an unexpected treat for me and I just loved reading it. Thank you so much to Ballantine Books for my copy via NetGalley. I used to read a lot of sci-fi when I was a kid, and this book took me back to that time. 5 ⭐️ from me.

Project Hail Mary is an action-packed sci-fi novel with a unique theme: The sun is getting weaker and all the countries on Earth band together to build and send a spaceship to Tau Ceti, a (relatively) nearby star that is also getting weaker. However, there is one planet in the Tau Ceti system that does not appear to be susceptible to the life-form that has been taking energy from the sun. What follows is a fascinating (and humorous) narration by Ryland Grace, a scientist on the spaceship Hail Mary whose task is to find out why that planet has managed to fight off the energy-guzzling organism. In the course of his flight there, Grace encounters all sorts of problems: problems with equipment; problems with his research; problems with his fellow scientists. However, there is one positive note in all of this: He crosses paths with another spaceship from a planet within the Tau Ceti solar system that is also looking for solutions to the same problem. This is a fortuitous alien-encounter as both “Rocky” and Grace possess different skill sets that help them figure out ways to control the harmful organism.

The story goes back and forth in time, giving us the background on what efforts were being made prior to the launch of the spaceship, and what efforts are being made by Grace and “Rocky” while on their spaceships. And just when you think they have finally come up with a viable solution, there’s another fly-in-the-ointment, or in this case, one of those pesky Taumoebas.

I found this to be a fascinating and exciting tale. As in The Martian, also by this author, the protagonist is someone who is creative and good at improvising as needed. While there are frequent detailed scientific explanations provided about various issues and procedures, these can easily be skimmed without losing any momentum in the story.

It is long (496 pages) but I found it to be a fast read with a surprise ending! Well-worth reading for sci-fi fans and fans of space adventures.

I admit I wanted to read this book because I absolutely loved the movie The Martian, and a close friend has raved about that book for years so when I saw Project Hail Mary available on Netgalley I jumped at the chance.
I should first say, this was my first foray into reading science fiction. Love watching the movies, but we all know the movies can’t contain everything the books do. And particularly in this book, I loved getting into Ryland’s head. He has a sense of humor that seems to mirror my own personality to a tee.

Waking up on a ship, connected to a bunch of wires and tubes, not remembering much of anything, and seeing two dead people in beds next to you? I probably would have stroked out right then and there. But Ryland manages it to hold it together, all while trying to remember something, anything about why he is on this ship and where it’s going.

I’m not going to lie, the math and science data dump that occurs early on was pretty overwhelming to me but that leveled off and the second half was much better to read through. And I think what saved this book for me was Rocky. Yep. Rocky.

As I mentioned at the start, I loved the movie version of The Martian, and I could not help noticing while reading Project Hail Mary how similar the storylines seemed to be. One guy, out in the universe alone, having to figure out how to survive, how to get home, how to save the world? A lot of similarities.

Overall this was a really good read, for someone whose never read a book in this trope before. Once I got past all the math and science (my two worst subjects in school) I wholly enjoyed this story, especially Rocky. Did I already mention Rocky?

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Andy Weir has done it again! Wow, this science fiction novel is fantastic!

Dr. Grace Ryland is a science teacher who has been "tasked" with becoming an astronaut and saving the earth from sure extinction. I won't get anymore into the book because I don't want to ruin any of the twists and turns this book takes!

Somehow, this book managed to make me laugh, cry, and make me feel like I could be an astrophysicist all at the same time! Some of the more "sciency" parts get a little dry and can be slower to read, but overall, Andy's story is masterfully written. I would highly recommend this gem of a book!

Sincere thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.
#ProjectHailMary #Netgalley

Andy Weir, famous for the book The Martian, has just released his third Novel. In this story, he goes back to his roots of writing about a person trapped in a dire situation with little hope of survival. Yet is willing to do whatever it takes to make it home.

The story takes place at about the current time, it might be the near future. Researchers have found that our Sun is going to die. We have just a few decades to save the Earth. Stars from nearby solar systems are showing the same issues as our sun. Except for one star. So humanity Builds a ship to reach that star in the hopes we can find out how to keep our Sun going.

Ryland Grace is a member of the crew on the ship. He wakes up when they arrive at the distant star only to find the rest of the crew dead. In addition, his memory is fuzzy. He can’t remember the details of the mission nor why he would be on it.

This story is fantastic. I don’t want to say anything that would spoil it for readers. Andy Weir took some risks in how this book is presented. Chapters that are on the ship with Ryland figuring something out, then alternating to chapters of Ryland having a flashback to events on Earth leading up to the spaceship leaving for the mission.

Overall this book was hard to put down. Andy Weir crafted a nice little mystery in this SciFi story. Who is Ryland and why was he on the mission? Even once these questions were answered more questions came up. Which kept going right till the last pages.

If you liked The Martian then you will want to read Project Hail Mary.

A free review copy of this book was provided via NetGalley For this Review.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 

Project Hail Mary gives us the story in several timelines. It starts with Ryland Grace waking up in a room, tubes and lines running from his body, mind groggy and memory slow to return. In fact, it's like he has amnesia. His two roommates died at some much earlier date, their bodies now mummified. He has no idea where he is, who the other people were, what he's supposed to do now. But there is a computerized voice urging him to "eat" slop from a tube and telling him he can't move forward without stating his name. Thankfully, as Grace looks around and performs small tasks, his memory slowly starts returning, in bits and pieces. 

Grace is on a mission to save Earth from the fact that it's sun's energy is waning. Life is dying, life will be completely wiped out unless energy consuming aliens can be eliminated. But why is a science teacher, whose students are 12-13 years old, on a spacecraft? Slowly, we learn everything and by the time Grace remembers it all, there is nothing to do but proceed with a mission that has fallen apart in many ways. 

Beware science and math! But no need to give it much thought if you are like me and are happy to let the character(s) take care of those pesky details. What I enjoyed so much about this story is something else but I don't want to spoil that something else. Grace's backstory is interesting and it's frightening to know what is probably happening back on Earth. Grace is it's only hope but can he do all that needs to be done to make this fractured mission a success?

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for this ARC.

Some of my earliest memories as a child were laying on the grass at the park or my grandmother’s house and looking up at the sky. Whether trying to find animal shapes in the clouds or wondering what was beyond those clouds, it seems I’ve always been interested in space.
As I got older, Close Encounters of the Third Kind came out and I was so stoked, insisting to go see it in theaters as often as my mom could afford to! Then all the talk of Area 51, for years and years, kept my curiosity about alien life growing.
When I was approved for the ARC of Project Hail Mary, I was soooo happy! I loved The Martian movie and we actually still watch it every year. So, I guess I can say I’m a big fan of Andy Weir’s work even though I hadn’t read his previous books.
In Project Hail Mary, Ryland Grace (the MC) reminds me so much of Mark Watney from The Martian. Funny, smart and easily likable. The book itself had several similarities with The Martian in that even though it was very ‘techy’, Weir made sure to explain science in easily digestible bites for the average reader. Serious, scary consequences were the backdrop of the story but relationships, troubleshooting problems with creativity, trusting and believing in one’s capabilities and looking at all situations through the lens of humor, were the focuses of this story. Again, similar to The Martian. So, if you were a fan of his previous work, you will likely love this one too!
There are several things in the book that I would LOVE to discuss and review, but I simply can’t as I don’t want to spoil things for others.
I think I can safely say that the unfolding of the story with both current and past timelines is a great way to allow the reader to experience the story along with the MC. At times I loved Ryland Grace, at times I was angry with him, at times I cried along with him. My emotions were all over the map with this book, which speaks highly to Weir’s writing style. But there were some majorly cool things that happened in this story! It was such an exciting read.

My only challenges for this book were that I was a bit frustrated with the lack of knowledge that the MC started the book with as that means that I, the reader, simply had no idea what was going on. I realized early on that I was very frustrated and had to take a step back. Additionally, there is a lot of Science in this book (I know – duh, right?) and Weir’s way of writing allows you to follow along pretty well, but when concepts are getting stacked one on top of the next, it became a bit much for me a couple of times. I had to step away a few times and just let my mind decompress and rest. 😊 But then I jumped right back in and was ready to go.

Overall, these slight drawbacks had no influence on my overall rating as those are just my personal reading habit issues and reflect more on me than the book.

This book is amazing! It made me smarter. It made me feel. It made me think about it when I was working or cooking or just living life. And it will stay in my thoughts for quite some time. I hope that this is adapted to a screenplay/movie, immediately!

Tommy and Dan enjoyed reading, Project Hail Mary, and we enjoyed having Andy as our guest on The Curiosity Hour Podcast! The episode is now available: https://soundcloud.com/thecuriosityhourpodcast/s09-e184-andy_weir

The episode is also available free on The Curiosity Hour Podcast channel on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, Overcast, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Andy Weir has a way of sucking me into his worlds from the very first sentence. Project Hail Mary was no different.

Ryland Grace is trying to save the world. If only he could remember who he is, where he is, and why he's there! The hook, the voice, and the humor are sure to please Weir fans. The science can put people off because holy smokes are Weir and his characters smart, but he does a good job of explaining it in a way that I can follow him.

I can't recommend this book enough. I didn't shut up about The Martian for a good year and I imagine this book will be the same!

Are you like me and typically stay away from sci-fi? My family would say, if asked, that I “hate it”.

NOT SO anymore! I truly enjoyed this fun, interesting, sweet, humorous, creative, fast-paced novel! While some of the technical jargon tripped me up, I didn’t dwell on it probably due to the wonderful story that surrounded the science.

This would be a great book for anyone! Pick
It up and enjoy and share it - don’t read too much about the plot as the surprises are great.

Heartfelt thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a copy of this book. I’m grateful.