Andy Weir
Fiction 2021/476 pages
Something is destroying our sun at a fast pace. It seems the infection will be blocking the sun in 19 years, and we will have lost all animals, including humans, and plants on an extremely cold planet. And so, someone had to save the planet! Enter Dr. Ryland Grace, who is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. He awakens, amnesiac, on his spaceship after four years in a coma, to find his crew-mates dead. Gradually, Grace recalls that his controversial academic work on extraterrestrials caused him to be drafted into Project Hail Mary, a mission 12 light-years from Earth to the Tau Ceti solar system to save all of humanity. To save all of civilization, Grace must learn why Tau Ceti is unaffected by Astrophage and send data probes back to Earth. However, the Hail Mary is on a sacrifice mission, as the ship can’t carry enough fuel for a return trip. As the story unfolds in a wry, first-person present tense and alternates scenes from the past and present, Grace recalls discovering Astrophage and preparing for Project Hail Mary as the mission’s lead scientist, and he tries to discover why Astrophage have not destroyed Tau Ceti but seem to be affecting every other star in the local galaxy.
At Tau Ceti, he meets an Eridian, a dog-sized spider-like extraterrestrial with hard mineral skin whom he names Rocky and who is also the only surviving member of his crew as well. Rocky and Grace learn to communicate verbally. Rocky’s home star is also infected with Astrophage, and he is at Tau Ceti for the same reason: to learn how to stop Astrophage from destroying 40 Eridiani and all life on Rocky’s home planet with it. Grace and Rocky marvel at their similarities and diverse strengths and begin to form a close friendship, sharing a similar sense of humor.
In true Andy Weir style, there is an extraordinary amount of science and technology, sprinkled with relationships. An extraordinary amount.
I found Project Hail Mary tedious. Too much science, too long, too slow. Though many love this book, I must withhold my own recommendation.
September 2026