Hey, a book review! I read a book! And reviewed it! Spoiler alert, you should read it too! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance reading copy of Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.
The blurb:
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.
The review:
I loved The Martian but didn’t really enjoy Artemis, but was glad to hear that this book was a souped-up version of the former. And it is.
Whereas Mark Watney faced 1-2 scientific challenges per chapter, our protagonist here, Ryland Grace, seems to be facing a never-ending battle of science and engineering challenges that he has very little time to solve.
Not that that’s a bad thing. In fact, I enjoyed the different nature of the problems that Grace had to overcome, and unlike The Martian, he has someone on hand to help.
The dynamic and relationship between Grace and [spoiler] is one of the highlights of the book. Whereas the interpersonal relationships in the previous two books were more of a means to advance the plot, here Weir has pulled off something special.
Interspersed between Grace’s frantic attempts to fulfill his mission despite his amnesia, we have scenes from his former life back on Earth. These break up the (at sometimes monotonous) problem set solving sessions happening in the main storyline and show a desperate Earth trying to come together to save the planet.
All in all, if you loved The Martian but wished the stakes were higher, then you’ll love Project Hail Mary.