Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.
Part scientific mystery, …
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.
Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian--while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
After reading The Mote in God’s Eye, I realized that Garrit Franke, a fellow Fosstodon member, finished reading this book, so I decided to give it a try too.
I have to admit that at first I was a little bit hesitant about this book, because it is a written in first person, and it also starts out with ammnesia and also flashbacks. But after that I got used to the writing style pretty quickly and started to really get into the main story and the mystery behind everything happening around our protagonist.
The story follows a lone astronaut that finds himself facing impossible odds every step of the way. The way the plot is revealed and how it moves forward every chapter is great. The scientific elements are pretty accurate and that was something I found really interesting. It reminded me a lot of Jules Verne’s novels that usually …
After reading The Mote in God’s Eye, I realized that Garrit Franke, a fellow Fosstodon member, finished reading this book, so I decided to give it a try too.
I have to admit that at first I was a little bit hesitant about this book, because it is a written in first person, and it also starts out with ammnesia and also flashbacks. But after that I got used to the writing style pretty quickly and started to really get into the main story and the mystery behind everything happening around our protagonist.
The story follows a lone astronaut that finds himself facing impossible odds every step of the way. The way the plot is revealed and how it moves forward every chapter is great. The scientific elements are pretty accurate and that was something I found really interesting. It reminded me a lot of Jules Verne’s novels that usually felt like something that could be possible to do.
In this case of course the protagonist uses his scientific knowledge (as well as his memory slowly coming back) to figure out how handle his mission, which is pretty much to save the planet from certain demise.
I liked the setting and the characters that show up, there’s quite a bit of science tidbits I learned through this, and the moments of action and uncertainty are quite great. I could not stop reading many times because I just wanted to know what in the world would our protagonist do even just to stay alive to live another day.
I didn’t feel like the book was as long as it was, honestly. It was definitely worth it. I do think that it feels a little like a movie waiting to happen, the prose wasn’t as interesting and the plot ended up kind of predictable, and there’s a very wholesome twist at the end which is nice. Just a very fun read.
If you read 'The Martian', this one follows the same chain of technical puzzles in a survival setting. But both the setting and the science are quite a lot more fictional. I still enjoyed it very much as it also has 'Enemy mine' vibes. Highly entertaining read, if you don't take the science too seriously.
If you read 'The Martian', this one follows the same chain of technical puzzles in a survival setting. But both the setting and the science are quite a lot more fictional. I still enjoyed it very much as it also has 'Enemy mine' vibes. Highly entertaining read, if you don't take the science too seriously.
This is my first review of a book and is a kind of reaction to the one star commentaries that I saw. For sure I have read The Martian a while back and I can see that this book is similar, but I think a lot of people enjoy it (like I did) because of those similarities. Sure, there are a lot of cliché characters but in the kind of hopefully vision of the future that is lacking right now. The stereotipe of scientists from Russia, China, America and other places that set aside differences to save the world is a much needed hope that if the world is at stake we will all come together. Sure, the book is not all fairies and rainbows, the hero is actually a coward sent against is will to save humanity and in the mean time there is almost a surety that there …
This is my first review of a book and is a kind of reaction to the one star commentaries that I saw. For sure I have read The Martian a while back and I can see that this book is similar, but I think a lot of people enjoy it (like I did) because of those similarities. Sure, there are a lot of cliché characters but in the kind of hopefully vision of the future that is lacking right now. The stereotipe of scientists from Russia, China, America and other places that set aside differences to save the world is a much needed hope that if the world is at stake we will all come together. Sure, the book is not all fairies and rainbows, the hero is actually a coward sent against is will to save humanity and in the mean time there is almost a surety that there will be wars and the usual humans in the time of an apocalypse, but the overall tone is optimistic and upbeat and is what a lot of us need sometime. So is a fast and entertaining lecture, that you maybe forget after a while what is about, but you will remember that you felt good reading it.
What a lovely read this was... I tend to read some pretty heavy sprawling-plot sci-fi, and came at this knowing virtually nothing about it other than having seen The Martian in the cinema. As such, I found the small, contained nature of the story (despite the huge consequences in the background) to be thoroughly refreshing. I was smiling throughout and constantly wanting to read on to find out what happened next. I was up 'til 1am last night because I got close to the end and just had to keep going. Excellent.
Nice story about sciencing and engineering you way out of problems.
5 stars
A fascinating book that, like "The Martian", contains a few specific 'hand wavy' parts, but for the rest, strictly follows the rules of physics as we know it, and features a protagonist (or two) that can science (and engineer) the heck out of things to solve problems.
The book starts with Ryland Grace waking up on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there, along with fellow dead crew members. As he explores the ship and his memory of recent events starts to return, we learn that Earth is in trouble. A lifeform that is literally breeding on the energy of the sun has been discovered. As it multiplies (exponential growth), the sun gets dimmer, with catastrophic consequences for the Earth. Ryland learns that other nearby stars are also dimming, except for one: Tau Ceti. And he's on a mission to that star to discover why it's not …
A fascinating book that, like "The Martian", contains a few specific 'hand wavy' parts, but for the rest, strictly follows the rules of physics as we know it, and features a protagonist (or two) that can science (and engineer) the heck out of things to solve problems.
The book starts with Ryland Grace waking up on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there, along with fellow dead crew members. As he explores the ship and his memory of recent events starts to return, we learn that Earth is in trouble. A lifeform that is literally breeding on the energy of the sun has been discovered. As it multiplies (exponential growth), the sun gets dimmer, with catastrophic consequences for the Earth. Ryland learns that other nearby stars are also dimming, except for one: Tau Ceti. And he's on a mission to that star to discover why it's not affected before it is too late for Earth to survive.
At that star, he will make a voyage of discovery as he uses his wits and scientific knowledge to make deductions and test them by making experiments. He will encounter problems and solve them with intellect and skill, only to move on to the next one. But by the end of the story, just when you thought all the problems have been solved, one final one is presented that will require him to make a decision that may well end his life, for the sake of friendship.
This is a story of solving problems with science and engineering, yet not forgetting that you sometimes have to put them aside to do what seems to be the right thing.
Good: The plot twist around Ryland's amnesia is great! "Space amoeba" story done right. Relationship between Ryland and Rocky is endearing. Audiobook elevates the whole experience.
Bad: Protagonist with amnesia trope has been done before. Rocky has interesting alien physiology & boring human psychology. * Earthbound story-line and characters seem childish & oversimplified compared to science in space sequences.
I think this will be the book I recommend the most this year. It is entertaining from beginning to end. If you like sci-fi or space stories, read it. If you don't, read it anyway because you will laugh. It is very rare that I tear through a book in the span of a day, but, and I apologise for the cliché, I could not put this book down.
