Book review
Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir sends an isolated scientist into a space engineering puzzle with Earth’s future at stake. An enjoyable adventure driven by technical problem-solving, dry humour and unexpected friendship.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is another enjoyable space adventure from the author of The Martian. Ryland Grace wakes on a spaceship with a problem that could threaten Earth. The engineering, physics puzzles and dry humour made it a great listen.
It has much of what I liked about Weir's earlier books, The Martian and Artemis. It is fun, full of ingenious problem-solving and does not take itself too seriously.
Spoilers below
Grace is the sole survivor of the journey. His patchy memories after what he believes was a medically induced coma provide a convenient way to reveal the backstory bit by bit.
I found his reluctance interesting. He did not want to go, and Stratt drugged him to make the mission happen. Yet he still wanted to do the science and help humanity survive.
At Tau Ceti, Grace meets Rocky, another mission's sole survivor. Rocky looks like a huge spider, speaks in musical notes and navigates without vision. Watching them learn to communicate and become friends was one of my favourite parts.
After a great deal of science, some serious mistakes and a visit to a nearby planet, they find a way to stop the astrophages consuming their stars. Grace chooses to save Rocky and travel to his star system instead of returning to Earth as a hero.
He ends up teaching there, bringing the story back to where he began. I finished the book thinking it was amazing and that I would like to read it again someday.