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Please Note: I received an advance copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
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, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.
Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, 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.
Review:
I think the reason I enjoyed Weir's massive hit, The Martian, so much was because the main character used science as a means to survive a nearly hopeless situation. The plot of the author's latest novel, Project Hail Mary , centers around a problem humanity will probably never face: the Sun is cooling. As the world tries to science its way out of the coming apocalypse, we see the epic space journey to save humanity, interspersed with the background of how the project came about. This was a very entertaining, suspense-filled story that is Weir's best work to date.
What I Liked:
Premise:
The Sun is cooling and it's due to an organism that's taking energy from the sun at a small, but significant, rate. Scientists notice this is happening in other solar systems as well. What this means for Earth is a cooling of the earth that will bring on another Ice Age. And it will happen in the next dozen years, wiping out food supplies, and causing mass starvation.
Could all the countries on Earth find a way to solve the issue together? What kind of effort would that look like? And what might happen if it fails? These are all parts of the plot of this novel. Unlike scenarios such as if a meteor were about to hit Earth, the kinds of steps the world's scientists take seem plausible.
Characters:
Due to the structure of the book, we see all the people who work on finding a solution to the problem, and to what lengths they will go to achieve it. The head of the project, given unlimited authority by all the world leaders, is Eva Stratt. Stratt is a no-nonsense, ruthless person who is single-minded in her search to solve the problem. She is willing to do anything to save the planet, including massive environmental destruction, kidnapping, and who knows what else. She has unlimited resources, and her authority is absolute. She fully expects to be tried for crimes against humanity when the project is complete. But she feels it's all worth it to stave off a world -wide disaster.
Ryland Grace is the main character, a brilliant scientist who's had some setbacks in his career. At the start of the book, instead of leading ground-breaking research, he is teaching science to middle school children. He is not someone who seeks conflict. Instead, he craves safety. No high powered career, no exciting love affair. He seems quite content to live a quiet life. But, when Stratt discovers Grace's doctorate thesis, concerning organisms that may not need water to survive, he is plucked from obscurity and lands right in the thick of Project Hail Mary. Will he rise to the occasion? Or will fear hold him back from making the ultimate sacrifice?
Science:
I really liked how the characters use science to work out the various issues of the problem. When they realize they will need to send astronauts deep into another solar system to find the answers to how the organism can be stopped, they must solve a host of issues. How can they create enough energy to power the ship for the several years it will take to get there? How can they ensure the astronauts survive years in space? Can they do anything to buy the Earth some time?
While purists will likely find some fault in the science presented (as they did with The Martian), most people will find the explanations plausible, and not too confusing. I didn't need a degree in astrophysics to understand the gist of it.
Story:
Ryland Grace starts off as a middle school science teacher, but winds up in a space ship headed to a far away solar system. How does this happen? The story is told in a series of flashbacks as Ryland awakens from a deep sleep and finds he doesn't remember anything! Slowly, as his memories return, we see what happened.
We also see how he works on the main problem. What can kill the organism that is cooling the Sun?
What Ryland doesn't bargain for is... finding something astounding in space. I cannot reveal what this is, as I do not want to spoil it. But it's a doozy! A good portion of the book is about how Ryland interacts with this revelation. It's wonderful, and I hope a movie is made of this book as soon as possible (actually, I hear that Ryan Gosling has optioned the book!).
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Date: May 4th, 2021
Author: Andy Weir
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Genre: Science Fiction
Page Length: 496 Pages
Source: NetGalley
Format: E-book
Recommendation: Another entertaining story filled with science. and loads of humanity. This is a wonderful book.
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