Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

⭐ 8.5/10

Man, I can't believe how much I enjoyed this book. 

I remember seeing the movie, The Martian, a few years back and really enjoying it. I've always been a big sci fi guy, especially when the sci fi in question is similar to the technology we have now. I'd pick a "near future" sci fi book or movie, over a "distant future" sci fi book or movie any day! I love science, physics, biology, chemistry, etc, and I really enjoy it when the author of the sci fi novel I'm reading shares in that passion. Andy Weir is that guy on steroids. This book is chalked full of physics, math, biology, engineering, and makes the character he is writing seem like a believable scientist. This book is a pretty prototypical "Earth is in peril and humanity must band together to save it" type of story. I say prototypical because it doesn't deviate from the formula too much and yet still manages to make a story that is super original and interesting. 

Essentially, the Sun (Sol) gets infected with an alien microbe called "Astrophage." This substance holds amazing scientific properties that lead to human's finally unlocking interstellar travel, but, it also feeds off of the heat of the Sun (sort of, trying to avoid spoilers) and begins breeding so rapidly, that the Sun is beginning to dim. Obviously this is a huge problem for human life, which relies heavily on sunlight to survive. This Astrophage seems to be able to travel up to 8 lightyears between stars, causing other stars to start dimming and dying as well. All stars within 8 lightyears of Earth seem to be having this problem, that is, all except one, Tau Ceti. And so, as a last ditch effort, a joint task force between world governments is created to head up project Hail Mary, a manned craft that will go to this distant star, using Astrophage as a fuel, to see why it isn't being infected by the Astrophage and how humans can replicate that on the surface of our Sun. The lead character to do the bulk of this work is Ryland Grace, who wakes from a coma onboard the Hail Mary. He wakes with amnesia, not knowing who he is, where he is, or what is happening, but as he investigates the ship and shakes off his coma grogginess, he finally remembers his mission. Save Earth's sun from the Astrophage invasion. There are many twists and turns that are revealed, especially through the resurfacing memories of Ryland, but nevertheless, Ryland stays committed to the task, and even finds some help along the way, in his unexpected crew member, Rocky. Will the project succeed? You'll have to read the book to find out!

I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this book. It felt like a relatable story that you've heard before, but it's told in such an original way. One of the ways Weir keeps this book original is in the Astrophage itself. Alien invasions stories almost always feel like they're based around little green men coming in ships and humanity shooting their way through the swarm of spaceships that come their way. But this book turns the little green men into, essentially, space algae that infects stars instead of water. He also turns the battle of alien vs human artillery, into a battle of scientific research and climatology. It's so good and subverts the expected alien invasion trope. Andy Weir is also clearly a big space nerd and uses a great chunk of this book to show that off. There are many paragraphs filled with equations, scientific theories, and physics experiments, that may seem complicated and possibly intimidating to a reader who might not be super into science, however Andy is a master at taking those complicated concepts and making them digestible for the average reader. Many things went over my head, but Weir seems to know that this will happen to some his readers, so for every overly complicated experiment Ryland conducts onboard the Hail Mary, Weir gives the ready some humour or heart to pull them back into the story and reinvest them in the characters. When I say humour and heart, I mean a lot of humour and heart. This book is funny. The first chapter holds the bulk of the humour. Ryland is awkward, and weird, and nerdy and it reads so well. The character is clumsy but endearing, and reading from his perspective is such a thrill. The humour carries through for the bulk of the book but begins fading about half way through, which is exactly where the heart of the book begins to pick up. The heart comes from the vulnerability that Ryland has about the very likely outcome of his demise because of this project. It's essentially a suicide mission, and Ryland's grip over his mortality is sad, but his willingness to continue is all the more noble. I briefly mentioned above, the name of Ryland's crew member Rocky. A lot of the heart in this book stems from their relationship. Both dealing with the Astrophage crisis, both worried about the mass extinction of their people, and both willing to work together despite their differences to solve the issue. Their relationship is funny, quirky, and in the end, where the bulk of the heart of this book comes from. It all culminates in the climax of the book, where Ryland has to make a very desperate decision. One outcome means returning to Earth, the other means death, and the survival of billions. In the end, Ryland makes the right call, which leads to and unconventional ending that made my heart swell with happiness. 

All this being said, there are some negatives in the book. They're slight, but they're still negatives nonetheless. One of the negatives is the heavy use of real world science. It's palatable, really palatable in fact, but I can see a scenario where someone might not appreciate the over explanations of how a fictional engine functions, or a detailed conversation on how mass interacts with gravity. There is an audience for this (me being a part of that audience) but, others may feel that Andy is flaunting his knowledge a bit. Another thing that might throw someone off is that some of the crises that Ryland faces end really conveniently. Its odd because, on smaller innocuous things, Weir spends a great deal of time describing what Ryland is doing and why, but when it comes to a seemingly larger problem, Weir ends the chapter, and begins the next
with a one sentence explanation on what happened and why the problem was resolved. It's definitely not bad enough to take someone out of the story, but it is noticeable. Finally, the ending itself, while well written and placed, feels like it didn't have to happen the way it did. Shortly after finishing the book, my head swarmed with ways that Ryland could have gotten out of his seemingly inevitable situation. Weir acts as if there was no other way for the story to end, however, that isn't necessarily the case. There is a way it could have ended differently and the fact that it isn't addressed at all really, made me feel like the ending was somewhat unresolved.

All in all. This is an awesome book. I can't recommend it enough. I look forward to exploring Andy Weir's other works, and also look forward to the movie adaptation of this book coming soon too theatres. And starring Ryan Gosling?!?!?! Oh Heck yeah, I'll be watching. What a good choice of casting.