Andy Weir pulls off another successful sci-fi novel with Project Hail Mary. I absolutely loved The Martian and felt opposite about Artemis so I was hoping he'd come out with another blockbuster.
Rylan Grace is a junior high school science teacher who loves his job. He is the narrator of this novel and you will learn more about him as the story goes on. In the first chapters Rylan doesn't know his name or anything about his past as he was in an induced coma for years.
He is on a spaceship and needs to remember his name and certain facts for the onboard computer to unlock areas of the ship. As he slowly remembers details of his former life we learn he was an esteemed scientist with excellent credentials before he burned some career bridges.
Without giving spoilers here it's established Earth will undergo a life extinuishing event. Dr Grace is one of the scientists who may be able to help change the outcome. In my opinion the science, hypothesis and formulas were interesting at first but I could have used less of it. Fun to read and then I felt like I may need to scroll along.
The memories of "life before" and the interaction Dr Grace has with another space entity was interesting. I particuarlly liked the last chapters and the outcome so it was overall a 4 star book for me.
Not on par with The Martian but 100% better than Artemis. We love Andy Weir in our home and have recently purchased his first book (again) after someone failed to return our loan :-( We also just watched the Martian recently - I think this book would have potential to become a cool space movie as well. Ridley Scott, are you listening? :-)
Publication date May 4, 2021 by Random House - Ballentine. Genre: Mystery, Thrillers, Sci Fi and Fantasy.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book. I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.