Drugs & Alcohol / Medical treatments & Procedures / Blood depiction
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
Andy Weir built a two-decade career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, The Martian, allowed him to live out his dream of writing full-time. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of such subjects as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail. He lives in California. Project Hail Mary is getting a film adaptation which will be released in theatres March 2026.
- andyweirauthor.com
Reviewed by Dayna Bradstreet - Director, Graduate Admissions (LIS & IFILL)
What genre is the book, and how does it compare to others in that genre?: Science fiction. Not hard sci-fi; takes place in the near future
What’s the main storyline or premise of the book?: So we have a first-person protagonist. He's an astronaut who wakes up from a coma on a spaceship and he is the only surviving crew member. He has no memory. He has to figure out who he is and why he is there. The story has two timelines-- there's the present where the astronaut is trying to science his way into figuring out what is going on. Like The Martian, there's lots of real science and descriptions of the scientific method of trying things, failing, seeing what works. And the other timeline is the flashbacks of him on Earth, slowly remembering what his mission is and how he came to be there.
What type of mood or mindset is best for reading this book?: It's definitely an adventurous book; enjoyable if you like puzzling things through-- I listened to this as an audiobook with my husband, an astronomy teacher, and we kept pausing to make predictions about the science. You have to pay attention to it. There's also a good amount of humor and heart. It's one of those books where you could be ugly crying and laughing at the same time. It was a satisfying ending but also leaves questions.
Who would you recommend this book to, and why?: Anyone who loves science and sci fi.
What was your biggest takeaway or favorite moment from the book?: I don't think I can say without spoiling it, but I will say the book is really enhanced through the audiobook. I strongly recommend listening to it if you choose to read it.