Project Hail Mary
Ratings2,236
Average rating4.5
The author writes a story where he (or a thinly disguised version of himself) saves more than one world by sciencing the shirt out of stuff. Unfortunately they ignore the simple stuff making it quite shit science.
I did like the alien communication.
This novel is simply the best sci-fi novel I've read till the moment. it got me empathizing with the main character getting excited and sad as he did. The story is simply beautiful it got me hooked in every moment, making me finish this book in under 5 days...
The execution is brilliant. I love how Andy Weir explains all the science experiment in a descriptive way, but not overweomingly detail to the point it gets boring. it is a perfect balance. This book introduced me to Andy Weir and it won't be the last one. I've all ready ordered the next one :)
The speaker is another great point of the narrative. Throughout the story we get to know many, many characters and the speaker does a wonderful job to give each characters dialogue an unique personality, so you can know who is speaking even if it is not said.
all in all 10/10 a must read sci-fi novel
Another book I went in blindly, only hearing good things about it, so I gave it a try! And what a ride it was.
I was only a couple of pages/minutes into the book, and it immediately peaked my interest, and I was laughing already. Continuing on, it was a lot of emotions of sadness and humor, Ryland's narration of what was going on and trying to make sense of what had happened was relatable. I didn't think he would meet an alien, let alone someone who was a teacher and be sent off to space to save Earth! Something I really enjoyed throughout the book was the progression of his relationship with Rocky, like understanding his language, habits, body language, and eventually living with him. Yes, learning a whole new language in one or two weeks seems so unreasonable, but what can you do when you're all alone in space? I loved the aspects of science, linguistics, and all the space stuff, then a sprinkle of humor; it was a good mixture of all of them! I loved the ending too. I didn't think he would ever get to teach again, but I'm glad has that opportunity, even on another planet. The narrator of the audiobook was also amazing; he made everything so much more fun.
I don't think I've read a book taking place in outer space, so I'm glad this was my first. I will definitely pick up The Martian soon!
CAWPILE SCORE
C-8
A-6
W-8
P-8
I-9
L-9
E-9
TOTAL-8.14/10
CAWPILECharactersGrace Ryland is a fantastic character. Usually Amnesia plots are met with sadness because of obvious inconsistency or foolishness, but this was done masterfully where we continue to learn with the character his own backstory and our opinion and his own opinion change everytime we learn something new about him.Rocky: great fun. Little bit op can build anything. Loved his characterization though.Stratt: everything for Humanity.AtmosphereLots of time spent in a spaceship with a couple walks, easy to picture whats going on in ship. Nice place Ryland ends up.WritingThe writing was good, but there were a couple of spots where Present tense/Past tense were mixed up or at least it felt off to me. Loved that Weir chose xenon to make a metal for. Not directly relatable to us, easier to believe.Lots of Good lines. He buried his face in his hands and cried ( Climatologist)PlotAstrophage's are draining the sun. Ryland is on a spaceship to figure out why Tau Ceti isn't suffering the same way.InvestmentVery very exciting and fast paced. An incredibly strong connection to the MC. LogicEverything makes since to a layperson. I'm sure someone who is very in the know about things could probably point out some problems, but its SCI-FI, so those are ok but Andy Weir has clearly thought out a lot of things. The Eridians don't have eyes so they can't see, so of course they wouldn't have figured out radiation. We see light radiate, but without that we might not know either. I loved that the science was dumb enough that I could understand it but still smart enough to be correct.The learning of languages on both sides. Musical notes and sightEnjoymentMiscPoor Climatologist. Ordering nuclear bombing of Antartica. How do I want to die in space. (nitrogen, Heroin, Gun shot)At least only 1 awkward sex sceneRealistic Mechanic talk, can't be tight if a liquid. Hit it a couple of times.Coma MachineRyland going back to save Rocky because astrophages ate his fuel, sacrificing his chance to go home.Rocky nearly dying to save Ryland on shipStratt doesn't care. Only about saving humanity.Everything Every Created is on the Spaceship! I would love itAm I a guinea pig. I am a guinea pig.
I will be talking about it on Libromancy https://libromancy.podbean.com/
Sci-fi isn't my usual fare, but I think this is a pretty good story told well. I did think there was too much scientific explanation of what was going on, although granted that did lend an air of credibility to the plot and was pretty impressive considering it wasn't real (or mostly wasn't real, anyway). The way the human communicates with the alien was very cleverly done. Sorry if that's a slight spoiler. (Note: I had both a hardcopy of the book and the audio version, which made their communication come alive even more.)
Well, I never thought I'd enjoy a super scienc-y sci-fi this much.
Ryland Grace wakes up alone in a space ship, and he has to figure out how to save Earth. Along the way Spoiler he meets Rocky, an alien from another planet with the same problem as Earth. I absolutely loved Rocky and the relationship he and Grace formed. I also enjoyed the way they approached their communication issues. Just goes to show that we can always figure out a way to communicate with one another. This book was funny, emotional, hopeful and action-packed all at once. As much as I didn't understand the science, it felt plausible and still somehow enjoyable to read, considering there's so much of it. I never knew a sci-fi in space could be such a feel-good story.
For all the science, engineering, mechanics, math, and physics included within this book – it is staggering to me how easily I was able to fall deeply into the narrative, visualizing each component.
If there are two big things I dislike in a book, it's:
1) Predictable narratives
2) Indistinguishable characters (specifically related to their dialogue)
I can happily report that Project Hail Mary had nothing remotely close to point #1 or #2.
The only way I'd advise someone against reading it is if I knew they had a deep distaste for anything science related.
A most enjoyable read, it's basically The Martian turned up to 11 with aliens! Ryland Grace is pretty much exactly Mark Watney except he's using his sciencey problem solving skills to save Earth not just himself.
The post-coma mushy memory is a nice narrative device. There's lots of interesting sciencey stuff that I'm barely clever enough to understand and certainly not smart enough to disprove.
All-in-all a quite bizarre storyline, gets increasingly weirder and culminates with a totally unexpected ending.
It's a fun and easy read, kind of a sweet buddy movie set in space. If you like The Martian you'll enjoy this.
Amaze Amaze Amaze.
♩♫♩♫
One of the best books I read in a long time. It is a page-turner and I cannot stop reading (listening).
Highly highly recommend the audiobook version of this.
Another great work from Andy Weir! This is the kind of book that I found hard to put down despite being almost 500 pages. The story is just so fascinating. The only reason it wasn't a 5/5 for me is because at times it just felt unrealistic. I know this is fictional, but still — the book feels so realistic in some parts yet unrealistic in others and I think it's the fact that it didn't just pick one side that feels off to me. Overall, I'd still highly recommend this book though!
4.5/5 rounded up to 5/5.
I love this guys books. Amazing story, fun and intense.
Well thought out and the sciency part all sounded plausible like I expected from the author of The Martian.
If you liked the others, go read this now.
Español
Comencé a leer este libro muy entusiasmada por que amo con todo mi corazón The Martian (Andy Weir, 2011) y estoy feliz de contar que no me decepciono. Esta novela es una ciencia ficción dura (hard science fiction) es decir que es una ciencia ficción que enfatiza los elementos científicos de la historia tratando de que sea lo más realista posible. Con esto dicho la novela tiene un fuerte elemento matemático y físico, sin embargo, el protagonista (Ryland Grace) hace esta parte muy dinámica, tanto que no me di cuenta en que momento leí sus 481 páginas.
Parte misterio y parte aventura espacial el corazón de esta historia – para mi - es la amistad, a pesar de ser una historia de supervivencia y aventura siempre resalta la amistad y como la fuerza de esta nos ayuda a seguir aun en los momentos mas complicados. El final lo sentí un poco agridulce, pero me gusto.
English
I started this book really excited because I love love love The Martian (also Andy Weir) and I'm happy to report that it did not let me down, this is a hard science fiction heavily charged with biology, mathematics and physics, however, the protagonist (Ryland Grace) has a very dynamic way to explain everything, and I didn't realize how I ended up reading 481 pages.
Part mystery and part space adventure the heart of this novel resides in friendship, although this is a survival and adventure it always goes back to the power of friendship and how it can help us to continue even on the hardest scenarios. The ending was a little bittersweet, but I liked it.
I feel like Weir is a master of this genre – sci-fi beach reads. The writing doesn't feel particularly good to me, but I get sucked it to all of his books and this one was no exception.
I didn't think I liked sci-fi but this book was INCREDIBLE. I loved the main character and thought that having a teacher explain scientific concepts made it accessible and fun. I LOVED Rocky, and the main character's relationship with him. This was such a heartwarming and compelling story, and I thought it struck a perfect balance between science and humanity.
4.5
If you loved the book as much as I did, “Fist my bump:)”
Wow I didn't expect to love PHM this much!!
I teared up towards the end while reading a few scenes coz it was just so heartwarming and beautiful.
Amazing novel! I can't stop reading this, every time I go home from work, what comes to my mind is just I want to read this book. I didn't read any reviews about this book before I start reading it, and I am lucky I did that.
There is no spectacular dramatic action scene in the story, only problems, bigger problems, and even bigger problems. This book is all about problem-solving, it is about scientists doing scientific things. I really appreciate how Andy Weir tries to describe every problem and an intelligent way to solve it.
Entertaining, heart-warming, and surprisingly instructive in science. Don't need to say much, all-round lovely book!!
18 May 2022:
Okay, credit where credit's due. This books hits all the spots and tangles all the questions it puts forth to the reader and even if my knowledge of science is very limited I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Project Hail Mary's strengths lie in the fact that it minimises any reasoning loopholes as much as it can why still providing a hooking enough plot, utilising the science it talks about, to the utmost. Yet, the cherry on top is the hints of emotional sentimentality that is subtly conveyed to the reader in all the interactions it has to offer. No ones a completely irrevocable villain and no one's an absolute hero either.
This was an amazing read though it did start a bit slow for me. I loved the ending but a part was really reluctant to close the book when I reached the end.
Final rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
Amazing Book! I love how Andy always focuses on getting through the issues one step at a time. It makes you feel like you are right there alongside Grace.
