Synopsis
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.
Review
This book’s description does it a grave disservice. It all sounds very hard science and “out there”, quite divorced from our own reality except for the matter of that “extinction-level threat to our species” thing, which, quite frankly, is just SO huge that my poor head just can’t relate. But folks…that’s just the wrapping. Underneath is a story that packs more heart, humanity, grit and most definitely wit than I have had the pleasure of reading in a long time. In that, it’s much like this author’s previous best-selling release, The Martian, except that it’s…more.
The “more” is barely hinted at in the description, and that is as it should be. I won’t spoil it for you. Suffice it to say that it’s an early and jaw dropping turn of events, deftly and believably rendered, that is ever-so-thrilling to experience right along with our stranded astronaut scientist, Dr. Ryland Grace.
Beyond that, the tale switches back and forth between Ryland regaining his bearings and the flashes of memory he recovers about how he got there in the first place, what it means, and what he needs to do. Early on he recalls that in his former life he was an elementary school science teacher (who just happened to publish a paper that catapults him to the top of the scientific heap when things begin going sideways for humanity). Good thing for us as all the relevant hard science in this book (biology, evolution, climate, astrophysics) is explained in terms any layperson can follow and any science geek can geek out over. Between the dicey experiments, white-knuckle space walks, and star ship acrobatics, Ryland realizes something else; he’s no hero by choice, but brutal necessity. Yet the choices he keeps having to make increasingly push him to the brink of his comfort zone–until he is faced with a choice beyond all imagining. What he does next is far beyond whether or not he or even the human race survives. It’s the very heart of the book.
In short, Project Hail Mary is a breathtaking, thought-provoking, near-light-speed rocket ride with an ending that is utterly surprising and perfectly satisfying. You will not regret this read–or ever look at the night sky quite the same way again.