'Project Hail Mary' by Andy Weir is a science fiction novel that follows the story of Ryland Grace, a man who wakes up on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or why he is there. He soon discovers that he is on a mission to save humanity from an alien infestation that is consuming the sun. The book combines elements of suspense, science, and adventure as Ryland navigates challenges, solves scientific problems, and forms unexpected alliances with alien lifeforms to unravel the mystery and find a solution to save Earth.
The writing style of 'Project Hail Mary' is described as fast-paced, humorous, and engaging. The author, Andy Weir, expertly weaves scientific details into the narrative, making complex concepts accessible and adding credibility to the mind-bending events in the story. The book alternates between present-time events on the spaceship and flashbacks that provide background information, creating a well-balanced narrative that keeps readers on the edge of their seats.
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From The Publisher:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From the author of The Martian, a lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this "propulsive" (Entertainment Weekly), cinematic thriller full of suspense, humor, and fascinating science-in development as a major motion picture starring Ryan Gosling.
"An epic story of redemption, discovery and cool speculative sci-fi."-USA Today
"If you loved The Martian, you'll go crazy for Weir's latest."-The Washington Post
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 crewmates 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?
An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian-while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
Ratings (665)
Incredible (271) | |
Loved It (251) | |
Liked It (90) | |
It Was OK (34) | |
Did Not Like (13) | |
Hated It (6) |
Reader Stats (1172):
Read It (660) | |
Currently Reading (13) | |
Want To Read (370) | |
Did Not Finish (13) | |
Not Interested (116) |
31 comment(s)
One of the best SF novels I have read. I expected something similar to Martian but Hail Mary delivered more. It has Martian's silly yet enjoyable humour, science stuff that makes you feel you know your stuff and a crazy yet relatable protagonist. Loved it.
Exciting, sometimes funny, and with a sweet ending.
Too much math and science for my taste but found the friendship intriguing.
Andy Weir is great at making science exciting to read about. His characters are like Sherlock Holmes, but they only use science and every situation is life or death.
However, he has a tendency to write the same protagonist every time. Characters are not his strong suit. Some of the things we learn about Ryland Grace are just because he tells us - he never shows us. And it feels shallow.
The plot is great! I'm not a scientist so it's not like I can check his work but I really enjoyed the plot. Just annoyed by the paper thin protagonist.
****2.0****
DNF @50%
This might be one of the unpopular opinions. I did not like it.
There were so many instances which were hard to believe. Main one being a grade school math teacher can know and do so many things in small time gap. And the science and numbers went over my head, plus I had no energy to google out everything just to understand and enjoy the book.
I did like Martian which was a bit simple and straight forward. This one has a movie feel. And narrated keeping movie audience in mind (purely my opinion).
Happy Reading!!
SYNOPSIS:
Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship, and he has no idea who he is or why he’s there. Throughout the course of the story, he slowly regains his memory.
Readers learn he is there as part of Project Hail Mary.
MY THOUGHTS
Okay, you may want to take my review with a grain of salt because science fiction usually isn’t my jam. However, I have liked some sci-fi books in the past, and I’ve been trying to dip my toes into more genres lately.
Strong start & beginning. Interesting premise.
Enjoyed the back and forth timelines.
Same author that wrote The Martian, which admittedly I didn’t read. I saw the movie, and I can definitely see a lot of similar vibes. I kept picturing the main character as Matt Damon because they seem to have been written in comparable way.
Here’s the biggest issue for me: a large portion of the book is outside the realm of fiction. By that, I mean, there’s no character development & there’s not too much plot. Rather, the bulk is tedious & akin to reading from a textbook. The author leans in HEAVILY to astrophysics, solving equations, & all things science. These things do not move the plot along. It just becomes an info dump on the readers.
Astrophysics is not my forte, so I also could see how readers would love all the calculations & info dumps if that’s interesting for you.
I did like Rocky’s character, but even there, the author failed to develop much. Frankly, the whole language barrier thing was solved in such a ridiculously quick way that it was too much for me.
The whole story is from Ryland’s perspective, which is a bummer because he sucks as a character. He is very one dimensional & can be summed up as the know-it-all, quirky scientist. He has no relationships that we are aware of, so it’s also hard to relate to a human with no connections to anyone.
Overall, it was just meh. It wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t great. It was a middle of the road read for me.
TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️Meh, just okay read to me. Too much science & too little plot and character development.
I liked this only slightly better than The Martian but the same problems remain. The few female scientists and characters are weirdly either sexualized or overly cold/harsh.
The plot and pacing is just silly and it is the same “Oh No! problem! Let’s MacGyver it at the last second!” Over and over and over again.
I like realistic science fiction or wild fantasy but this just creeps into too fantastical for me to enjoy it as sci fi and too many attempts to sound scientific and smart for me to enjoy it as fantasy.
Para mi, el trabajo anterior de este autor "The martian" es a la vez la salvacion y la perdicion de este libro.
Es la salvacion porque el inicio del libro es bastante dificil de sobrevivir, o para mi lo fue. La escritura me parecio floja, lo de tener una amnesia que crea flashbacks continuos y perfectamete sincronicados demasiado conveniente, las crisis, muy manufacturadas. Pero bueno creo en este autor, sigo leyendo.
Es su perdicion porque es exactamente la misma formula y es demasiado predecible, puedo decir segun voy leyendo que en las siguiente 5 paginas va a haber una crisis y que sera resuelta en las siguientes 30 y asi.
Y eso le quita mucho.
Lo mejor del libro es la roca esa que se encuentra, no puedo contar mas.
Lacked the fun of his first book, the Martian, and became a plodding, formulaic book. I didn’t care whether either character lived or died (nor, for that matter, whether the earth in the novel was destroyed!
So funny! Creative. Fun narrator. Though certain aspects certainly far fetched.
What can you read after
Project Hail Mary?
About the Author:
Andy Weir built a two-decade career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, The Martian, allowed him to live out his dream of writing full-time. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist…
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