I presume most of you know about the movie the Martian, which I found entertaining and enjoyable. You may not know that it was based on a book by Andy Weir. After seeing the movie and hearing good things about the novel I picked it up along with his first book, Artemis (here is my review of those books). So, it was only natural I check out his new novel, Project Hail Mary. Wow, I am really happy I did!
So, I'll start with a quick note - these books are not pure science-fiction that many people assume. While the books do depict things that are fantasy and certainly are fiction, I find them different than some of the more traditional science-fiction novels that seem totally disconnected from our human existence. Rather, one of the pleasures of these books, is how relevant Weir makes the characters and their human experiences vis a vis these unbelievable things happening to them. It's so fun when he puts his very real and human characters in experiences that seem unreal. How would someone survive on a foreign planet? What would it be like meeting an alien? Things that seem fantastical are juxtaposed with all realness of being a human from Earth - it's fun to read!
This book isn't dissimilar from this last two; it's still about incredible adventures and unbelievable challenges that need to be overcome with some amazing science. In this book, the world is going to end due to a slow lessening of sunlight coming to earth and a team of scientists need to be sent many light years away to the one place they can find an answer to the problems. Once there, hilarity ensues. Well, not so much hilarity I guess. Really, almost dying ensues. Over and over and over. But, the almost dying is really entertaining.
As I alluded to early, the joy in this read is how well the author is able to make so many of the interactions and scenes have a playfulness to them. I think that is why Weir's style is so attractive to readers. While he is describing incredibly complicated and difficult science (from what I understand, is 99% accurate), he quickly offers some very real and explanatory human responses. Often, these happen to be very funny; which helps as well.
Finally, for as much as the characters are great, his storytelling is super fun, and it's a pretty easy book to engage with, the plot is fantastic. He has a gift of pulling in the reader from page one, keeping the plot moving forward at a steady rate (neither too slow or too fast), and ensuring the plot is something relatable that the reader cares about.
As you can see, I am huge fan of this book. It almost got a 5 star rating though I tend to save that for epic, longer reads that end up needing more investment (and offer more reward). For pure entertainment value, this book is near the top of the list. On many occasions, I slowed myself down from consuming large chunks knowing how much I enjoyed it and savouring the read. I urge you to give it a try!
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