“RYLAND GRACE is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and 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?” – Goodreads

Hey look – I finally have time to write another full review! Over spring break I read a total of 7 full-length books. First because of the amount of time I spent in a plane with my Kindle, and second because my family kept forcing books on me so we could watch the movies 🙂

One of those books was Project Hail Mary – a must-read because the movie is coming out soon (yay Ryan Gosling!) and my sister had it downloaded on her Kindle but my Libby hold is still like 10 weeks out…

After reading this and one of Weir’s other novels, Artemis, over break, I can definitely say that Weir is one of my favorite sci-fi authors. In all of his work, he masterfully blends realistic and easily-understandable scientific explanations with engaging plots and characters in a way that makes the reader feel better connected with the story but not talked down to. It’s truly an impressive feat. Project Hail Mary is a great example of this – Weir presented complex topics and ideas in an accessible form that still fits in the story. If you love sci-fi or just want to be prepared for the upcoming movie, you have to check this one out!

For a book that takes place almost entirely in one small setting and with one character, Weir kept the plot moving the whole time. The story runs in two timelines – the present and Grace’s flashbacks as he remembers the moments leading up to his departure from Earth. Every flashback and moment was arranged perfectly to both fit in the timeline and match whatever was going on the present. It added a lot to the mystery and build up, making the reader feel like they were making scientific discoveries alongside Grace. Every twist and conflict felt so real and compelling, I literally could not put it down! It felt like a long book but I read it in only a few hours (granted, I’m a pretty fast reader, but still…).

Like I said before, Weir has a unique and strong style. Somehow, his action scenes remain fast-paced even with sciency-bits sprinkled throughout, and his slower scenes are made exciting by mystifyingly thrilling rocket science. He puts the “sci” in sci-fi 🙂 The dual-timeline choice was a really interesting way to break up the plot and give Grace a lot of complexity and character-building.

I loved Ryland Grace! I thought he was so cool and smart and nice, but also complex and had to deal with his own feelings of cowardice and unworthiness. I did think it would have been nice to go deeper into his loneliness and relationships with the other people involved in the mission, but I also appreciated the consistency in his character and the way the plot flowed through him. He has amazing intelligence and ingenuity, it was so cool getting to watch his thought processes as he worked through thought problems on the ship.

I don’t wanna spoil anything, so skip this paragraph if you haven’t read it:

Rocky was so cute and silly! Ryland meeting him was one of the most amazing parts of this book. I like how Weir didn’t just say “yup, there’s an alien,” and leave it at that. Instead, we get all these logistics about how alien bodies work and how evolution must have happened and all that. There’s so many interesting implications to the way the Eridians live and think and work that Weir explores deeply. You can just tell Weir did so much work to build this world. Grace and Rocky’s friendship was so powerful and brought so much to the story.

What an “AMAZE” story, seriously. The author’s writing style, the intense action and discovery that keeps up throughout the whole book, the urgency and adrenaline… Project Hail Mary is a masterclass in sci-fi and thriller writing. Ryland Grace was the perfect lead for a perfect book. His extreme competency but also his humble character made him so likable, and his dry sense of humor brought so much to otherwise tense scenes. I can’t wait for the movie!