Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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TL;DR Interstellar mission to save all life on earth. Very readable hard science fiction. Buy this book and read it, it's excellent

Andy Weir writes the most entertaining hard, hard science, science fiction that I've ever read. Even Artemis, set on the moon and which has much less hard science, does a good job with the technical details to give the reader a feel for what living on the moon would be like.

If you read The Martian, the book that launched Andy and made him synonymous with hard science fiction, you'll recognize the protagonist, Ryland Grace: a scientist, very good at improvising, who finds himself at the core of a life or death situation. This time it's not just one person's life at stake, it's the survival of every living thing on earth. 

Warning: I'm not sensitive to spoilers so read at own risk.

Ryland is happily teaching middle school science when he is conscripted to study organic. particles (later dubbed astrophages)  retrieved from a mysterious line that stretches from the sun to Venus, the Petrova Line. Ryland is selected because he was a molecular biologist who once wrote a paper asserting that water isn't necessary to life. The reaction to his paper drove him out of science but it shows that he can think outside of conventional science. The Petrova Line is draining energy from the sun and at the rate it's occurring, life on earth is doomed. Ryland makes significant discoveries and soon becomes the right hand man to Eva Stratt who has been given absolute authority to save the earth. And I mean absolute, the woman can take over a Chinese aircraft carrier.

Most of the science will be over readers' heads but the fun is watching the process, how the science is done. Being first person, we get get Ryland talking himself through experiments as he tries to figure out how to understand this very weird life forms.

The earth part of the story shows why we would need a dictator with absolute power to accomplish what needs to be done. If even a small part of the population is to survive, decisions have to be made that go against everything people believe.  I won't spoil a "holy crap, they're going to do that!" moment but it is jaw dropping. Decisions have to be made and there is no time to argue and form committees.

Astronomers start exploring the universe to see if other Pertova Lines exist and they discover that Tau Ceti has such a line but the sun there isn't diminishing. Why is that sun coping but our sun isn't? Scientists have discover how to harness the enormous power in the astrophages and the decision is made to send a crew of three, in induced comas, on a one-way trip to Tau Ceti. There is just enough time to reach Tau Ceti, investigate, find a solution, and send three probes back to earth. I think readers will be amused at how they decide to make sure that the crew has all the information they need. 

Unfortunately, a catastrophic accident leaves Ryland the only qualified scientist to join the expedition. He has to be forced to "volunteer". I liked this bit. Ryland isn't a noble hero willing to sacrifice his life for all humankind but somewhat of a coward.

When he awakens, he discovers that his companions, the pilot and the engineer, have died on the trip. But being an inquisitive scientist, throws himself into mission. Complicating things is that there wasn't time to train him in ship operations so he has to train himself to pilot a space craft. Readers who suffer from innumeracy beware, there is lots of math as Ryland figures out the capabilities of the ship and how to navigate.

As Ryland maneuvers the Hail Mary into position, he discovers he isn't alone, he finds an alien spacecraft. First contact is made and this may be my favorite part of the story as they progress from "where are you from" using models to a partnership to save their worlds. The alien, who Ryland names Rocky, has advanced engineering abilities and figures how to link the ships. The process by which they find a way to communicate and overcome the problem that Ryland's and Rocky's environments are hostile to the other is fascinating. The author does a wonderful job describing an alien that seems very plausible. It's also funny at time especially when Rocky learns sarcasm.

The math and science are above my head but, as on earth, it is very engrossing to watch as Ryland and Rocky reason their way through obstacles.

Weir has the remarkable skill to deliver very detailed science without it being an infodump. He really brings science to life.  I was totally invested in the characters and the story and read it in two sittings. 

Project Hail Mary is a terrific read and might be my favorite SF story since The Martian. There are a few things that I wished had been touched upon. If I have one criticism, it's that the ending is a bit twee for me.

Andy Weir writes the most entertaining hard, hard science, science fiction that I've ever read. Even Artemis, set on the moon, which has much less hard science, does a good job with the technical details to give the reader a feel for what living on the moon would be like.

If you read The Martian, the book that launched Andy and made him synonymous with hard science fiction, you'll recognize the protagonist, Ryland Grace: a scientist, very good at improvising, who finds himself at the core of a life or death situation. This time it's not just one person's life at stake, it's the survival of every living thing on earth. 

Warning: I'm not sensitive to spoilers so read at own risk.

Ryland is happily teaching middle school science when he is conscripted to study organic. particles (later dubbed astrophages)  retrieved from a mysterious line that stretches from the sun to Venus, the Petrova Line. Ryland is selected because he was a molecular biologist who once wrote a paper asserting that water isn't necessary to life. The reaction to his paper drove him out of science but it shows that he can think outside of conventional science. The Petrova Line is draining energy from the sun and at the rate it's occurring, life on earth is doomed. Ryland makes significant discoveries and soon becomes the right hand man to Eva Stratt who has been given absolute authority to save the earth. And I mean absolute, the woman can take over a Chinese aircraft carrier.

Most of the science will be over readers' heads but the fun is watching the process, how the science is done. Being first person, we get get Ryland talking himself through experiments as he tries to figure out how to understand this very weird life forms.

The earth part of the story shows why we would need a dictator with absolute power to accomplish what needs to be done. If even a small part of the population is to survive, decisions have to be made that go against everything people believe.  I won't spoil a "holy crap, they're going to do that!" moment but it is jaw dropping. Decisions have to be made and there is no time to argue and form committees.

Astronomers start exploring the universe to see if other Pertova Lines exist and they discover that Tau Ceti has such a line but the sun there isn't diminishing. Why is that sun coping but our sun isn't? Scientists have discover how to harness the enormous power in the astrophages and the decision is made to send a crew of three, in induced comas, on a one-way trip to Tau Ceti on earth's first instellar craft, the Hail Mary. There is just enough time to reach Tau Ceti, investigate, find a solution, and send three probes back to earth. I think readers will be amused at how they decide to make sure that the crew has all the information they need. 

Unfortunately, a catastrophic accident leaves Ryland the only qualified scientist to join the expedition. He has to be forced to "volunteer". I liked this bit. Ryland isn't a noble hero willing to sacrifice his life for all humankind but somewhat of a coward.

When he awakens, he discovers that his companions, the pilot and the engineer, have died on the trip. But being an inquisitive scientist, throws himself into mission. Complicating things is that there wasn't time to train him in ship operations so he has to train himself to pilot a space craft. Readers who suffer from innumeracy beware, there is lots of math as Ryland figures out the capabilities of the ship and how to navigate.

As Ryland maneuvers the Hail Mary into position, he discovers he isn't alone, he finds an alien spacecraft. First contact is made and this may be my favorite part of the story as they progress from "where are you from" using models to a partnership to save their worlds. The alien, who Ryland names Rocky, has advanced engineering abilities and figures how to link the ships. The process by which they find a way to communicate and overcome the problem that Ryland's and Rocky's environments are hostile to the other is fascinating. The author does a wonderful job describing an alien that seems very plausible. It's also funny at time especially when Rocky learns sarcasm.

The math and science are above my head but, as on earth, it is very engrossing to watch as Ryland and Rocky reason their way through obstacles.

Weir has the remarkable skill to deliver very detailed science without it being an infodump. He really brings science to life.  I was totally invested in the characters and the story and read it in two sittings. 

Project Hail Mary is a terrific read and might be my favorite SF story since The Martian. There are a few things that I wished had been touched upon. If I have one criticism, it's that the ending is a bit twee for me.

Keywords: science fiction, interstellar travel, first contact, aliens, earth in peril