Earth has a problem: the light from the sun is fading thanks to an alien microorganism Ryland Grace has dubbed “Astrophage”. The world’s best scientists estimate that Earth has about 30 years before true devastation, but not all hope is lost. The world has come together to create a spaceship that can travel to the Astrophage’s home star to look for answers. The aptly named Hail Mary is Earth’s last chance, but there’s a problem: the only astronaut to survive the journey can’t even remember his name. But that’s okay, maybe his new friend can help him? Project Hail Mary is a roller-coaster adventure of hope and despair with more twists and turns than Cedar Point, Andy Weir has done it again.
[Warning: My review of Project Hail Mary contains some spoilers!]
It looks like a dark future for Earth in Project Hail Mary
We’re not alone! There’s other life in the universe! Too bad that life is slowly eating our sun. And all the other stars around us. It would figure that we’d finally find aliens and they’d be the equivalent of COVID-19 for the Sun. But there’s hope, one star has these annoying little buggers (Astrophage) and isn’t dying. Scientists realize that if we can get to that star and study what makes that Astrophage different, we can maybe save our own sun, and by extension ourselves.
But we have to act fast. The best guess is that we have about 30 years before everything goes bottom-up. So the world pulls together to create a spaceship that can handle deep-space travel and is powered by the same Astrophage that is killing our world. It can get to the Astrophage’s home world, a team of astronauts can find a solution, and they can send the information back to Earth on fast little drones. It’s great, except that because of time constraints, the astronauts themselves won’t be coming back. It’s a one-way trip. Still, knowing you’ve saved humanity is special.
When the Hail Mary arrives at Tau Centi (the safe star), the only member of her crew to survive the trip is Ryland Grace. And he doesn’t even remember who he is or why he’s there. But he does remember science (which is good), and the rest of his memories slowly come back to him. As he remembers why he’s there, he starts to observe Tau Centi, only to realize that he’s not alone; there’s another spacecraft out there, and it didn’t come from Earth! He’s sure they’re there for the same reason he is. Maybe they can work together to come up with a solution to the Astrophage problem, or maybe they’ll just eat his brains. Either way, he’ll be the first to have contact with an intelligent alien race, so that’s awesome!
As Grace and Rocky (turns out the alien didn’t eat his brains) work together, they also become friends. Will that friendship help them save their worlds? Or will the Hail Mary, and Earth’s last chance, end in disaster?
Two strong characters keep us connected to Project Hail Mary
Weir feeds us Project Hail Mary by slow spoonfuls. The book opens with a main character who can’t remember his name, where he’s at, or why he’s there, but can remember 2+2 and the cube root of 8. Slowly, Ryland Grace (that’s our main character) begins to remember why he’s in a spaceship halfway across the galaxy, but the how is a little fuzzy until almost the end of the book. The more we learn about the events leading up to Hail Mary, the more invested we become in Grace’s efforts to understand Astrophage.
And then there’s Rocky. Rocky is the completely awesome alien, and the sole remaining member of his crew, who traveled to Tau Centauri to save their star. At first, he seems like a very intelligent dog, but as Grace spends more time with him (and we do too), we come to see that he’s much more than a dog; he’s everything a human is, just in a different shell. His humor and curiosity mirror Grace’s own personality. I think Weir made them so similar to show that underneath all the superficial differences, Rocky and Grace were just two creatures trying to save their species and weren’t really all that different. I absolutely loved Rocky. And by the end of the book, I think he’s an even better “person” than Grace is. Grace does redeem himself and proves to be a good man, but Rocky never needs redeeming; he’s just always good.
Humor keeps the story from feeling heavy
The end of the world is a pretty heavy subject. But Weir keeps things from feeling hopeless by using lots of humor. This isn’t a huge surprise. It’s the same approach he uses in The Martian to keep us from breaking down over Mark Watney being left behind to die on Mars. We’re too busy laughing to cry. And that’s what happens in Project Hail Mary, too. We could get caught up in the hopelessness, especially as one setback after another occurs. But we’re too busy laughing at Grace and Rocky’s slapstick humor to think about it. Weir’s liberal use of humor allows him to write about really depressing and scary situations without depressing us, the readers.
The movie sparked the interest, but the book is always best
Project Hail Mary came out five years ago, but I missed it. I probably would have never gotten around to reading it if the movie inspired by it hadn’t come out. But it did, and I always prefer to read a book over watching a movie, so that’s what I did. And I’m so glad I did! Project Hail Mary is a great story with tons of humor that had me laughing right out loud. I’m sure the movie is great too. I actually told my husband that we should see it after I finished the book. He’s not a book guy, but I know he’ll like this movie if they did the book justice. So if you need a little end-of-the-world pick me up, check out Project Hail Mary, it’s not new, but it’s still good!
My Rating: 10/10
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is available now!
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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