Brief Synopsis
“Project Hail Mary,” by Andy Weir, follows middle-school-teacher-turned-astronaut Ryland Grace, who wakes up with amnesia after a long coma. The two people next to him are dead. The ship is hurtling towards an unfamiliar star. What is going on, and how long does Ryland have to figure it out?
Content Warnings: References to Suicide, Sex, and Death
What Do I Think?
Hot damn.
That thought keeps running through my head as I process what I just read. Hot. Damn.
I went into “Project Hail Mary” with low expectations. Andy Weir’s first novel, “The Martian,” was a fantastic work, and is arguably one of my favorite novels ever. His follow-up, “Artemis,” was…not great. Not a terrible work by any means, but it thoroughly lacked the spark “Martian” did. PHM has been on my to-read list for well over a year now, but I kept delaying it, worried that I would end up not liking it. Would Weir’s first book be the only one I could enjoy?
I was very, very pleased to find out that was not the case.
While not nearly as tight as “Martian,” “Project Hail Mary” has much of the same humor and levity that I enjoyed – yes, the character is constantly bouncing from one life-threatening situation to the next, but that doesn’t mean we have to be depressed about it, does it? The humor goes a long way to help the novel be joyful at heart, even whilst presenting danger after danger. Ryland Grace, the protagonist, is both incredibly effective and incredibly human: he is a scientist at heart, but like anyone else is prone to making mistakes, which makes him believable. And, unfortunately for him, his mistakes tend to be of the life-or-death variety, putting him in a number of situations that keep the action and stakes near-constant.
If there is an issue PHM has, it is that it tends to get bogged down into the science. Weir seems so determined to prove that his math and science are accurate that at times it feels he gets lost in the details, with whole pages dedicated to providing reasoning behind different choices. At times this is useful (as someone who does not possess vast knowledge of science, it was helpful to see some of the calculations), but there are many instances where it simply feels like showing off.
As a whole, “Project Hail Mary” is a fantastic ride, with a brilliant combination of stakes, humor, and heart. If you aren’t a fan of science fiction, you probably won’t enjoy this book – but even if you’re a minor dabbler like me, there will be plenty to love.
Jacob Ryckman 