Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is an engrossing read. He has a real flare for writing hard science fiction and making it exciting and readable. I liked it as much as The Martian.
It was full of adventure and problems and solutions through science. One surviving scientist wakes from an induced coma with no memory and has to solve humanity’s biggest dilemma. Then he discovers he’s not alone.
What started as a bleak mission – a suicide mission to hopefully save Earth and humanity – ended up being inspiring and full of hope. Weir shows us how humans can be low and how we can be at our best. Why can’t we always be so amazing, question? (You’ll get that when you read the book)
If you loved The Martian, you’ll love this book, too. We spend most of the story in space and discover new life and new worlds. Discovery of new life and worlds is my favorite part of sci-fi, so I was glad to see those two things in this story. Usually, I find a lot of award-winning books don’t stand up to the hype, but this one does.
Here’s the official blurb:
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, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?