Project Hail Mary: From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Martian - Now a major motion picture starring Ryan Gosling

I'm not a big fiction reader tending mainly to stick to non-fiction science, history, biographies etc but enjoyed The Martian so thought I'd give Project Hail Mary a go and am thoroughly pleased I did. The story is interesting and well-written and I enjoyed the past / present way of telling the story. The science is well-researched and plausible and the inter-play between the characters very enjoyable.

Andy Weir wrote “The Martian” so I was expecting good things, and this did not disappoint. I’ve only ever seen the film of The Martian but this has similarities in the main character - knowledgeable and determined - and in the style - science based, obstacles to overcome and a few surprises. What I liked best was the mystery. Ryland Grace wakes up alone from an induced coma not even knowing his own name and not understanding that he’s on a spaceship. His memory comes back in snatches so we are learning about his world with him. This back and forth in time can be tedious in some books but it works seamlessly here. Ryland has to save the Earth and he attempts this with the help of an alien. How do you even begin to communicate with an alien? This concept is explored in interesting detail. It is helped by the fact that the alien is actually fairly similar to a human, a fact not lost on the author who even suggests we could have a common ancestry - what an intriguing idea. The story is peppered with simple science, enough that it makes sense but not so much that it overwhelms. It is logical and practical, and predictable mistakes happen which makes you feel clever “I thought that might happen!”. A totally enjoyable book, loved the plot and the characters. A bit of a daft resolution but forgivable given the impossibility of any other happy ending.

I'm not sure how to start this review. I've already read The Martian and enjoyed that enormously so, I was looking forward to reading Project Hail Mary, recommended as it was by a friend. It's a curious book. The premise is that an unknown "thing" is essentially diminishing the power of our sun and if it is not stopped, life on Earth is going to end. What follows this discovery is the moving to stop it or at least have a go at trying, and that's where Dr Grace comes in, a schoolteacher who becomes integral to the mission to stop the threat. It is fair to say that Grace has mixed feelings about his role and Weir has chosen to show how Grace's pathway to becoming the saviour of Earth is charted, through depicting the present and how he is involved in the process now, and through flashbacks, showing his involvement in getting Project Hail Mary off the ground (excuse the pun). The main action of the book takes place in space and centres on Grace finding a solution to Earth's problem. What is interesting is that he doesn't do it alone and the friendship that he strikes up with a fellow being is the strength of this book, its development throughout being heartwarming, funny and incredibly believable, making for a great novel read. The scientific working out though? Less great. However, I understand that extensive explanations of the science are essential in a book of this nature and readily admit to being naturally Arts focused. I am also conscious that Weir is more than likely dumbing down everything to make it accessible to the average reader. Still, for me, a little arduous. I was glad, then, that interspersed with the space stuff was the Earth stuff, because it provided a diversion from the intensity and almost claustrophobic nature of the space mission, with more humans and just more plot which was less samey than the space endeavours. The rest of it was imaginative and surprising and extremely uplifting. The only other comment to make is it was distinctively Weir. You could have The Martian and Project Hail Mary placed in front of you and it wouldn't take a rocket scientist (pun intended) to work out that they were by the same writer in terms of character voice, plot development and theme. All that said, it was good.

No spoilers paragraph: A plausible human extinction threat and tackling it with risky solution attempt that captures your imagination by its ambitious scale yet also on a human/person individual level. There's science and maths but I didn't need to understand it much merely to trust it, but I did enjoy the problem-solving and the character interactions, especially the outsider's view of us. There are minor errors, I noticed, including a fairly major one near the end, but they don't ruin the book nor diminish my great affection for it. Starting in the present day, in the middle of things, and using a series of flashback scenes and using 1st person point-of-view, all create mystery and keeps our hero's adventure immediate. Andy Weir also writes with good humour, and seamlessly includes actual humour, so despite dangers and possible doom it's not a 'dark book'; I heard myself laughing out loud at times. Andy Weir is a writer you can trust, in that for a while I was worried he'd go all Hollywood and unnecessarily kill off a major beloved character. The ending is very satisfying, no loose ends, and without the irritating Hollywood-style cliffhanger designed for a sequel - for me this self-containment increased the re-reading pleasure. I read it 3 times within 2 weeks and parts also. I've left it alone for a while to try and ensure this review isn't too visceral. Mild spoiler paragraph: This (and 'The Martian' also by Andy Weir) is one my favourite and most enjoyable sci-fi reads (I've been reading sci-fi since mid-1960s). One of the best 'buddy' novels too. Canny structure, as starting 'in media res' (in the middle of things) and the flashbacks, though extremely common techniques (dating as far back as the ancient Greeks), work well here by creating mystery right from the start and, importantly, enables you to start in the present. If Andy Weir had written the scenes in straightforward chronological order it'd've been dull and taken half the book to get into space - if you want to see what that's like, read the W_k_p_dia synopsis. I bought the book on Kindle, and several hard copy paperbacks for hubby and members of my family. There are a few, and varied, cultural references. With younger readers in my family I had to explain the 'Rocky' film references including a name/planet name, and also the reference to the text-game 'Colossal Cave Adventure' (1976; I played it 1979), and USA football 'hail mary' desperation play jointly referenced with Roman Catholicism's rosary 'hail mary [full of grace]' and the main character's surname Grace. It's led to unexpected but nice sharing of aspects from the book e.g. "watch me sleep?" The proof-reader missed several things e.g. (in the Kindle version anyway) a read-out of a scientific measurement should be in italics (as it's a different speaker). I believe the penultimate sentence should read "...speed of light, question?" which the editor should've picked up.

I really don’t know how to begin with this one. I listened to the audiobook and read on Kindle at the same time, this was nice as I find this works great for my mommy brain and helped me concentrate on the story. Believe me when I say I WAS FULLY INVESTED. This book was nothing like what I expected it to be, and it almost became my first 5-star read of this year! So without further ado let me tell you what I could gather from my thoughts lol they are still everywhere, bear with me. This is the story of humanity and how one person and “his unexpected friend” try to save it, and not only. We follow the disastrous consequences caused by something that is eating away the sun’s energy, and the Earth is facing an apocalypse if nothing is done about it. What can we do? How can we do it, and where is the solution? Well, Stratt will be thinking about that, and she will do one hell of a good job, I don’t care what you think about her, she did the right thing, however morally grey her approach might have been had I had been in her place I would have done the same thing. So far, so good. We have the means, and we have the crew, but will it work out, or will everything just blow up in our faces? Man, I really loved how the story begins and how Ryland is slowly regaining his memories, and we go back and forth between the past and the present. This is done amazingly, and the whole science part was just wow. The scary part of it is that it could actually happen! I don’t know about the accuracy of the science in here, but you can tell aaaa ton of research has gone through, and Weir, my friend, you did a brilliant job conveying it in a science-for-dummies way to us poor creatures. I am honestly still recovering from what I experienced. The humour, the whole plot, the twists and turns were great and very well-written! I just loved the relationship between Ryland and Rocky. The science, how everything was explained and worked out in the end. Was just great. This book really was soooo close to getting my first 5-star review! It just came short due to the too many twists part. They were a tad too many for my liking, and I was expecting to see what actually happened to Earth during and after… I hope there is a second book tackling those topics I would be beyond happy to know more! It feels incomplete to me… Ryland Grace, Rocky, Hail Mary, Blip-A they all have a special place in my heart now. Damn, even Stratt does and those “children” at the end ah man… Overall, this book received 4.5 stars.

About 30 years ago I used to have a huge collection of sci-fi books. Clarke, Dick, Asimov, the whole shebang which mysteriously disappeared during a house move. Since then I've been an avid watcher of sci-fi movies starting off with a VHS tapes, DVD collections, then Blu Rays and then eventually moving on to streaming services. Somewhere between all that I managed to install a home theatre including a 120" screen, UHD projector and full Dolby surround sound and even 3D for movies such as Gravity, Avatar, Prometheus and Passengers. I even went back to watching old sci-movies such as 2001 and The Thing to get the large screen experience that I'd missed out on. Recently though I felt something off with the number of movies I'd been going through. I'd be scrolling through movies not being able to recall if I'd actually watched them or not. In some cases I'd even press play and 15 minutes or so in realise that I had already watched it a few weeks earlier. I was almost zombie watching them, sitting through an entire movie without really focussing on it and I was beginning to feel that my attention span was shot to shreds. As someone who spends most of his worktime on a computer I felt that way too much of my time was spent staring at a screen in one form or another. A laptop screen, monitor screen, TV screen, projector screen and the worst culprit of them all, a damn mobile phone screen. My sleep pattern was non existent and the only time I'd feel the slightest bit drowsy was when I was not staring at a screen, and this would usually be when I was driving. Otherwise I could comfortably be awake and alert until 3, 4 or even 5am without feeling the need to go to sleep, staring at a screen of course. As it happens, one of the Youtube channels I frequently watch called "Media Death Cult" often has top listings of recommended sci-fi including movies, TV shows and books. It was during one of the Top 50 books listings that I just decided to add some of the books to my Amazon shopping list totalling £200 and literally force myself to get back into reading. One of those books was Andy Wiers "Project Hail Mary" which was highly recommended by the shows presenter, Moid Moidelhoff. I've seen the movie version of Andy Weirs "The Martian" and to be honest I found it OK. "Cast Away" in space is a pretty apt description. Still, I decided to start with Project Hail Mary and to be honest I found it extremely hard to get into. Again, this had nothing to do with the content itself but by the realisation that I was finishing pages without absorbing the content itself. I'd constantly wonder how the current situation was occuring as I wasn't paying attention to what I was reading in previous pages. I then got into the habit of rereading paragraphs and pages until they started sinking in and before I knew it I was back in the reading groove. I was visualising scenarios in my imagination as they were being played out on the pages before me. I could see in my minds eye the spaceships, rooms, scenes, facial expressions, items floating around in zero g and what I'd been missing for all those years suddenly hit me. My mind was actually doing what it is actually supposed to and enjoying it immensely at the same time. I then decided to switch all devices off at 10:30pm every day and settle in bed with "Project Hail Mary" and in about an hour I'd start to feel drowsy not because the book was boring, but the natural urge to sleep was starting to kick in again. I'd actually fight the urge to nod off as much as I could because the book itself was so engrossing. I simply could not put it down. Eventually I'd turn the lights off at 11:30pm and within minutes I'd be asleep. I won't give any spoilers but put simply the plot is pretty straight forward, easy to follow, beautifully descriptive and emotional. I'm sure more seasoned sci-fi readers will pick faults but for my intent and purposes I could not have picked a better book. I simply loved it and in fact re read the last couple of chapters 3 times. And in just over a week I'd finished it. The first book I'd completed in 3 decades. For me it was more than just a book. It was a rehabilitation. A therapy session. A life changing event. My sleep patterns are back. My attention span is much impoved. My addiction to screens has finally been broken. I'm more alert and awake during waking hours and this book has played a massive part in this turnaround. While I am sure that many other books would have done the same "Project Hail Mary" now holds a special place for me. It has quite literally changed my life.

Project Hail Mary is a compelling page-turner with a few niggling issues that are hard to look past. The third book from Andy Weir, this talented sci-fi author shot to fame after the release of The Martian. This, as you may know, went on to become a box office smash hit. Following up from that was always going to be difficult and Artemis released to mixed reviews. Project Hail Mary then is the third title in Weir's sci-fi repertoire, returning to the roots of what made The Martian so compelling. It's difficult to talk about Hail Mary's story without diving into spoilers but for the purposes of this review, we'll be as vague as possible. Much like The Martian, Hail Mary follows the journey of a lone astronaut but instead of relying on the survival of one man, astronaut Ryland Grace has the fate of the whole planet on his shoulders. Working as a school teacher, Grace finds his world turned upside down when he learns an impossible truth. The sun is dying, slowly being eaten alive by strange microbes known as astrophage. It's a global catastrophe and this doomsday clock could spell the end of life as we know it. Extreme weather, famine and another ice age all stand in line, greedily waiting to gobble up Earth's prospects of survival. With the best brilliant minds on the planet working together, Grace is one of three astronauts tasked with trying to stop this threat. When Grace wakes up aboard the Hail Mary, the most sophisticated rocket ship ever created, he does so with a fractured mind. He can't remember who he is or what he's doing aboard this ship. His crewmates are gone, his ship seems to be off-course and something stirs in the recesses of deep space. Can Grace work to save the day? Or is Earth doomed to its fate? This essentially serves as the crux of drama here, with a ticking clock hanging over the book's plot and maintaining that aura of an urgent page-turner. With a little shy of 500 pages, Hail Mary certainly takes its sweet time. Unlike something like Stephen King's 11.22.63 though, the narrative here is split between flashbacks and the present day narrative. Early on, this actually works quite well and keeps a sense of mystery hanging over each chapter. What happened to Grace in the past? Why is he aboard this ship? And what on earth is the significance of The Beatles? Unfortunately, these flashbacks drag on for far too long and bog down the later parts of the novel. There's a big twist here too and to be honest it completely flatlines. Had this revelation come 10 chapters earlier then it could have had a much more significant impact on the story. Instead, it sort of just shrugs its way into indifference, allowing the plot to continue rocketing forward without giving it a second thought. Having said that, the main narrative zips along at a relatively decent pace, with lots of scientific rationale and theories thrown in to explain certain aspects of space travel and astrophage biology. All of this is done with an involving first person perspective. While these long winded explanations are enjoyable and oftentimes convoluted to the point of fascinating, some of the later descriptions stand out like a sore thumb. One such example: "I'm going to mad science a solution" feels like a lazy line of dialogue after so much careful scientific crafting. The characters back on Earth are largely archetypal too, although Grace is certainly a charismatic protagonist. His little quips and observations are both amusing and help to give a sense of urgency toward the plot. However, the real stand-out here is a character we meet midway through the story called Rocky. No spoilers here of course but he's by far the best part of this story. It helps too that the ambiguous ending is one of the best parts of this story. The final chapter wraps everything up in a satisfying manner, with the final couple of lines for the novel bringing everything around full circle and delivering a satisfying narrative journey for our protagonist. Given the length of this book though, one can't help but feel Hail Mary is overlong. Some of the flashbacks outstay their welcome and reveal very little once the mystery is shattered around who Grace is and where he is. There' are a couple of "last gasp" dramatic spikes too that don't work and the overall narrative takes a little too long to get to the point. Despite those gripes though, Hail Mary is a really enjoyable thriller and manages to grab that same aura that made The Martian so good. It's certainly not perfect but the satisfying ending, intriguing premise and a stand-out character in Rocky makes this an easy one to recommend.

I absolutely fell in love with this book and have been recommending it everyone I know. At its core, Project Hail Mary is a story of survival, discovery, and unexpected friendships. We follow Ryland Grace waking up alone in space, with no memory, next to two dead bodies that he doesn’t recognise, and absolutely no clue where he is or why he is there. As he slowly pieces together his mission, and understands that the fate of the Earth is in his hands, he must use all of his scientific knowledge to face challenges which grow increasingly more complex and dangerous. Watching his memories come back piece by piece was such a clever and compelling narrative choice. The twists were so perfectly paced, right up until the end of the book you are still putting together the why’s and how’s of Grace ending up in space. I think this really added an emotional weight to the story as we learn Grace’s backstory as well as the enormity of the mission that he has been sent on. For me the best part of the book was the relationship between Grace and Rocky. It was so unexpectedly heart-warming and their growing camaraderie and cooperation felt genuine and hopeful in a way that was incredibly powerful. I also have to give huge credit to Andy Weir for the way that he weaves complex science into the story, whether it’s astrophysics, chemistry or microbiology, he manages to explain it in a way that feels smart but accessible and ultimately not overwhelming the reader. Beyond the science and the space adventure I really liked the emotional depth of the story, the moral and ethical decisions made on Earth by Stratt and the international community in their response to the danger as well as Grace confronting his own uncomfortable truths about who he is and the choices he makes. I grew up a sci-fi fan, I would watch Stargate SG1 religiously, and the whole array of Star Trek’s. Project Hail Mary reminded me why I fell in love with the genre in the first place, it’s smart, heartfelt and full of wonder.