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Project Hail Mary Review: Back-of-Book Description
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.
ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: Bill Gates, GatesNotes • New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • “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.
My Thoughts on Project Hail Mary
I am a huge Andy Weir fan. I mean, he’s only written three books, that I know of, and I have loved every single one of them – yes, this one included. If you’d like, you can find my review of The Martian here, and my review of Artemis here.
Knowing that I loved his first two books so much, I snagged Project Hail Mary as soon as I could, but I think I waited a while to finally read it. Partly because I had just read a disappointing space-related book and needed some palate cleansers. But when I started Project Hail Mary…I couldn’t put it down! There was so much happening – drama, excitement, humor, suspense!
When I finally started Project Hail Mary I couldn't put it down! There was so much happening - drama, excitement, humor, suspense! Simply amazing! Click To Tweet
So I really don’t want to give anything away about the plot and surprises of the book. But I can say that I loved the characters, the dialogue, and the writing overall.
As with all Andy Weir’s books and most science fiction, there is a lot of science jargon to get through, especially in the beginning. but he does a good job of making it easy to understand, at least on a basic level to get the story going.
The settings were easy to picture – it really played out like a movie in my mind. The characters felt real and relatable, especially the main one. If Hollywood cares at all about my opinion, I would have voted for Paul Rudd to play the lead. But – according to the first sentence in the “back of book” description – it will be staring Ryan Gosling… that’ll work, too I guess.
The whole book really read like an epic adventure and I can’t say enough good things about it, without giving too much away. I can’t even explain the one minor negative thought without spoiling it… so I won’t. Short and sweet review.
Buy It Now!
Favorite Quotes from Project Hail Mary
“If I had a nickel for every time I wanted to smack a kid’s parents for not teaching them even the most basic things…well…I’d have enough nickels to put in a sock and smack those parents with it.”
“…I wouldn’t want him to think humans are untrustworthy. I mean…we’re pretty untrustworthy, but I don’t want him to know that.”
“Grumpy. Angry. Stupid. How long since last sleep, question?”
“We’re as smart as evolution made us. So we’re the minimum intelligence needed to ensure we can dominate our planets.”
Project Hail Mary Review, In Conclusion
It is SO HARD to talk about this book without giving anything away. I will settle on 4.5 stars for this one. I was super sucked in, I really enjoyed it, and can’t wait to see it as a movie! There was just one big thing I felt like was a “plot hole”. But, I mean… it is fiction. And as a reader of fiction, you just have to suspend disbelief for a little bit.
I would recommend this to all Andy Weir fans, for sure (if you liked The Martian, you will like this). Also any science fiction fans, people who like humor in their suspense and action books. Anyone, really! It was really good.
I think it would make a great gift, too. Especially since it will eventually be a movie – people will want to read it beforehand.
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