Project Hail Mary

Jazz hands!

Ryland and <spoiler>Rocky</spoiler> are a dynamic duo for the ages. Every fist bump, every "amaze" made me giggle. The moment Ryland woke up on the Hail Mary felt like a nod to the <spoiler>1968 Planet of the Apes</spoiler>—the disorientation, fear, and realizations hitting all at once that made my skin prickle.

The scientific breakdowns were thankfully limited and used sparingly to drive the story forward. Ryland's wry, sardonic tone definitely helped keep me engaged too. Honestly, I cared more about Ryland and <spoiler>Rocky</spoiler> than Earth for most of the book. Honorable mention for that badass Eva Stratt, who basically lit a match, threw it over her shoulder, and walked away from an explosion in slow motion in an unexpected courtroom scene.

Oh and the ending! The moment Ryland walked through that door I knew and <spoiler>my heart expanded three sizes this day</spoiler>. The final chapter felt 100% earned.

Andy Weir writes the most engaging characters in sci-fi period.

Woah! It's been a very long time since I read sci-fi, and this story kidnapped me along on a whirlwind of a space adventure! I couldn't put the book down as I needed to know what happened next at all times. The constant element of mystery, with a few action sequences sprinkled in, really achieve the amazing tension that kept me being pulled into the story stronger than gravity (heh). As any good fictional story does, Project Hail Mary draws some pretty compelling parallels to our own reality. Although the comparisons it draws are unambiguous, the thoughts it inspired in me were not. I mean, there aren't really clear villains in this story for me, and that's why it was sometimes difficult to decide whose side I was on. We are pretty used to having heroes and villains in our stories, after all.

The reason I only gave four stars is that despite the exciting storyline, unfortunately Andy Weir's stylistic writing choices did not do it for me the same way. Right from the get-go, the main character's inner dialogue was... grating. I don't like it when too many spoken language ornaments are used in writing, as (to me) it simply makes the writing itself stand out way more than the story or the character's personality. Breaks the fourth wall, if you will. The other issue comes with the 'show, don't tell' rule. There was far too much telling going on!!! I get that for dramatics it can be effective to end a chapter with "Thing X happened. Uh oh. That means bad thing XYZ", but not every few paragraphs, please! I should be able to discern the character's emotions and the implications of things directly from how they're written, without explicit explanations every single time.

I wish I could rate higher than five stars!! This was amazing. I don’t even typically like fiction and I loved it. It’s funny, there’s some science and learning, and such a heartwarming story. I loved the take on alien life being friendly and not terrifying. I also loved watching the world team up together.

I wasn't sure if Andy Weir could capture my imagination again like he did with The Martian. It turned out that tis second book, Artemis, wasn't up to the task - but Project Hail Mary? That's a different story. From its amnesia infused beginnings and all along its two-timeline narrative that eventually dovetails together, the book works brilliantly at unravelling a mystery. Similar to The Martian, the plotline here is driven by one person (or in the case of the second timeline, a small team of people) overcoming massive technical and science problems. I feel like this is a signature of Weir's best work, though time will tell. Project Hail Mary simply proves that Andy Weir is not a one hit wonder and that, in fact, his best work may be yet to come.

I loved thissssss! This is the best sci-fi book I've read since [b:Dark Matter 27833670 Dark Matter Blake Crouch https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1472119680l/27833670.SY75.jpg 43161998] by [a:Blake Crouch 442240 Blake Crouch https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1479398727p2/442240.jpg]. I want to read more books like this!I liked how even though we had only one POV, it was never boring. The narrative kept shifting between the present and past (since Grace had no memories of how he came to be in space), so he had to do a lot of brainstorming to remember stuff. And this man did so many EVAs in this damn book. Every 5 pages, he was like ‘Time for an EVA'. Every time he did an EVA, I was like, yep! This is it. He's dead now. Whose idea was it to make the book cover an EVA scene? I thought something bad was going to happen on every EVA!Likes:• The sass! The dialogues! The smart but idiotic decisions!• ‘Instant toga'• When I reached the ‘Emperor Comatose' line, I knew I was going to love this book.• The science was accurate and not over the top. The high school physics stuff was easy to follow. Some high-level science was not explained in detail (Thank God). • The extinction-level event was very cool. Nothing grandiose but still impactful enough to cause an apocalypse.• No spoilers but THAT came out of nowhere and was pleasantly surprising.• The second half of the book was my favorite.• (How to say this without spoilers) The whole music to English conversion part was awesome. I loved it.• The subtle chapter number change for the last chapter was a nice touch ;)• The ending was so sweet! I did not expect it at all. Loved it!Favorite dialogues:• I am Emperor Comatose. Kneel before me.• All right, genius brain: come up with something! ...I'm hungry. You have failed me, brain.• I have a date with a cylinder.• “Sample device radio signal strong. Getting closer. Be ready.”“I'm ready.”“Be very ready.”“I am very ready. Be calm.”“Am calm. You be calm.”“No, you be cal-wait. I see the sampler!”• Usually you not stupid. Why stupid, question? • You are leaky space blob.• Your face is leaking. This book can be best summed up by the quote: ‘The real treasure was the friends we made along the way.' P.S. I've found an article saying this book was optioned for a movie a year ago? (WHAT?!) Really looking forward to it!

Amazing novel! I can't stop reading this, every time I go home from work, what comes to my mind is just I want to read this book. I didn't read any reviews about this book before I start reading it, and I am lucky I did that.

There is no spectacular dramatic action scene in the story, only problems, bigger problems, and even bigger problems. This book is all about problem-solving, it is about scientists doing scientific things. I really appreciate how Andy Weir tries to describe every problem and an intelligent way to solve it.

Amazingly written sci-fi told wonderfully through the eyes of Ryland Grace through memories and the present as he tires to save the Earth from its doomed fate. The characters' reactions felt realistic and begs the question of how far is too far to save humanity.

The ending truly brought a tear to my eye as well and was well worth the read all on its own.

Another great work from Andy Weir! This is the kind of book that I found hard to put down despite being almost 500 pages. The story is just so fascinating. The only reason it wasn't a 5/5 for me is because at times it just felt unrealistic. I know this is fictional, but still — the book feels so realistic in some parts yet unrealistic in others and I think it's the fact that it didn't just pick one side that feels off to me. Overall, I'd still highly recommend this book though!

4.5/5 rounded up to 5/5.

I honestly think Weir is the best science fiction writer I have ever encountered. I know next to nothing about actual science, and he gives clear, clever explanations for just about everything happening in his stories, to the point that even I can understand what's going on. Most of the sci-fi I read, I mentally substitute “magic” for any sciencey thing happening. Making an explanation clear, and funny, and engaging? That is a hell of a talent.