Book Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Hail Mary and that’s about all I have to say. Okay, I should add more. The premise is that our sun is dying and one man can save humanity from extinction, though he doesn’t know it as he wakes up, all his memory wiped out, in a spaceship. The book follows as he figures out what is going on and struggles with what he is supposed to do. The book is a dialogue between the present and the past, but it always follows the protagonist and his perspective.

Anyone who has read The Martian by Andy Weir knows how the writer likes to get into the nitty-gritty. Project Hail Mary is no exception, though he gets to show his speculative side of scientific and engineering thinking in this one. He takes a deep dive into the mechanical aspects of the problem our protagonist, Ryland Grace, is trying to solve. What I am trying to say is that numerous amount of details are thrown around. At first, I was like bring it on. I like this shit. Then after reading more, it got tiring, and I often wished he would get back to the plot. Though, the thing is that the mechanics of it all is the plot line, and you truly have to enjoy such a thing to enjoy this book. Still, Andy Weir managed to keep a somewhat lighter tone. It could be because the protagonist and his thoughts weren’t too overpowering. Andy Weir let science do all the talking and treated his characters as rational human beings. I’m not sure if this is a correct assessment, but so it feels now as I look back at my reading experience. Also, it could be because the prose was straightforward.

There are two things I want to talk about before I wrap up this review: the ending and The Martian. The ending was satisfying. I won’t get into the details as this book is a mystery you have to follow along. But I liked the ending. It got more personal, heartwarming, and humane compared to the scientific viewpoint it had at the beginning of the book. Yet, it was a bit of a cliche, but hey, cliches work. That is why they don’t die away. The second thing I wanted to talk about was The Martian. This book was The Martian with a new shiny wrapping. Andy Weir likes this solitary science man to be the savior through solving problems with science. Sometimes I felt annoyed that this was the same story in a new setting and with a new problem, but then I shrugged it off and kept reading.

I enjoyed the book. It was a good solid story with all the fun scientific speculation of what alien lifeforms would look like. Yet, the novelty of the setting was away, and the book didn’t awe me as The Martian had done before. It is unfair to Hail Mary, but I can’t help but compare.

Thank you for reading! Have a beautiful day ❤