Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir
Ballantine Books: (May 4, 2021) ISBN-10 ? : ? 0593135202
ISBN-13 ? : ? 978-0593135204
SYNOPSIS:
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?
REVIEW:
First off, I enjoyed THE MARTIAN, in book form and the faithful feature film adaptation that followed. PROJECT HAIL MARY looked equally interesting, if not more so. And my initial impressions were confirmed—blown away even. Project Hail Mary succeeds and exceeds The Martian on all fronts. While The Martian dealt with one man’s impossible, but personal, struggle for survival, Project Hail Mary ups the ante to unimaginable levels, literally to global significance. Ryland Grace awakens alone in deep space, with no memory of who he is, where he is or why? Not only does he not know how important his mission is to the fate of humanity, he has no clue about the mission itself. As his memory gradually returns, Ryland is faced with one impossible problem after another, each requiring a combination of guts, imagination and ingenuity to resolve if he is to complete his ‘hail mary’ mission.
Project Hail Mary is a compulsive read—a genuine page-turner—boasting a propulsive plot filled with energy and wit, self-deprecation and surprises, and a generous amount of humor considering the future of humanity is at stake. If you enjoyed The Martian, this is a no-brainer: grab a copy of Project Hail Mary today. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
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