Book Review: Project Hail Mary

Cover art for Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Author: Andy Weir

Published: 2021

Format Read: Library eBook

Genre: Science Fiction

My Overall Rating: 4/5 Stars

I currently base my reviews loosely around the CAWPILE system developed by Book Roast on YouTube. I modify the categories depending on the format of the story I’m reviewing.

My star ratings are purely by my opinion and not measured by any particular metric.

SPOILER WARNING: This review will contain spoilers! Proceed with caution!

Summary

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission – and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crew mates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone. Or does he?

Characters

I like Grace. He's snarky and sassy but still really smart. Rocky is fun and a little silly. Their bromance is sweet. Stratt is sometimes okay, sometimes really irritating. The two science crew specialists were just dumb. So dumb. Might have liked more time with the flight crew.

Atmosphere

Alone and confused in the cold embrace of space. You start with sharing his confusion and try to figure things out with him.

Writing Style

This is the second Andy Weir book I've read and I find I really like his writing style. It's very friendly and easy to read. You can easily follow the story, even with science talk and flashbacks (which are not easy to make effective, so bravo).

Plot

The world is in danger and we need to do something insane to save it. It's a familiar story with interesting spins on it. There are flashbacks as he begins to remember things and it works pretty well to carefully bring out the story. The only thing I didn't particularly like was the ending, but that is a personal preference for how the story went.

Intrigue

The whole story revolves around the mystery of who this man is, where he is, and why he is there. Very curious.

Logic

The science feels sound and everything makes sense. Even the pseudo-science needed for the story makes sense and feels like it fits in with the real science.

Enjoyment

I did enjoy it overall but, again, I personally didn't like the ending very much.

Would I Recommend?

Yes, especially if you like slower sci fi stories. The characters were interesting and the writing style is great.

I have not seen the movie yet, but I do plan to see it at some point.