A tad stuffy for me, a little slow at times, but still quite enjoyed it. Did like The Martian more but that’s ok. Will def read more Andy Weir!

I have a feeling that Andy Weir is one of those authors who divide readers into two camps: you either really enjoy his stories or you just can't stand them. I'm lucky enough to love coming along the ride, even if Ryland Grace feels very similar to Mark Watney. But I enjoyed Watney, his unshakable efforts to just keep going despite not seeing a positive end result, and also his geeky humor. So, living with Grace while he figures out challenge after challenge was perfect for me.

I am not sure what I can say about this book that hasn't been said. I've read almost 400 books this year, and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir has been my favorite. I could gush about it for hours, but I'll just say to read it.

I think it’s best to go into this book without a ton of context, but it’s such a beautiful story about friendship at its core. I also loved the way the narrative unfolded as astronaut Ryland Grace remembers his mission to save life on Earth.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

Project Hail Mary is exactly the type of book I love to read when I am reading science fiction--engaging but realistic characters, a plot with twists that incorporate science and BONUS! a wonderful ending that wraps up the plot, and provides hope not only for the future of the character, but for humanity itself!! It is the best book I read in 2021. I seriously cannot wait to see the movie version that is coming soon! I will be recommending this book to all my friends and family to read before they see the movie.

Interesting story line that kept me engaged until the end. A little too much technical info to wade through but overall, a very compelling story.

Andy Weir never disappoints! What a wonderful read. He as completely gotten me out of my genre and opened my eyes to a new style of reading. He makes reading all the math and science easy and the tongue-in-cheek humor is right up my alley. I can't wait until he writes another one!

Excellent book. I am definitely recommending it to my friends who love sci fi. Weir infuses science into the book without making it boring. The narrative goes back and forth from the past to the the present day as the main character (Dr. Grace) regains his memory. Weir is able to capture the isolation one would feel alone in a ship in some distant galaxy.

Loved this book! Yes, it has a lot of science that went over my head, but it also had such a loving story of found family and enduring friendship. Full of humor and hope. A heartwarming sci-fi read.

Andy Weir does it again with his one man's story space adventure! This action packed space adventure circles around the story of Ryland Grace, who walks up with no memory on a rocket in space. Slowly, Ryland is able to use his science background to figure out where he is and what purpose he and his fellow crew members were supposed to undertake. Determine what is happening in another solar system that can help stop the world-ending event in his own system.

With nothing but time on his hands, he is able to slowly delve back into his own memories to piece together to story of devastation on Earth and the ultimate goal of his current path, but first he must deal with the grief of the loss of his fellow crew members. Eventually discovering that he's on a one way trip, Ryland must continue to try to save Earth as he comes to grips with his own imminent demise. But low and behold, things do not go as expected when he arrives at his destination only to find another spacecraft exploring the same possible world saving event. Does the discovery of life on other planets count when you're going to die before being able to share it with everyone back home?

This enrapturing story of minuet biological alien life that threatens life on other planets coupled with an intelligent species working with a sole human surviving astronaut is full of science fact and fiction that is definitely hard to put down. The flashback reveal of what lead to Project Hail Mary and Ryland becoming an astronaut bound to save the world are amazing to read and never frustrating even when you go so many piece so slowly. Flashbacks paired with the implementation of his remembered discoveries and the exploration of how life developed on another planet were wonderful to follow. A great read!

I’ve seen the movie (The Martian), not yet read “Artemis”, and now have read “Project Hail Mary”, but in keeping with the spirit of scientific inquiry, I believe I have enough data to detect a theme. That opening sentence of this review has resonance with the book Project Hail Mary, where the stakes are upped to the extreme (Earth in peril), data and science are king, but yet again, it is a sole man against the unforgiving elements, both organic and inorganic. No, wait, that’s not quite right… spoilers ahead!
Ryland Grace, a scientist driven from academia by mass rejection of his theory about exo-life has found a new mission teaching science to high school students. It’s not a secret, given how the book is described in the Amazon blurb, that his two crewmates are fridged early on due to coma failure, and he is the sole survivor on a desperate mission to find the antidote to counter a new form of life that is devouring energy from the Sun. Unlike “The Martian”, he was hijacked against his will to join the 3 person crew – the two assigned science mission specialists blown up in an experiment on the ‘astrophages’. Shades of “Contact”! ... and speaking of contact, he has a Close Encounter of the First Kind with an alien counterpart at his destination several light years from Earth (some hand waving about how that would even be possible) – said alien also on a mission to explore the astrophages, as those entities are endangering the alien’s star (and others).
To coin a phrase, you have to eat a whole lotta broccoli to get to the dessert of this book. There’s a lot of telling, not showing – pages and pages demonstrating much minutia of detail about physics, biology, chemistry – on and on. After I gave myself permission to lightheartedly skim over this bulk, gleaning enough to keep the gist, things moved along more expeditiously. About 2/3’s of the way through, I was hooked, and the author was thankfully getting away from his natural bent to lecture on each and every detail. The ending was pretty satisfactory, but bittersweet. Weir, when not obsessed on each and every detail, does action well, and there are numerous rising action sequences that demand attention to find out what happens next. What is less of a strength are the human characteristics and interactions, which often descend to cardboard stereotypes. The flashbacks to pre-mission vignettes are dropped in throughout without much attention to signaling ‘we are now in flashback mode’ – which can be a bit jarring. Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Andy Weir does it again. I'm amazed at how detailed his stories are, without ever becoming dry or difficult to understand. I loved the way this narrative is told - from alternating present and past POVs of Dr. Grace - and the last few chapters were some of my favorite of any book I've read this year. I really loved it immensely!

One of my reading goals for 2021 was to “read harder.”

I'm not sure I did that.

One book that was HARD to read this year was undoubtedly PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir.

I downloaded it February 1, 2021. I finished it (DNF’d at 75%) on December 11.

That's over 300 days.

Almost as absurb as this plot.

When I was still struggling with it still in May, upon it's release, I pulled a stunt and purchased the audiobook (only available on @audible), hoping that this would surely help me finish.

That was not the case!

This one is absurd, absolutely absurd. I should have dnf’d a long time ago.

What kind of reader am I that I would rather take 11 months to read it rather than simply say…

“Its not for me”

At this point there is simply not a star rating low enough to describe my level of enjoyment of this book.

And it's NOT the authors fault. It's not my fault.

It's someone's fault!

This to me is the funniest story. The MOST RIDICULOUS story. Unplausible.

Any tension or problem solving you want to do as a reader is wholly thrown out when the co-hero is introduced.

⭐️

Thanks to @netgalley and Random House Publishing #ballantine for this advanced copy that I finished just in time!

Andy Weir has done it again. I thought I liked The Martian? Project Hail Mary may have even outdone it… Weir’s blend of sci-fi, drama, and humor is exceptional, and I love the stream of consciousness perspective we get from Ryland. Highly recommend, even if you don’t consider yourself a sci-fi book lover.

This was such a great read. I loved traveling through space with Ryland and his friend, seeing what happens to Project Hail Mary and earth, and seeing what happens to Ryland. It’s not considered an Andy Weir book without science and math and this book discusses it a lot. Specifically, it dives into relative physics. The ending was a bit bittersweet and a really wild ending, but it’s been such a magical journey so far that you’ll definitely be happy with it.
Full review to come on YouTube.

I tend to have a love/hate relationship with Weir books, but this one was ALL love!
This is a story told of Ryland Grace, an assumed astronaut who wakes up as the sole survivor on the space ship with absolutely no memory of how he got there. Through random flashback memories, trial and error, and unnaturally brilliant intelligence, he is able to piece together his mission and work towards saving the world.

This was such a great adventure. The flashbacks revealed just enough to keep the story mysterious while still explaining what was happening. *Some spoilers* Not to give away too many plot twists, but the companion Grace meets that helps him through the majority of the book was AMAZING. I think I was more captivated by thinking about how other life forms may evolve than I was with the space shenanigans, and that's saying a lot!

As with all Weir books, the science babble was a little over the top. I've learned to just skim read the scientific explanations and get on with the action. I'm not trying to be dismissive, but I consider myself fairly smart and those lengthy explanations make me feel like I don't understand what 2+2 is. Unnaturally brilliant.

Overall, this was a win! This is easily my favorite Weir book, and I hope that this one becomes just as big as The Martian because the praise and attention will be well deserved.

It's not "The Martian" - it's even better! An engrossing page-turner that once again captures your imagination and grips your heart. Another thrilling outer space adventure!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC.

Wow, does Andy Weir like to talk about math. The story was interesting, but the amount of math rambling made the book at least a quarter longer than it needed to be. I found the interaction of Earthling with an alien form interesting, though I would have liked to understand how they managed to become bi-lingual so quickly. It really feels like Weir tries to make things "realistic" when it comes to the math, but handwaves things when it doesn't and it would be more convenient. It was a fine story, but I enjoyed the flashbacks to Earth before when it was more about relationships and action than math and magically understanding alien language.

I already suggested and read this as part of a book club. Other readers enjoyed it much more than me because of all the math and intricate descriptions of fixing things.

I loved this book by Andy Weir. It's a great science fiction story, where an unlikely hero emerges on a mission to save the earth. He makes a friend with an alien also on a mission to save his planet. I love how the author weaves science and fantasy together to come up with such a great story. I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher, but this does not impact my review in any way.

Here is a link to my review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3664939089

What an incredible story! I loved this so much and had such a blast following the protagonist across the two timelines we're introduced to! I can see Andy Weir's writing style from the Martian bleed in with the specificity of scientific discovery, though there is an excellent balance of mystery and characterization. Just such a great time.

I really wanted to love this book. I have heard great things about Andy Weir but the writing style just was not for me. I have seen others love this book and I just couldn’t get past all the technology and the info dump that seemed to be the first half of this book. I really enjoyed the first contact with aliens premise of this book; I just don’t think that it was executed in a way that was right for me. As someone who enjoys fantasy but has just began dabbling in Sci-Fi; that maybe why. However, if you love Sci-Fi then I can recommend this book to you as I think it would be more suited to you.