Going into this book, I had sky-high expectations, and I don't know if I have been so excited to be granted an ARC as I was when Ballantine Books granted my "wish" on NetGalley. I threw my other in-progress reads to the side to jump into another high-stakes rollicking space adventure that I could scarcely put down until its lovely heartstring-plucking final page.

Weir's books occupy an interesting niche in modern sci-fi, marrying detailed technical discussions of math and science in practice with likable, easy to understand protagonists. Or rather, protagonist; all three of his books essentially star the same main STEM-focused, funny, likable character, the latest incarnation of this "Weiracter" being Project Hail Mary's Ryland Grace. Speaking for myself, I really enjoy this Weiracter and can read book after book of his/her antics, but if you hated Watney from the Martian or Jazz from Artemis, you may be rather annoyed with Grace as well.

Regarding the plot or the story, well, this is a book you want to go in as blind as possible; if you know in going Grace's name, you already know more than he does at the start of the book, and discovering everything with him is half the fun. While the re-remembering did feel a bit clunky and a bit of a plot-contrivance at times, it proved to be a pretty interesting method of exposition delivery. The only vague description I'll give is that the book almost felt like a The Martian-Deepness in the Sky crossover in the most fun of ways, and I was quite impressed by the range of cool ideas that I hadn't really seen before in sci-fi. If you liked any of Weir's prior books and can put up with/enjoy the pages of science and math talk, I promise you'll at least find it a fun ride.

Thank you so much to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for giving me access to eARC; I really loved this one and plan on picking up a hardcover upon release to sit proudly on my bookshelf.

Andy Weir has done it again! I'm not usually much for science fiction or space-based books but I make an exception for his books. I have pre-ordered a copy on Overdrive and I have several holds on it already and several people I'm excited to recommend this to.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy of this book! Another amazing read by Andy Weir. This book has a very similar feel as The Martian. So glad Weir is back to this style of writing. There are plenty of twists and turns for any psychological thriller reader’s delight. The sense of humor the main character has is so refreshing. I must admit, most of the science and mathematical facts were skimmed over, but that doesn’t make this story any less enjoyable. Five stars!!

After loving Andy Weir's 'The Martian' but being disappointed in 'Artemis', I'm happy to report that he has made a comeback!
This book kept me on my toes like The Martian did, I tore through it at a record pace!
The hard science bits were clever and informative! While still grounded in reality, this one goes much more into speculation than Weir's previous books, braving an interesting new territory.

Did Andy Weir just take another human, toss them into space and then require them to know science to survive? Yes, he did, however, all similarities end there. This is a new original story and I couldn't put it down. At the same time, I had to skim some of the science sections that were a bit much for me but probably appeal to his fanbase. While Andy is an expert at one person scenes, I enjoyed all of the interaction with other characters when they appeared, so he shouldn't shy away from character interaction. His main character awakens alone on a space ship with no idea why he is there. What a great premise and the story doesn't disappoint. I don't want any spoilers because this is an exciting journey to follow along with and discover along with the main character. I highly recommend this book.

Ryland Grace is on a deep space mission to save humankind. Too bad he can’t remember what his mission was. waking up aboard his spaceship, he discovers his crewmates are dead. He’s millions of miles from earth and he can’t even remember his own name, how is he supposed to save an entire planet? As his memory begins to return in fits and starts, Grace despairs of finding a way to save humanity, all by himself. Weir is a master at science fiction that’s uncomfortably close to science fact

This was another great sci-fi story from Andy Weir. He has a special knack for writing likeable nerdy characters and this book is no exception. It has just enough science to make it interesting and believable, but not so much that it was boring or slow. Great pacing, quick read -- I really liked it!

It's been a while since I've been swept away by a scifi read. Project Hail Mary was a delightful romp that is actually pretty hard to talk about without spoilers. So, I'll just say that I loved the characters, I loved the science references, and I loved that this book was ultimately about the power of perseverance and friendship.

Despite the apocalyptic theme I actually found this to be a great and ultimately hopeful pandemic read. If you're looking to be swept away by a nerdy adventure this is a great choice.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

One chapter in and I was hooked. First off, the humor is right up my alley, I mean, “gentleman’s equipment” made me smirk, but I outright laughed when he tries to talk to his brain and it only states, “I’m hungry.” (My brain says this on a daily basis).

I liked the way this book flowed between the present and going back into his past and showing him recover his memories. There was so much physics and math involved that it was hard to keep up at times, but the author did such a great job at not overloading all the information at once.

I really loved the relationship with Rocky. I liked reading about their development on learning each other’s languages/culture/daily habits. It was a nice break from all the scientific jargon.

This book was unlike anything I’ve ever read and I absolutely love that.

This may be my favorite of all the Andy Weir stories I have read. It's an easy must read.

It surprised me and even made me cry. As always Andy's signature self-deprecating humor brings levity just when you need it. Plus I learned lots of science minutiae - which grounds the story and makes it believable - that suddenly feels super important and makes me wonder what other critical knowledge I've jettisoned given easy internet access.

There's so much more I want to say and ask Andy about this. How did he even come up with this, question?!

For the love. This book. I mean, uuuuggggghhhhhhh. So astronomically great! See what I did there?!

Andy Weir SHOULD be a teacher. Absolutely the beat use of his gift. Or, maybe just write lots and lots more of these perfect, science-y, heart-wrenching books. Lots. I just don’t even have words, y’all. I didn’t, honestly, think it could get better than The Martian. I was resolute in that position. But, um, Grace and Rocky charmed and educated and buoyed me through a story I shouldn’t, by all accounts, have understood, much less enjoyed. But I did both. I mean, did I follow the math? No. Of course not. But I understood how it served the story. And I followed the general ideas better than I could have imagined! What a great gift to the literary world is one Andy Weir. Thanks for writing. Thanks for sharing your visions. Thanks for making me feel like a science girl, even for a little while. You’re amazing, sir. 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜📚

The challenge in reviewing this book is in conveying just how good it is without giving away any of the delightful surprises that await the reader. I think it is safe to say that any fan of Andy Weir's first novel, THE MARTIAN, will find that this book has the same compelling readability and science-based excitement. Like THE MARTIAN, the tale is recounted by a smart, personable narrator in the most extreme circumstances imaginable, but in the case of PROJECT HAIL MARY much more than one man's life hangs in the balance.

The pacing of this book is perfect, the strangeness constantly keeps both the reader and the protagonist thinking. Well placed flashbacks give just enough context without interrupting the tension and flow of the story and keep the book from being too claustrophobic. Weir's sense of humor is evident throughout but the story is also poignant.

I know that I have said virtually nothing about the plot of the book. That is intentional. Discovery lies at the heart of this tale, and I wouldn't want to deprive anyone of the thrill of having discovering what new wonders Andy Weir is ready to reveal to you.

Wow, just wow!

I loved The Martian, I liked Artemis a lot, but this is just the best book Andy Weir has written by far!

Andy Weir has a unique gift, he makes science interesting and understandable even for people like me who have absolutely no scientific background.

The story was interesting right from the beginning, I couldn't turn pages fast enough!

When our main character wakes up with no idea who he or where he is with robot arms tending him, its an adventure from page one.

Its full of probable impossibilites, things that you can imagine happening in our lifetime.
I loved it and am definitely adding it to my (very small) re-read pile.

It's a last-ditch effort to save the Earth from being overcome by an ice age generated by a micro-organism that consumes heat, a ship is sent to the original home planet of the organism, Astrophage. Astrophage has many uses - it's generating the fuel for this ship, for example. When it goes out of control, though, it's a disaster.

The ship, "Hail Mary", has a three-person crew, but only one wakes up from his induced coma. The other two are mummified corpses on their beds. Only the automated medic units tend Astronaut Grace, and it takes several days before he is awake enough to understand what is going on. And when he is, things don't improve much.

He's got to accomplish a three-man mission all alone, saving Earth from ecological destruction. The sun's solar output is diminishing due to the Astrophage, and he's trying an experimental solution to bring things back in balance again.

As he approaches his destination, another ship comes in view. They are also interested in the same problem. Except there is no they. The other ship is also a solo operation. The two astronauts can help each other...if they can communicate and construct a solution. It's not going to be easy. The alien at the helm of the other ship is blind, operates from sonar data he generates, has no comprehension of things like radiation, and is a mechanical genius with musical notes for a language. His race was unaware of the dangers of radiation when they launched a 23-person ship to deal with Astrophage, and only one has survived. He also happens to be kind of spidery-looking, but those extra legs are so useful.

Grace has his laptop to save the musical words and notes as he learns them. He names the other traveler Rocky, and the two spend a lot of time together. Rocky constructs a tube to the Hail Mary that contacts the hull, but keeps the two atmospheres separate. Rocky breaths ammonia-based atmosphere, which would kill Grace. The oxygen atmosphere of Hail Mary would also kill Rocky. Using the tube as a meeting place, they can contact each other both by voice and knocks, Grace can see Rocky visually, and Rocky can scan Grace. On each side of the barrier, they can work on equipment that might be able to help, and it will help both of them to survive.

Rocky sleeps very little, and is frightened to do it. All of his crew-members went to sleep forever. When Grace goes back to his sleeping quarters for the "night", Rocky gets acutely worried when he doesn't come back at exactly the time he promised. From that point forward, Grace makes a bed in his end of the tube where Rocky can see him and knock if he needs to get his attention. In return, Grace watches Rocky sleep when necessary, keeping Rocky safe.

Because that's what friends do for one another.

Part of the storyline also deals with what's going on back at Earth, but I didn't find it interesting. I hurried through those pages so that I could go on with the adventures of Rocky and Grace. Adventures and mishaps show up when you're creating new science, making new discoveries, which include the operational limits of your ship. When they attempt to recover a sample of Astrophage from its planetary atmosphere, using a ship-made contraption, they nearly lose the Hail Mary. Now it's got a hole in it, plus a lot of generalized cracks and damage. Can Grace come up with a solution, aided by a spider from another planet? How will he get the information back to Earth?

This book is heavy on science and theory, most of which is WAY above my pay grade, but I can follow along. There are some very smart people on THIS world who have developed theoretical knowledge that helped Mr. Weir create this engaging adventure. I don't like spiders...but I like Rocky.

I received this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

I was sooooooooo excited when I got the approval for this, I downloaded and started it right away.

It's great to go into this one blind. When the blurb initially came out for it, I read it of course, but it'd been a while, and I didn't re-read it before jumping back into it, which really made it better because of spoilery things I won't mention.

Again, it's no Mark Watney, but really, will there ever be another Mark Watney? Unlikely. But the MC has his own quirks and they are funny / enjoyable. In Artemis, I said it was hard rating both a 5 because that story didn't hold a candle to The Martian, but was still really really good. It's the same case here. In making my reviews out of 10 instead of 5, I'd given Artemis a solid 8. If it got that high (hindsight I would have guessed I said a 7) then Project Hail Mary gets a solid 9/10. I do think I enjoyed it better than Artemis.

There were slow times and, like with the Martian, there's a LOT of science that went straight over my head. A LOOOOOTTTTT. But, it wasn't too tedious or boring. There were spots that were a little too much but just a TAD. Over all it was a dump of science mixed in with all the rest.

PHM was different, fun, and quirky. I quite enjoyed it.

"Project Hail Mary" is an incredible unputdownable science fiction novel. But it's a far from what most might expect from a space opera. This is a science geek's version of astronaut worlds. It breaks all the rules of what makes a science fiction novel a great read and offers us scientific theory after scientific theory as Grace tries to solve one mystery after another. You never stop cheering Grace on as he figures out one answer after another only to be befuddled by reality.

It's also a completely different twist on First Contact, one that channels a bit of Close Encounters with regard to communication. This is probably not how you ever pictured first contact or how you imagined an alien species would be. Indeed, so unlike human life so as to hardly be able to exist alongside each other.

Climate change may be the new mantra, but Weir takes it to a new level as a planetary level extinction event is at hand. The stakes could not be higher.

From the opening scene where a befuddled astronaut awakens without knowing who he is, where he is, or what he's doing there, this novel is filled with discovery after discovery.

What an adventure! Andy Weir has done it again. This book will have you riveted every step of the way and hoping the ride never ends. I’m very much not a math or science nerd so in many ways I’m not sure I’m his target audience but the adventure and pacing of his novels always has me hooked. I went into The Martian thinking it would not be for me but loved it so much it’s one of my favorite novels. In the same way he had his readers rooting on potatoes in that book he will have you cheering for Ryland Grace and his scientific experiments in this one. While both of his main characters in these books have been smart scientists driven to survive they are very different characters in very different books. If you loved The Martian you will love this very different space adventure.

I love the way the author balanced Grace’s present time period onboard the space mission with his back story of how he got there. It’s a mystery to Grace and the reader that very slowly unfolds over the book. In many ways Grace seems an unlikely choice for the mission which of course makes him the perfect protagonist. Grace is very much an everyman with flaws that make him real which is a great balance to the extraordinary mission at hand. For someone like me that doesn’t have much interest in all the numbers constantly thrown around it’s that real tension as Grace faces threats to his survival and the mission that had me hooked. I absolutely could not put this book down so I highly recommend it. I have some minor quibbles with the few times the author added irrelevant things and acted like they were a concern in the backstory and with some of the plotting so while not perfect this book is extraordinary. I did find myself missing the the POV jumps in The Martian where we got to see what was going on in a different place because the author does such a great job making a certain character intrinsic to the story and I really wanted to know more about their story. This book leaves me wanting more of it in the best way. If you can try to avoid spoilers so you can enjoy the surprise of the journey unfolding. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Where do I start! First and foremost, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is fantastic!!! In spite of loving The Martian I might have to admit that Project Hail Mary might just have topped it. Having just finished it yesterday I told my spouse that I'm not going to be able to read anything else for at least a couple of days so I can simply revel in my enjoyment of such a satisfying read.

While Andy Weir loves his science he does it in such a way that it doesn't bog down the story but jump starts my lazy brain cells into the possibilities of so much more. I enjoyed how he told the story in the present but in alternating chapters let us know how/why Project Hail Mary came to be,

This is a book to put on your to be read list. It is literally out of this world!

I would like to thank the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.

Great story! This is my first Andy Weir book and it will not be my last. Read it in one sitting. Highly entertaining and I am still thinking about it days after I finished it.

This story must be compared to The Martian. I'm not claiming this is a fair comparison, but its inevitable.
I liked The Martian, quite a bit. That book was for a particular kind of nerd, so if you didn't like it I understand.
Then you probably won't like Project Hail Mary either.
For sure, there is a lot to like in this book, but its all wrapped up inside a problem solving narrative like a burrito in a guacamole flavored tortilla... if you like guacamole, you're all set.
Its obvious Weir has evolved as a writer. While The Martian is a great story written by a noob, Project Hail Mary is a great story written by a Level 2 Noob, having earned the capital N. Better world building (its a small world, but a big universe), brand new science instead of already envisioned experimental ideas, creative biology, and all wrapped up in improved prose and one-liners.
Weir does a pretty good job of balancing the problem solving nitty-gritty and breezing over the complicated bits to keep the pacing up. Like, I don't need to know if someone uses a half-inch bolt or a 3/4", just bolt the thing to the thing and keep the story moving.
The only real criticism I have is the ending creates this difficult choice for a character that is telegraphed from 50 pages earlier, so there's no real tension to the ending. This isn't a bad thing, I know the ending of a Michael Bay movie is going to be explosions and helicopters (also exploding) but I'm still watching the explosions ffs.
If you like The Martian, this is NOT a sequel, but consider it an upgrade.
**I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.