Project Hail Mary

What a terrific read. Full of carefully researched science with a fallible lead character and a wry sense of humour. The plot pans out beautifully with enough incidents and drama to keep you hooked. I loved it, but will avoid the film when it comes out as Hollywood will no doubt dumb it down.

No spoilers paragraph: A plausible human extinction threat and tackling it with risky solution attempt that captures your imagination by its ambitious scale yet also on a human/person individual level. There's science and maths but I didn't need to understand it much merely to trust it, but I did enjoy the problem-solving and the character interactions, especially the outsider's view of us. There are minor errors, I noticed, including a fairly major one near the end, but they don't ruin the book nor diminish my great affection for it. Starting in the present day, in the middle of things, and using a series of flashback scenes and using 1st person point-of-view, all create mystery and keeps our hero's adventure immediate. Andy Weir also writes with good humour, and seamlessly includes actual humour, so despite dangers and possible doom it's not a 'dark book'; I heard myself laughing out loud at times. Andy Weir is a writer you can trust, in that for a while I was worried he'd go all Hollywood and unnecessarily kill off a major beloved character. The ending is very satisfying, no loose ends, and without the irritating Hollywood-style cliffhanger designed for a sequel - for me this self-containment increased the re-reading pleasure. I read it 3 times within 2 weeks and parts also. I've left it alone for a while to try and ensure this review isn't too visceral. Mild spoiler paragraph: This (and 'The Martian' also by Andy Weir) is one my favourite and most enjoyable sci-fi reads (I've been reading sci-fi since mid-1960s). One of the best 'buddy' novels too. Canny structure, as starting 'in media res' (in the middle of things) and the flashbacks, though extremely common techniques (dating as far back as the ancient Greeks), work well here by creating mystery right from the start and, importantly, enables you to start in the present. If Andy Weir had written the scenes in straightforward chronological order it'd've been dull and taken half the book to get into space - if you want to see what that's like, read the W_k_p_dia synopsis. I bought the book on Kindle, and several hard copy paperbacks for hubby and members of my family. There are a few, and varied, cultural references. With younger readers in my family I had to explain the 'Rocky' film references including a name/planet name, and also the reference to the text-game 'Colossal Cave Adventure' (1976; I played it 1979), and USA football 'hail mary' desperation play jointly referenced with Roman Catholicism's rosary 'hail mary [full of grace]' and the main character's surname Grace. It's led to unexpected but nice sharing of aspects from the book e.g. "watch me sleep?" The proof-reader missed several things e.g. (in the Kindle version anyway) a read-out of a scientific measurement should be in italics (as it's a different speaker). I believe the penultimate sentence should read "...speed of light, question?" which the editor should've picked up.

This was the first sci fi novel I have read, as it was part of my book club. I was definitely out of my comfort zone but I promised myself to read all the book club books and this definitely paid off. I enjoyed the back story o f the main character and how he ended up where he did. I found some of the scientific and technological aspects challenging but also reassuring that it was based in science. The whole book was both spellbinding and heartwarming, especially the central theme of friendship and working together. A great read.

This is another fantastic read by Andy Weir who also wrote the brilliant book, The Martian. Both Project Hail Mary and The Martian are engrossing and hard to put down. Full of lots of science, great writing, characters and a fantastic sense of humour as well. A great read and well worth the purchase.

If you enjoyed The Martian, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is arguably even better. It’s a smart, fast-paced sci-fi story that blends real science with humour, tension and surprisingly emotional moments. The story follows Ryland Grace, a former teacher who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or why he’s there. As his memory slowly returns, he realises he’s on a desperate mission to save Earth from a mysterious threat. What makes this book stand out is how engaging it is. The science is detailed but explained in a way that’s easy to follow, and the problem-solving aspect keeps things constantly interesting. There’s also a strong emotional core and an unexpected friendship that adds real depth to the story. It’s a longer read, but it never drags — the mix of suspense, humour and clever ideas keeps the pages turning.

I really don’t know how to begin with this one. I listened to the audiobook and read on Kindle at the same time, this was nice as I find this works great for my mommy brain and helped me concentrate on the story. Believe me when I say I WAS FULLY INVESTED. This book was nothing like what I expected it to be, and it almost became my first 5-star read of this year! So without further ado let me tell you what I could gather from my thoughts lol they are still everywhere, bear with me. This is the story of humanity and how one person and “his unexpected friend” try to save it, and not only. We follow the disastrous consequences caused by something that is eating away the sun’s energy, and the Earth is facing an apocalypse if nothing is done about it. What can we do? How can we do it, and where is the solution? Well, Stratt will be thinking about that, and she will do one hell of a good job, I don’t care what you think about her, she did the right thing, however morally grey her approach might have been had I had been in her place I would have done the same thing. So far, so good. We have the means, and we have the crew, but will it work out, or will everything just blow up in our faces? Man, I really loved how the story begins and how Ryland is slowly regaining his memories, and we go back and forth between the past and the present. This is done amazingly, and the whole science part was just wow. The scary part of it is that it could actually happen! I don’t know about the accuracy of the science in here, but you can tell aaaa ton of research has gone through, and Weir, my friend, you did a brilliant job conveying it in a science-for-dummies way to us poor creatures. I am honestly still recovering from what I experienced. The humour, the whole plot, the twists and turns were great and very well-written! I just loved the relationship between Ryland and Rocky. The science, how everything was explained and worked out in the end. Was just great. This book really was soooo close to getting my first 5-star review! It just came short due to the too many twists part. They were a tad too many for my liking, and I was expecting to see what actually happened to Earth during and after… I hope there is a second book tackling those topics I would be beyond happy to know more! It feels incomplete to me… Ryland Grace, Rocky, Hail Mary, Blip-A they all have a special place in my heart now. Damn, even Stratt does and those “children” at the end ah man… Overall, this book received 4.5 stars.

Tense and thrilling, but also funny and surprisingly sweet. I expected high-concept sci-fi, and also got an unexpectedly adorable story of friendship.

Fantastic story. Had me laughing, crying, feeling the importance and urgency of what was happening. Honestly amazing. I would highly recommend this book. Book arrived fast and in great condition

I absolutely adored PHM. It has everything: adventure, humanity, encounters with alien life forms, suspense, science, and, yes, emotion. I was in awe of the book. What a story. A rather ordinary science teacher is sent to a distant star to save planet Earth and meets an alien, Rocky, who is trying to save his own planet. A beautiful friendship blossoms between the teacher and the alien. It's such a beautiful story. Not a scientific person myself, I wasn't in the least put off by the science in the book. In fact, it's wondrous. This will stay with me for a long time. A truc sci-fi masterpiece and a great story, whether you like the genre or not.

Great book finish reading 4 times, and decided to support the author with a hardcover copy, recieved in great condition in a nice little amazon box.

Weir yine bilimsel detaylar, denklemler, hesaplar vererek harika bir kurgu yazmış. Bitireli baya oldu hala daha üzerine düşündüğüm bir kitap.

An amazing book. I never finish books really. Always start them, but never end up finishing them. Andy Weirs work I can never put down. So far he’s 2/2 with this and the Martian. Hopefully the Artemis is this good. 10000/10 recommend getting this book.

Story is great, got my full attention and enthousiasm from the first chapter, cannot recommend enough! The book itself is in bad shape. Looks (and is) new, but it's glued so poorly the pages are literally falling out. Every 2 to 3 pages there's one simply not attached to the book. This makes it annoying to read, or flip though the pages. So, physical quality is quite bad.