Project Hail Mary is a science fiction novel by Andy Weir. His previous work includes the popular novel, The Martian, which was adapted into a film starring Matt Damon in 2015. Project Hail Mary was published in 2021 and received immensely positive reviews from the science fiction community and those outside it. Having never read Weir’s work, I decided to give this a read and went into the story with no expectations or information surrounding the plot. Although the end product here is certainly decently constructed, I still found myself constantly underwhelmed.

The basic plot of Project Hail Mary is set sometime in the near future. Our protagonist Ryland Grace, awakens from a coma on a spaceship near the star known as Tau Ceti. He has been sent to the star to discover a way to stop the dimming of Earth’s sun due to the effects of a microscopic organism known as Astrophage.

In terms of positives, there are certain things to like about Project Hail Mary. The opening is fantastic and immediately hooks you into the story. Ryland suffers from a mild amnesia and thus he must spend the majority of the first section figuring out where he is and what his true goal is. Another strong aspect is the alien life Ryland comes across on his journey. In addition to the Astrophage, there is another more complex species that becomes a key focus of the narrative.

For me, this was the most riveting part of the story as the species is wonderfully unique and imaginative while still feeling plausible within the vast reaches of space. I also enjoyed the relationship that develops between Grace and the alien life. It’s genuinely fun and often adds moments of unexpected comedy. This comedic tone carries over to other aspects of the narrative as well and it certainly is welcome to distract yourself from the inevitable extinction of humanity that Ryland is working to prevent.

Unfortunately, the plausibility of the narrative became somewhat of a double-edged sword at times. Weir is clearly passionate about science to the point where he can drone on and on about the intricacies of various experiments, astrophysics, and other such things that made me feel like I was back in a college lecture hall. In my eyes, experiments are exceptionally dull when you don’t get to participate firsthand, so I would have preferred a quick summary of findings more often. Additionally, because our characters are millions of lightyears from their homeworld, with no outside contact it creates a lack of urgency for the whole mission.

Another weak aspect for me was the other human characters who appear solely in flashbacks and flesh out the events before our story began. Most of their personalities are based on stereotypes of various ethnicities, and while it’s nothing outright offensive, it instantly detached me from caring about any of them. Granted these characters don’t have much direct impact on the plot in the present time. However, their relative simplicity makes you care much less about the Earth plot lines, which aren’t fully resolved in a satisfying way.

In fact, Weir spends so much time distancing our main character from Earth, that I found my sense of urgency surrounding its impending destruction fading away. What should be the story’s emotional core becomes nothing more than a background element that pushes our characters forward to complete various tasks.

Ryland as a character is also quite bland for me. He has a character arc but it’s nothing special given he essentially has a different personality on Earth that is wiped clean from his amnesia. Additionally, his arc only becomes clear in the final moments before its critical turning point, leaving little time for it to really affect you. I could easily see some readers missing the major arc altogether. I’m usually a character-driven reader, so when the main protagonist is uninteresting it further disconnects me from enjoying the story as a whole.

Despite my many grievances, Project Hail Mary manages to stick the landing in the final act with a satisfactory ending. The prose as a whole is very approachable and makes for an easy read and I could see many people enjoying the scientific aspects. For me, though I was left wanting more from many portions of Project Hail Mary, and I don’t expect much of the story to stick with me in the long term.

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Project Hail Mary

$12.99+

5.5

Score

5.5/10

Pros

• Creative Aliens
• Great opening sections
• Light comedic elements

Cons

• Bland protagonist
• Scientific details can be dull
• Lack of urgency