Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Hardcover, 476 pages
Published
May 2021
by Ballantine Books
Andy Weir is kind of a cool and weird accident. It is strange for a Science Fiction writer, a truly hard science guy to become a household name. OK, he is not quite there but with the help of Ridley Scott and Matt Damon the Martian is a household title. Following up that success would daunt any first-time author. His second book Artemis was a smart follow-up that had elements of what made his first book work. Realistic science and setting elsewhere in the solar system. He expanded his range a bit by widening the scope to involve a murder mystery.
With Project Hail Mary he embraces the familiar and expanding the scope in far greater and more epic ways. In my opinion, this book works. I suppose a backlash was always possible and I admit I was almost scared away by opinions I trusted that did not like this book. It was too late I had it from the library. Both critics rolled their eyes at George RR Martin’s blurb and comparison to Heinlein and Asimov. To that, I would the only reason to reject those comparisons is the emotional weight given to the characters is something those golden agers just didn’t have a strength for.
This is a singular work that only one author has in them. It is one of the best hard sci-fi I have read and maybe the best of that sub-genre I have read in a long time.
There have been thousands of ‘end of the world’ movies, and read as many novels. One of my favorites is Sunshine, and I admit this starts with a similar set-up. I feel like Andy Weir came up with this watching that movie and saying I can come up with something more plausible.
I went into this novel cold story-wise, I knew nothing and it was a better experience for it. So before I break down the story let me give my non-spoiler recommendation. This book is very much about science as salvation. Science is like any tool it can be used for good or bad. At the core is a special relationship that makes the whole story work. Project Hail Mary works because it balances science and big ideas with equal parts character and heart.
OK, the story. Spoilers ahead.
Ryland Grace, is a science teacher who wakes up with no memory at first of who he is and through the process of elimination figures out he is on a spaceship. Weir employs a smart non-linear story structure, by revealing elements to Grace who recover memories as he gets further from his deep space coma. Grace is the only survivor of the mission to wake, and he remembers bits and pieces about the crisis and accepts his role as the only person left to save humanity.
Back home the sun is dimming and at first, the cause is unknown. Using science, it is discovered that a tiny organism in space that feeds off the carbon dioxide and intense heat is creating a shield between us and the star. Thus, a new ice age is on the way, and civilization as we know it is not going to survive.
“He fiddled with a pen on the table. “I’ve run the best models I have. Crops are going to fail. The global staple crops are wheat, barley, millet, potatoes, soy, and most important: rice. All of them are pretty sensitive about temperature ranges.”
The discovery of how the Astrophage works by a Science teacher (Grace) also lead to a breakthrough in energy, we now have the ability to breed and exploit them. This massive energy extraction will end fossil fuel and nuclear energy consumption. None of those matters if the sun is dimming.
The reason is one of the most original elements of a doomsday story I can remember but it is one that despite the cosmic scale is very relatable. A virus.
“Yes, every star eventually infects all of its neighbors. Judging from our data, we think Astrophage has a maximum range of just under eight light-years. Any star within that range of an infected star will eventually be infected.”
Only one star in the neighborhood Tau Ceti is unaffected. In a leap of faith, humanity puts everything into an experimental Astrophage fueled drive to send a ship to try and discover what makes this star immune. Just when the narrative set-ups the idea that Grace would be alone like Weir’s most famous character from The Martian I assumed that is where we were going. Instead, Grace is shocked to find a blip, and using a telescope he tracks another craft. It is a ship and someone from another world is trying to make contact.
Weir is never lazy about making a realistic first contact. Andy Unraveling it over a couple of chapters he successfully portrays the amazing nature of these scenes. The contact starting with a Blip that becomes a ship and the two scientists and lone survivors of rescue missions from different stars have to connect. They have to learn how to say hi, leave each other's languages and at the heart of the story is science saving two civilizations.
Grace pieces together clues to figure out that this being is the 40 Eridani System, they saw the same problem and the diming of the stars becomes the bond across the stars that brings these two scientists together.
“We’re as smart as evolution made us. So we’re the minimum intelligence needed to ensure we can dominate our planets.”
Through the airlock comes a being Grace calls Rocky. It is an effectively alien creature, who lives in heat much more intense than humans, its body is a rocky shell with many arms and totally blind, who communicates mostly in song. Once they master communication the relationship between Rocky and Grace is the heart of this novel. Probably the best magic trick of the narrative is the very idea that Rocky becomes a character we deeply care about.
First, he starts as curiosity, his very different biology is fodder for a few jokes. Weir establishes that as different as Rocky is he is a genius engineer. So they are born of species that evolved on very different planets under different stars, pulled together by the same crisis that threatens both worlds. Rocky and Grace have to learn about each other and work together. One of the more powerful moments comes when Rocky learns more about the Project Hail Mary Mission.
“My ship only had enough fuel for the trip here. I don’t have enough to go home. I have tiny little probes that will return to earth with my findings. But I will stay here.”
“Why is mission like this,question?”
“This was all the fuel my planet could make in time.”
“You knew this when you left earth, question?”
“Yes.”
“You are good human.”
Of course Rocky has a solution, he can give Grace fuel, rebuild his ship and they can work together to save both worlds. There is a touching moment when the two heroes having solved the problem by finding the predator that lives on the planet near Tau Ceti that eats Astrophage. They have a supply of these creatures and they are heading home. This goodbye is a tear-jerker. They are now friends. They care about each other saying goodbye is hard.
I know I am a broken record pointing out the parallels and reversals that make up my favorite stories but this what makes the best stories tick and here Weir sets up a doozy. You see early in the story Grace accepts that he is here and he must be there as a hero. Through the unfolding memories it is revealed he didn’t want to go save the human race he was dragged kicking and screaming. So when Rocky gives him a solution to get home he is moved and excited.
This sets up the reversal. As they travel apart Grace uses the telescope to monitor Rocky’s progress. Then disaster strikes. The predators get loose and eat his fuel. He figures out a solution but knows Rocky wouldn’t. He would lose his fuel, die and his civilization would die. Grace has the probes. He could launch the probes and the earth has a chance. He could make a sacrifice and save Rocky but also his world.
This is a very satisfying ending and in many ways is an example of science fiction at its best. Grace made the decision to risk his own life for a species based on the being he had met. Rocky was his only friend in the universe. He was ashamed as his memories came back that he was not the hero he thought he was. When he becomes a teacher, the lone alien on another world there is a wonderful feeling of hopefulness.
“Do you believe in God? I know it’s a personal question. I do. And I think He was pretty awesome to make relativity a thing, don’t you? The faster you go, the less time you experience. It’s like He’s inviting us to explore the universe, you know?”
Forget the gendering of a high power I like the essential point here. There is a serious heart and joy of wonder and discovery here. One of the best portrayals of alien contact, on many levels this novel worked for me.
With Project Hail Mary he embraces the familiar and expanding the scope in far greater and more epic ways. In my opinion, this book works. I suppose a backlash was always possible and I admit I was almost scared away by opinions I trusted that did not like this book. It was too late I had it from the library. Both critics rolled their eyes at George RR Martin’s blurb and comparison to Heinlein and Asimov. To that, I would the only reason to reject those comparisons is the emotional weight given to the characters is something those golden agers just didn’t have a strength for.
This is a singular work that only one author has in them. It is one of the best hard sci-fi I have read and maybe the best of that sub-genre I have read in a long time.
There have been thousands of ‘end of the world’ movies, and read as many novels. One of my favorites is Sunshine, and I admit this starts with a similar set-up. I feel like Andy Weir came up with this watching that movie and saying I can come up with something more plausible.
I went into this novel cold story-wise, I knew nothing and it was a better experience for it. So before I break down the story let me give my non-spoiler recommendation. This book is very much about science as salvation. Science is like any tool it can be used for good or bad. At the core is a special relationship that makes the whole story work. Project Hail Mary works because it balances science and big ideas with equal parts character and heart.
OK, the story. Spoilers ahead.
Ryland Grace, is a science teacher who wakes up with no memory at first of who he is and through the process of elimination figures out he is on a spaceship. Weir employs a smart non-linear story structure, by revealing elements to Grace who recover memories as he gets further from his deep space coma. Grace is the only survivor of the mission to wake, and he remembers bits and pieces about the crisis and accepts his role as the only person left to save humanity.
Back home the sun is dimming and at first, the cause is unknown. Using science, it is discovered that a tiny organism in space that feeds off the carbon dioxide and intense heat is creating a shield between us and the star. Thus, a new ice age is on the way, and civilization as we know it is not going to survive.
“He fiddled with a pen on the table. “I’ve run the best models I have. Crops are going to fail. The global staple crops are wheat, barley, millet, potatoes, soy, and most important: rice. All of them are pretty sensitive about temperature ranges.”
The discovery of how the Astrophage works by a Science teacher (Grace) also lead to a breakthrough in energy, we now have the ability to breed and exploit them. This massive energy extraction will end fossil fuel and nuclear energy consumption. None of those matters if the sun is dimming.
The reason is one of the most original elements of a doomsday story I can remember but it is one that despite the cosmic scale is very relatable. A virus.
“Yes, every star eventually infects all of its neighbors. Judging from our data, we think Astrophage has a maximum range of just under eight light-years. Any star within that range of an infected star will eventually be infected.”
Only one star in the neighborhood Tau Ceti is unaffected. In a leap of faith, humanity puts everything into an experimental Astrophage fueled drive to send a ship to try and discover what makes this star immune. Just when the narrative set-ups the idea that Grace would be alone like Weir’s most famous character from The Martian I assumed that is where we were going. Instead, Grace is shocked to find a blip, and using a telescope he tracks another craft. It is a ship and someone from another world is trying to make contact.
Weir is never lazy about making a realistic first contact. Andy Unraveling it over a couple of chapters he successfully portrays the amazing nature of these scenes. The contact starting with a Blip that becomes a ship and the two scientists and lone survivors of rescue missions from different stars have to connect. They have to learn how to say hi, leave each other's languages and at the heart of the story is science saving two civilizations.
Grace pieces together clues to figure out that this being is the 40 Eridani System, they saw the same problem and the diming of the stars becomes the bond across the stars that brings these two scientists together.
“We’re as smart as evolution made us. So we’re the minimum intelligence needed to ensure we can dominate our planets.”
Through the airlock comes a being Grace calls Rocky. It is an effectively alien creature, who lives in heat much more intense than humans, its body is a rocky shell with many arms and totally blind, who communicates mostly in song. Once they master communication the relationship between Rocky and Grace is the heart of this novel. Probably the best magic trick of the narrative is the very idea that Rocky becomes a character we deeply care about.
First, he starts as curiosity, his very different biology is fodder for a few jokes. Weir establishes that as different as Rocky is he is a genius engineer. So they are born of species that evolved on very different planets under different stars, pulled together by the same crisis that threatens both worlds. Rocky and Grace have to learn about each other and work together. One of the more powerful moments comes when Rocky learns more about the Project Hail Mary Mission.
“My ship only had enough fuel for the trip here. I don’t have enough to go home. I have tiny little probes that will return to earth with my findings. But I will stay here.”
“Why is mission like this,question?”
“This was all the fuel my planet could make in time.”
“You knew this when you left earth, question?”
“Yes.”
“You are good human.”
Of course Rocky has a solution, he can give Grace fuel, rebuild his ship and they can work together to save both worlds. There is a touching moment when the two heroes having solved the problem by finding the predator that lives on the planet near Tau Ceti that eats Astrophage. They have a supply of these creatures and they are heading home. This goodbye is a tear-jerker. They are now friends. They care about each other saying goodbye is hard.
I know I am a broken record pointing out the parallels and reversals that make up my favorite stories but this what makes the best stories tick and here Weir sets up a doozy. You see early in the story Grace accepts that he is here and he must be there as a hero. Through the unfolding memories it is revealed he didn’t want to go save the human race he was dragged kicking and screaming. So when Rocky gives him a solution to get home he is moved and excited.
This sets up the reversal. As they travel apart Grace uses the telescope to monitor Rocky’s progress. Then disaster strikes. The predators get loose and eat his fuel. He figures out a solution but knows Rocky wouldn’t. He would lose his fuel, die and his civilization would die. Grace has the probes. He could launch the probes and the earth has a chance. He could make a sacrifice and save Rocky but also his world.
This is a very satisfying ending and in many ways is an example of science fiction at its best. Grace made the decision to risk his own life for a species based on the being he had met. Rocky was his only friend in the universe. He was ashamed as his memories came back that he was not the hero he thought he was. When he becomes a teacher, the lone alien on another world there is a wonderful feeling of hopefulness.
“Do you believe in God? I know it’s a personal question. I do. And I think He was pretty awesome to make relativity a thing, don’t you? The faster you go, the less time you experience. It’s like He’s inviting us to explore the universe, you know?”
Forget the gendering of a high power I like the essential point here. There is a serious heart and joy of wonder and discovery here. One of the best portrayals of alien contact, on many levels this novel worked for me.
1 comment:
I liked your review! Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is such an amazing science fiction novel. I also loved The Martian and Artemis. I'm quietly waiting and hoping that Andy Weir will release a new novel soon. Cheers!
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