(P.S. This book is tricky to ‘review’ if you don’t want to speak about certain plot points or characters!)
OMG!!! I LOVE THIS BOOK
Haha, I guess that’s my review done, thank you, and please check out my other re…….
No?
I guess I have to write down a few more thoughts.
For contexts, I have only started reading sci-fi. I’m thinking about what books now.
- DUNE by Frank Herbert (book much better than the movies!
- Book 1 of ‘Skyward novels’ by Brandon Sanderson (need to finish the series)
- Mickie 7 by Edward Ashto (strangely prefer the movie version)
- Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (my first book review on my site)
- Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein
and
- The Martian by Andy Weir
Think that’s all the sci-fi books I’ve read so far in my ‘journey.’ (I realise they are not the ‘same’ sci-fi type of stories, but they are all categorised under the same genre, so…)
Project Hail Mary might be my favourite sci-fi book!
It’s been a SUPER LONG time since I read a book that I physically can’t put down. (well apart from the normal things like food, drink and sleep!) And for those moments, I felt the gravity pulling me back to the book. (Pun fully intended!)
Near the end, I only had four chapters left and had to go to bed, and no joke, all I could only think about was space and the plot.
Again, it’s been ALONG time since I found a book that gave me that feeling!
From chapter one, I was hooked by the sense of humour when Ryland Grace first wakes up from a coma, dealing with the medical robot’s arms and soon after, the tone reminds us of the horrors and the fact that he’s all alone with no memory of how he got into this tricky spot in space (that’s the A plot)
The B plot is the flashbacks as Ryland slowly regains his memory, and you slowly learn about the brand-new fuel, the plan to save the planet, the construction of the Hail Mary, and the search for the crew members.
What impressed me most is that this book (and The Martian) dives deep into the science and math. The way Andy Weir writes makes it SUPER digestible for me to follow and SUPER easy to read the words on the page!
(just don’t ask me to take a science space travel test tho! 😀 I most likely fail! Haha)
Which was helpful because almost the whole book, Ryland is ALWAYS doing some form of maths and science, trying to stay alive as long as possible. Ummm, with that said, Ryland is not the perfect astronaut; he does make an occasional “human” mistakes under pressure, or he has very human emotions, which is where the tension comes from.
I guess the only tiney tiny ‘negative’ and that’s me being SUPER picky….
…. This book is 99% perfect for me; the 1% might come from what happens near the end. As I said, I mostly stayed offline while reading this book, but from what I saw/heard, there are A LOT of thoughts about the ending. My first thoughts were conflicted to say the least! Now that I have finished the book… (dw I stop myself here, I go into spoilers at the very end.)
Despite this short blog, I had a BLAST with this book!
I feel like I should write down more thoughts, but I REALLY don’t want to write down certain details or plot points that the movie trailers show, because I feel like it’s a spoiler for some of the best parts of the story. And because I mostly stay away from ANY promotions and socials. I really like the twists and turns the book throws at you.
If you want a more in-depth review, where I can discuss my details and plot points. Let me know in the comments, and I will do a longer review of this book.
I might have to re-read The Martian again and have a go at reading Artemis (I think that book is set on the moon? )
Thanks for making it this far. Check out my other reviews!
And now to the spoiler part….
Book (maybe movie)
Spoiler warning!Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning! Spoiler warning!
Ok, I’m assuming that if you made it this far, you don’t care about spoilers, so….
The final choice at the end….
After working with Rocky, they both find the solution to the Astrophage problem by identifying an organism, Taumoeba, and slowly create Taumoeba to resist the astrophage to the correct amount. Then store it in special containers made by the stuff from Rocky’s ship.
Everything is solved!! And to two friends say an emotional goodbye and head back to their own planets.
3 months? (I think) The containers start leaking!
After some testing, the Taumoeba starts eating the containers and develops a liking for the material the special containers are made of. So, grace changed the strouge to plastic ones, everything is fine! But then he realises that the special container is made of the same metal as Rocky’s ship!!
Rocky is in deep trouble!!
So Ryland has to make a decision.
Stay on course to Earth and save everyone, or go back to save his friend.
He only has enough resources for one trip, and if he saves Rocky (if he’s still alive), there’s not enough life support, and he will surely die.
It’s basically a no-win situation! Go to earth, and his friend (and his planet) will die, or save your friend, and you will die yourself.
As a reader, I know what I would do, but I wanted to know what Ryland would decide on… and I was so scared for a second…
…..FOR A COUPLE OF paragraphs, I really thought that Ryland would leave his friend, and I was ready to throw my book.
He finally decided to give up earth and go on a ☠️ mission, turns the ship around, and after some tense pages, he finds Rocky, and he’s ok. Barely holding on! But he’s ok. At first, Rocky is happy to see his friend, but then he is sad when he learns Ryland has no more resources left!
Rocky suggests that Ryland could try eating the Taumoeba that has infected Rocky’s whole ship (which is a LARGE ship!) After some scientific thinking, it seems like Taumoeba is edible 🤨.
🤨
Ok….
Then Rocky takes him to his own planet to see if he can heal him up.
In the last chapter, Ryland is in his 50s, not the most comfortable lifestyle, but at least he’s alive. Here, Rocky mentions something about going back home. Ryland said that’s his getting too old to make the trip back to Earth. So he stays on a strange planet teaching the ‘alien’ children.
I see it as a bittersweet ending rather than a normal ‘heroic’ happy ending, as we saw in the Martian book. And my first thoughts were…… confused and conflicted. I personally like the ‘heroic’ happy ending, but after some thought, I think I’d prefer this more ‘realistic’ ending. It probably feels weird if Ryland made it back to Earth after spending most of the book alone in space. We don’t necessarily need to see the aftermath of Earth. (I don’t think so anyway)
ThomasGKandiah 