Review: Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

As Andy Weir continues to build his bibliography in the wake of THE MARTIAN, he makes an admirable effort with a new novel about a man stranded in space, trying to solve a world-ending problem.

The story

A new solar phenomenon could spell disaster for the human race: a species of microscopic phage is eating our sun, causing its output to drop. Astronomers realize the same thing is happening all over the galaxy with the exception of a single star, Tau Ceti. Once humans are able to convert the "astrophage" into a fuel source, they build a ship to send scientists on an interstellar voyage in the hope that they can find a cure for the phage.

The characters

Our protag is Rylan Grace, a PhD in biology and space sciences, who gets recruited to join the crew of the eponymous Hail Mary. He wakes up on the ship from a forced coma with retrograde amnesia, and the story is interspersed with glimpses into his past, showing how he ended up on the ship. His other two crewmates died en route, so it's just him out in space, trying to remember why he's there.

We also have an alien that Rylan nicknames "Rocky," who is a very interesting character in his own right. But I don't want to spoil the discovery process that the reader will enjoy.

The world

Ours, but a little bit near-future. Enough for life on the ground to feel familiar, but life in space to be possible.

The politics

Present-day Earth stuff, with an emphasis on foreign policy, as many nations have to work together to make the Hail Mary a success. If you read THE MARTIAN, it's basically the same. The only part that came across as a heavy-handed lecture was the eco-scientist who complained about global warming skeptics...but we all know that dude IRL, so eh. This one's fine on the politics.

Content warning

Far less profanity than Weir's other books, but there were still three or four F-bombs. One of Rylan's character traits is that he doesn't swear a lot, so when he does, he at least has a big reason for it.

Who is it for?

This one skews more heavily toward the hard side of sci-fi. You can read it for the adventurous elements, just be prepared to drown in the hard science that Weir dished out in THE MARTIAN. Even the stuff he made up is heavily grounded in real science, and he'll walk you through every bit of it so that you understand it the way he does. Is it accurate? Hell if I know, I'm just a truck driver. But I found the overall story to be very engaging after about the 25% mark. Once Rocky shows up, it was hard to put it down.

Why read it?

As much as I like to recommend light, fun sci-fi, the heavier stuff like this is a good pace-breaker. The story is still exciting and the stakes are still high, while the technical side of it challenges the reader to really understand why things are happening the way they are. This is the kind of book that entertains you while helping you to understand the forces that govern the cosmos.