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.

Another fantastic journey into space by Andy Weir! Really enjoyed this one will absolutely read whatever Mr. Weird comes up with next. I love the mix of science and humor.

I didn't expect to love Project Hail Mary as much as I did. I'm starting to think that I'm truly an Andy Weir fangirl. At first, I thought that the book felt too similar to The Martian. The present-past-present-past format was really reminiscent of it, and the main character seemed similar to Mark Watney. I had a little bit of trouble getting into the book because of this. However, once I got into the meat of the story I was very pleased. Project Hail Mary is equal parts space adventure and buddy comedy. I'm pretty sure I felt most human emotions while reading it, and I mean that in the best way. I'd recommend this book to just about anyone, but especially those who are particularly interested in space or aliens.

I loved this book! So well written, it kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. I am not typically a science fiction reader, but I can't resist anything Andy Weir writes!

Andy Weir is, of course, the author of
The Martian, the hard SF novel about an astronaut marooned on Mars. The book, a first novel, became a huge phenomenon, ending up as a major movie starring Matt Damon. But many critics felt Weir's second novel Artemis, about a slacker criminal jeopardizing a moon colony, was disappointing. This third novel, Project Hail Mary, is a lot closer to The Martian in feel but raises the stakes beyond the survival of a single astronaut (although that is a factor) to dealing with a threat to all life on Earth.

The book uses the familiar device of a person who wakes up with no memory to introduce the reader to Ryland Grace, a former scientist turned junior high school teacher. Even before he remembers his name, in the book's early chapters, he does experiments with gravity to discover that he is not on Earth. Then he remembers watching a NASA announcement that the sun's output is shrinking at an increasing rate. This will lead to a new ice age and, if it cannot be reversed, the extinction of humanity. Slowly, he remembers being drafted into an effort by all the nations of Earth to find a solution to the sun's gradual death.

Much of the book alternates between sections showing Ryland's growing role in investigating the sun's decline with sections of Ryland in space, solving engineering puzzles. While on Earth, Ryland discovers that the drop in the sun's energy is due to microscopic alien microbes, the Astrophage, eating the sun's heat. The astrophage travel between stars, infecting them. Yet somehow the star called Tau Ceti, inside the cluster of infected stars, is not affected. So the Earth governments, as a Hail Mary pass, build a starship to send four humans to Tau Ceti to discover why. But when Ryland reaches Tau Ceti, he finds an alien ship already there.

The bulk of the book is Ryland's efforts to communicate with the alien, like Ryland the only survivor of a mission to save his planet, and work together to find a way to save both their worlds. This involves a large number of engineering puzzles. Fortunately, the alien, Rocky, is the ultimate engineer, able to create practically anything Ryland can dream up.

Weir comes up with a number of twists, most involving the nature of the astrophage, but also the truth about how Ryland came to be on the starship. Even after Ryland and Rocky appear to have solved the final problem, Weir includes another twist that creates a huge moral dilemma for Ryland. Throughout the book, Ryland is convinced he is over his head even as he uses his science to solve the many problems he encounters.

One flaw with the book is how easily Ryland and Rocky figure out how to communicate. While this is necessary since the thriller aspect of the book gives the characters a tight timetable, it seems highly unrealistic. Another problem is how often Ryland acknowledges that risking his life means risking the survival of humanity but then goes and takes the risk.

Project Hail Mary is an exciting thrill ride that celebrates scientific knowledge and engineering skill. It has all the strengths of The Martian plus a slightly more human character at its center. MGM has already announced it will turn the book into a movie starring Ryan Gosling. I highly recommend the novel to anyone who enjoyed The Martian as either book or movie.

This book is awesome! I loved it even more than the Martian. I thought the ending was very satisfying and the supporting characters you meet are awesome!

Easy to say this was my #1 favorite book of 2021 but really difficult to explain why without giving anything away. Project Hail Mary grabbed my attention from the first chapter and constantly revealed exciting details to build into a gripping story. I love this book - just read it!

This book absolutely blew me away. Andy Weir is such an excellent story teller. He takes heavy topics and really does a fantastic job at encorporating some humor and really makes you connect to hid characters.

4ish stars.

The science sounded good to me. It kind of went over my head but I trust it. Weir does a good job of balancing it with sincere human elements. I love the friendship present in the book. Very heartwarming. An I also appreciated the lack of profanity. Made for a big moment in the rare moments the sweating came out.

Andy Weir has managed to make really, really complex science palatable with his books. I, of course, adored The Martian (my love for which was only deepened when Matt Damon completely and perfectly embodied the character of astronaut Mark Watney in the same titled Ridley Scott film production of the book). I panicked a little when I read Weir's sophomore offering, Artemis, and didn't experience the same feelings of love of story and characters, but with his third and newest book, Project, Hail Mary, Mr. Weir has again hit the proverbial space rock square on the head. I found the premise to be original, interesting, and entertaining, equal parts suspense, science, and drama, with just the right (and most appropriately timed) sprinkles of humor. The pacing of the plot revelations, all shown to us in chunks as they are remembered by our main character, Ryland Grace, a regular Joe-type fellow who teaches Junior High School science and wakes up to find himself alone on a spaceship in a star system not of his native origins, with no memory of just exactly how in the universe he got way the heck out here in, well, the universe. At the risk of spoiling things, the best and most original part of the story was the alien species Grace encounters and the whole of his interaction with "Rocky". I found it plausible, but wholly unique the way Rocky's species communicates and highly recommend enjoying this book in audio format for the full experience of this excellent book!!
A huge thank you to the publisher and to the author for the privilege of reading an advance copy of Project, Hail Mary.

Thank you Netgalley for this copy of Project Hail Mary.

I almost DNFd this book after reading 200 pages... It was only because a friend promised me I would end up loving it that I persevered. I have to admit even through the struggle I ended up reallt enjoying the second half of this read. It went a bit left but the ending was ultimately satisfying, making the entire book a worthy struggle.

I loved that the science fiction was just technical enough and not hard to follow. The ending was heartfelt and unexpected! Absolutely love Andy Weir and will continue to read anything he puts out.