“I am happy. You no die. Let’s save planets!”

• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• Published on May 4th, 2021 by Ballantine Books
• Genres: Adult, Science Fiction, Hard Science, Suspense
• Tropes: First Contact, Did We Just Become Best Friends?, Reluctant Hero, Dad Humor, The End of the World, Science the Shit Outta This
• Anne’s Rating: 8 out of 10

If you notice the date of when this review was published, you’ll see that it’s the same day that the Ryan Gosling-led movie adaptation of Project Hail Mary came out in theatres. That’s no coincidence – my algorithms have been pushing trailers for it onto my feeds, and I finally just HAD to read this. I really enjoyed Weir’s debut novel – The Martian (also loved the Matt Damon movie adaptation for it) – so I had a pretty good idea that I would also really enjoy Project Hail Mary. And I was correct.

Ryland Grace wakes up out of a coma all alone in a spaceship that’s lightyears away from Earth. He has amnesia and can’t even remember his name, let alone what he’s supposed to be doing. Using his incredible science powers, he slowly uncovers his mission: the Sun is dying due to a mold-like infection, and if humanity doesn’t figure out how to stop it, a new Ice Age is on the horizon. This infection of astrophage (which literally means “star eater”) isn’t just on our Sun either – it’s on all surrounding stars except for one – Tau Ceti. Grace is aboard the Hail Mary on a trip to this neighboring star to find out why it’s not effected.

But the Hail Mary isn’t the only spaceship at Tau Ceti trying to figure out the astrophage problem. There’s another ship made out of an impossible material carrying one of the smartest engineers from the planet Erid. That’s right – first contact, baby! When Grace meets them, he gives them the name Rocky. Rocky looks like a spider made out of stone, and he speaks in musical notes and chords. It takes them a while to build up a shared language database, but once they can understand each other, they get to work. No longer a crew of one, Grace & Rocky work the problem together – all while trauma bonding into a deep and meaningful friendship.

Andy Weir knows how to write in a way that can captivate you – even with all the science he’s throwing around. His characters are warm and funny and relatable. They’re also absolute geniuses, but they are so human. Even Rocky, who is Eridian and distinctly not human, is overflowing with humanity and likability. The heart of this story is the friendship between Grace and Rocky – two people that probably thought they were going to spend the rest of their lives alone. Suddenly, they have community again in each other. They have a real reminder of why life is worth saving.

I will admit: sometimes this got a little too science-y for me. A lot of it was interesting, but there were a few times that my eyes just started glossing over the technical stuff because my brain just wasn’t able to focus enough to grasp and fully understand what Weir was trying to teach me. That’s the great thing about reading vs. audiobooks though – you CAN just skip over stuff while reading if you want. I didn’t mind the science stuff though, and I think it’s an important part of telling this story. Plus, if you’re the type of person that already has an interest in space and microbiology, then you’ll really enjoy yourself while you read this.

I think my favorite aspect of this story is that it’s filled to the brim with hope and kindness and love. It’s really nice to have a male main character not be full of machismo and have no emotional processing or understanding. The friendship that Grace and Rocky have is pure and wonderful to read. It made me tear up and cry a few times because of the sweetness and sincerity both characters exhibited. The curiosity they had about each other and their biology, physiology, language, and customs is a great blueprint on how we should all be trying to learn about the people around us.

I would recommend this book to just about anyone. It’s a quick and engaging read that has a good amount of mass appeal. It’s not vulgar or violent, and it’s smart and funny. The main buzzword going around for Project Hail Mary seems to be “heartwarming” and I do think that’s an accurate descriptor. In a world where so much is going to shit all around us, it’s nice to read a story about someone who keeps working through the problems they face to reach a happy outcome. To have a main character who sometimes wobbles on having hope, but ultimately never gives up on himself or his friends.