Book Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Let’s start with what a Hail Mary pass is. I knew that it was a desperate, last ditch effort, and that the only place I’d heard of it was in relation to American football.  According to Wikipedia, “A Hail Mary pass is a very long forward pass in American football, typically made in desperation.” There’s generally a pretty low probability that it will succeed.

This tells us right off the bat that the story is opening in a bad situation and someone is trying something desperate to fix it.

The main character is Ryland Grace, something even he doesn’t know at the beginning of the book. Grace awakens alone, not even knowing who he is, on a ship in space, with two clearly long dead crewmates. Are there other crew mates on the ship somewhere, dead or alive? Why is he here? What is his goal? How can he accomplish it on his own? Most importantly, who the heck is he?

Surprises abound throughout this book for me, always a pleasant thing when I can’t predict how a book is going to go. In fact, I often try not to read the description of a book ahead of time so that it can’t give me too much information. (That's easier to do when I've read something else by the author that I've enjoyed. I loved his first book, and enjoyed his second book as well.)

Action on the spaceship is interspersed with scenes that explain how he came to be there, why he’s there, and the challenge he faces, as Grace remembers things from his past. They are just as much a revelation to him as they are to the reader. 

I really appreciate how the author describes scientific information in simple, accessible ways, often by creating a question in the reader’s mind before answering it. He also describes the science without trying to tell us the exact formulas most of the time. It’s far more accessible to those of us who don’t have the math knowledge to truly understand the science.

I also really appreciate how he takes us through Ryland Grace’s thought processes as he poses a question, thinks through it, and eventually answers it, mistakes and all.

I can very much see this being made into a movie, though I’m concerned that they would leave too much out, as they did with The Martian, another book by Andy Weir that was turned into a movie starring Matt Damon. I enjoyed the movie, don’t get me wrong, but it left a lot out that explained some key points for me. I don’t think I would have enjoyed the movie nearly as much if I hadn’t read the book first.

I listened to this book on audio and found myself continually picturing William Hurt as the main character for some reason. The voice actor, Ray Porter, does a wonderful job bringing the story to life. His female voices leave a little to be desired, but I’ve found that to be the case with virtually every reader who is doing the voices for a character who is the opposite sex to their own.

A friend who is still reading the book told me that it really pulled her out of her reading slump as each chapter drew her on to the next. She didn’t want to put it down. Personally, I am a little sad that I’ve reached the end, though I found the conclusion perfectly satisfying.

This was a great journey and I heartily recommend it to anyone.