Stuff I Read: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

When Earth’s sun inexplicably begins to dim, putting life on earth in peril of extinction, a pair of remarkable discoveries has Earth’s scientific community put together a daring plan to save the world. Five years later, an amnesiac science teacher wakes up on a spaceship headed to a distant star, the sole survivor of an interstellar voyage that might save our sun. He’s going to have to science the shit out of this. Andy Weir’s unique blend of science fiction and humor are back in a big way in his 2021 novel, Project Hail Mary.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary follows Dr. Ryland Grace, a middle school science teacher who partially discovers an alien lifeform. These extraterrestrials—a colony of microbes doing an orbiting migration from Venus to the sun and back—are unfortunately slowly siphoning the energy of our local star, dimming the sun and potentially causing widespread ecological disaster on Earth. Named the astrophage by Dr. Grace (literal translation: star eater), these microbes are traced to several stars in our galaxy, feeding on the energy of every star they encounter until they burn out. Every star, that is, except one: Tau Ceti. Dr. Grace awakens on a spaceship near Tau Ceti several years later, without any memory of how he got there, vague recollections of what he’s supposed to be doing, and no idea who the dead people on the ship are. His memory of the astrophage gradually returns, as well as his mission to find out why that star hasn’t dimmed. While there, Dr. Grace makes first contact with another alien species, desperately trying to find the same answers to save their own homeworld.

Right away, you can make comparisons to Weir’s runaway hit The Martian. One human, alone in a hostile environment, using his scientific knowledge to stay alive and his biting wit to stay sane. The comparison is apt, but not remotely a bad thing. Dr. Grace might nor be as laugh-out-loud funny as Mark Watney from The Martian, but he’s every bit as relatable, resourceful, and easy to root for. As a point-of-view character, making him an amnesiac was an inspired choice, as he experiences every aspect of the story at the same moment we do. Flashbacks to Dr. Grace’s life on Earth prior to the mission are topical and fill in healthy amounts of backstory without feeling like an info dump. The addition of an alien sidekick, especially one who wasn’t even vaguely human and didn’t speak some miraculous form of Space English, was well handled, and the character is incredibly well-developed. I enjoyed their dynamic and the evolution they made from astronauts with aligned goals to friends.

My gripes with this are minor, and only come because of trying to find them. The science in Project Hail Mary ventures far more into the theoretical realm than either of Weir’s previous novels. From the method of transport to Tau Ceti using a new kind of fuel, to the means of data collection, it all seems to fall into the category of “that could work, I guess.” Given that one of the strengths of The Martian (and to a lesser degree, Artemis) was how scientifically plausible it was. This is something that doesn’t come through as strongly and the author seems to “yadda-yadda” his way through explaining how it works. You know, like most sci-fi novels. The other minor gripe is Ryland Grace’s similarity to The Martian’s Mark Watney. It makes me think that Weir puts himself into these characters, and while that might make him fun to have a drink with, you wonder if that is this pony’s one trick. For what it’s worth, it is a good trick.

If you liked The Martian, Project Hail Mary is right up your alley. If you haven’t read The Martian, then you should; but also, read this right after.

Pros: likeable protagonist, cool plot, fun to read.

Cons: very similar to The Martian

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars