Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Ella Vermut, 10th Grade

I began reading this book with low expectations, wanting to avoid disappointment. After all, Project Hail Mary is the newest book by Andy Weir, beloved author of The Martian, a novel I reread time and again for comfort or a familiar thrill. I was prepared for all other books by Weir to pale in comparison.

Project Hail Mary follows Dr. Ryland Grace, who wakes up on a spaceship in another solar system with two dead crewmates beside him, the sole survivor of a journey he does not remember signing up for. When the book begins, Grace cannot even remember his own name, exploring his surroundings using pure muscle memory. He soon finds that, somehow, the situation is more dire than it first seemed: Earth is at the edge of extinction and his mission is their last-ditch attempt at salvation. Now it's all down to him to remember who he is, why he's there, and carry out humanity's Hail Mary before it's too late.

Sounds stressful, to say the least. But this book manages to deliver everything expected and more. Firstly, the amnesiac trope is done right. From the get-go, I was feeling the situation out right along with Grace, immediately invested. The first-person narration was an excellent choice, as the facts are laid out compellingly; Grace tries to figure himself out by relying on what he instinctively knows, a part of the trope usually passed over. I quickly realized, as his flashbacks became more and more frequent, that the reader gets to know him from two directions: before and now. And that eventually, those two versions of Grace must collide.

Grace has a well-written competency that is hard to find in fiction and feels uncontrived; because of this, his triumphs feel like my own. What a fulfilling feeling, to come to realizations right alongside the brains of the operation! The ship's computer is not particularly helpful or intelligent - a break in science-fiction tradition - so it feels like even more of a feat when Grace figures things out. Even more impressively, oftentimes the problems Grace deals with are the large-scale, complex-science sort that usually come already solved by that same supercomputer so the main character doesn't have to.

This science, true-to-life and impeccably researched, as is Weir's signature, starts fast but isn't overwhelming. Even when it's complicated - which it often is, with quantum and particle physics and an incredibly realistic extraterrestrial species - it's easily understood. Grace's excitement about science is infectious, even for readers. Wishing he had time to conduct experiments out of pure curiosity, Grace complains, "I have to save humanity first. Stupid humanity. Getting in the way of my hobbies." His wry tone is buoying when the science drags, and excellent at cutting through tension when the tone gets heavy; his voice doesn't get old. Most of this book is comprised of a single character in a static setting with only his mind to keep him company, but Grace's internal monologue consistently held my attention. He's nuanced, not just a vessel for the science. He has a complex backstory, and is driven by affection, curiosity, and even grief. Sometimes he is as enthusiastic as a little kid, yet he has the mental and emotional capacity to withstand and carry out the attempted saving of humanity.

As I continued reading, I came to strongly identify with Grace. I felt like I was him, sometimes - a result of Weir's realistic writing style and talent for writing a riveting plot. It became as though Grace's choices were my choices, or at least what would have been my choices were I in his place: alone on the Hail Mary, poised to be a hero to all humanity and yet at my core flawed in a way that makes me understandable. As the pieces of his past fall into place, his present circumstances make more sense, as do his muscle-memory motivations, and I root for him all the more. He was overcoming obstacles without even knowing why. He was persevering even when he didn't know what for. He is one individual representing humanity itself, its Hail Mary and its saving Grace; curious, intelligent, and flawed, he is all of us at once. A hero, sure, but always human first.

I was initially concerned that the ending would be a letdown. After all, if the stakes are raised too high, it's only reasonable to expect an unsatisfying resolution. But Weir keeps on raising the stakes, making Project Hail Mary the ideal page-turner. Intrigue leads to investment and crystallizes into delight; the pacing is perfect. Weir convinces you it'll be smooth sailing and then Grace is faced with another seemingly impossible choice, another dose of surely insurmountable odds, and yet - how deftly it comes to a close. It was satisfying to the point where I wondered how I possibly couldn't have thought of it before it happened - this was because, of course, the twists and rises and falls of Weir's plot are wonderfully thought-through and delivered by an incurably clever voice. "It's a weird feeling, scientific breakthroughs. There's no Eureka moment. Just a slow, steady progression toward a goal. But man, when you get to that goal it feels good," Grace notes after a particularly satisfying discovery. His description applies equally to Project Hail Mary - a triumphant journey from start to finish.

Built on Weir's clear passion for space and the scientific process, Project Hail Mary is a love letter to the infinity of possibility, to proving not the impossible, but the improbable. The perfect science fiction book cannot exist, but Andy Weir proves once more his mastery of the craft: Project Hail Mary is as close to that perfect book as I have read in my life thus far, and I believe as close as I'll get for a long time.