{"id":119508,"date":"2021-05-31T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T05:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=119508"},"modified":"2021-06-01T15:44:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T14:44:22","slug":"project-hail-mary-review-full-of-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/books\/project-hail-mary-review-full-of-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Hail Mary Review: Full of grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

When an amateur astronomer discovers that the sun is getting dimmer, forecasting the next ice age and the end of all life on Earth, the world\u2019s scientists are put to work to understand why in Andy Weir\u2019s latest sci-fi, Project Hail Mary<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

It soon becomes clear that our sun is not the only one affected. In fact, there\u2019s only one similar star that doesn\u2019t seem to be losing its shine and humanity needs to go there to investigate and hopefully find answers. The trouble is, it\u2019s really far away. So far away that the brave crew who goes there will be signing up for a one-way journey.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, when the world is about to end, humanity doesn\u2019t just fall to pieces, they club together, conscripting the best and brightest, showering them with unlimited budgets and resources to try and science themselves a solution. It\u2019s odd then, that humanity\u2019s last hope is Rylan Grace, a school science teacher who has no interest in sacrificing his life to save the world.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s even more disconcerting that when we meet Grace at the beginning of the book, he\u2019s alone on a spaceship hurtling at near lightspeed to destinations unknown with no memory of who he is, or why he\u2019s there…<\/p>\n

With exposition told mostly through flashback, Project Hail Mary<\/strong><\/em> uses the amnesiac narrator trope to great effect, pacing the book perfectly, allowing the reader to unpack information in just the right order and although it can often sail uncomfortably close to spoonfeeding plot devices, it\u2019s still a welcome meal. This is in part due to the Heinlein levels of scientific accuracy. Project Hail Mary<\/strong><\/em> is as much a scientific thesis paper\/doomsday guide as it is a gripping sci-fi disaster adventure.<\/p>\n

Weir has taken great pains to base the threat to humanity and their salvation in real science, giving the reader a tangible buzz of near-future-realism. This dedication to grounding and accuracy can, at times, have an awkwardly inverse side effect and there are traces of the author writing himself into a corner and needing characters to be smarter or more capable than seems credible. Fortunately the plot itself is so engaging with enough dramatic twists that you can forgive some of the more necessary fantastical leaps.<\/p>\n

Coming off the back of The Martian<\/strong><\/em>, a story of a lone scientist stranded on Mars in a desperate attempt to survive, Project Hail Mary<\/strong><\/em> feels like a very comfortable follow-up for Weir. It also appears that after the success of the Matt Damon adaptation of The Martian<\/strong><\/em>, Hollywood is keen to see more of Weir\u2019s worlds as Project Hail Mary<\/strong><\/em> is already destined for the silver screen with Ryan Gosling attached.<\/p>\n

This is apt, really, as Project Hail Mary<\/strong><\/em> feels very much like a popcorn sci-fi (if there is such a thing in the book world), with cinematic scope, inspirational characters and an, albeit imagined, epic score\u2026 Project Hail Mail<\/strong><\/em> is fun, fast and oh so factual. It’s perfect if you\u2019re a fan of smart people solving their problems by being smart, while still being inconceivably charismatic and a little neurotic.<\/p>\n

Project Hail Mary<\/strong><\/em> is a book that will undoubtedly be seen circling the book clubs and coffee tables of even the most casual fiction fans, but that shouldn\u2019t detract from the fact that it is a passionate sci-fi, where even the most hardcore readers can enjoy its bounty of philosophical predicaments and technical takeaways.<\/p>\n

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is out now<\/a>. Read our interview with Andy Weir here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n