Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

I was lucky enough to have stumbled on Project Hail Mary when it came out in 2021. Since then, I have read and re-read the book atleast four times. In short, I'm a fan and this may be a very biased review! I preface that just to establish that this is not a review from a fan after watching the recent movie but from a die-hard fan of the Weir's writing style that he always been known for (ie The Martian). Project Hail Mary is a wonderfully written book. I don’t mean in that you’re going to come out of this book with a large vocabulary or a better understanding of the English language but that Andy Weir clearly has a style and stuck to it throughout. It’s gripping, fast-paced and absolutely filled with light-hearted humour.

When Grace finds himself waking up in space, alone and with no idea how he got there, memories slowly start coming back to him about how and why he ended up where he is. We as the reader also unravel these at the same pace (allowing for some big revelations). I adored the no-BS way that Weir decided to race through plot, science and characters to make sure us as the reader just had a damn good time. However, my biggest couple of caveats were that there was a lot of science in this that just “explained things away” and also there was never really ever a feeling of true dread, despite the incredibly difficult position Grace finds himself in. The plot overall, despite the incredibly enjoyable writing never quite hit the peak I was hoping for. But I still very much enjoyed it! Andy Weir’s combination of no-BS writing, witty humour, deeply lovable characters and a plot that has just enough depth to keep you enticed has resulted in such a fantastic book.