After hurting my Achilles, I spent far too much time on the couch; but one of the silver linings was that I read my typical annual allotment of reading for fun in just a few short weeks. I turned 40 during that couch sentence and wrote a bucket list that included reading more and for me personally, one of the best ways to follow through is with planned accountability or even an accountability buddy. I’ve decided that I’m going to write book reviews here to help me stay true to my goal to read more. While on that reading binge I devoured Project Hail Mary, and am excited to share my thoughts with you in my first book review!
Should You Read Project Hail Mary?
First off, before the spoilers begin let me tell you that I highly recommend reading Project Hail Mary! It is a perfect combination of climate adjacent science fiction with plausible predictions about how humanity would react to a situation that would require a Hail Mary project. Andy Weir’s writing is riveting and he does an excellent job blending two storylines.
Weir packs the book with science, but even when I didn’t follow every detail, the story kept me hooked. Andy Weir weaves humor and highlights some of the worst climate science fears while coming up with an entirely original plot full of twists and turns that will have you on the edge of your seat.
The book moves fast—I read it in a week and had to force myself to put it down so I could go to sleep as Weir writes a dual plot for Hail Mary with the present storyline, and arguably more exciting one, starting with Dr. Grace waking up in space and quickly discovering he’s on a mission to save humanity. The background storyline is full of Dr. Grace’s more relatable experiences back on Earth. We learn that he is a middle school teacher back on Earth as the crisis that results in Project Hail Mary unfolds.
Later on the earlier timeline comes even more naturally and develops characters, project details, or other tidbits right before the reader needs to know them but without giving away too much, leaving an element of surprise before jumping back to the present.
If you loved The Martian, this has that same problem-solving energy but with higher stakes. Buy it now and read it before continuing through my spoiler section.
Who Should Read This:
- Anyone who loved The Martian
- Sci-fi fans who enjoy problem-solving and science-based stories
- Teachers or anyone who appreciates creative communication solutions
- Readers who want a hopeful take on humanity’s future
- Audiobook listeners – Ray Porter’s narration is highly praised
Stop Here If You Haven’t Read It Yet!
At this point if you’re already interested in reading Project Hail Mary then grab it on Amazon and go read it! Don’t watch the trailer for the Project Hail Mary movie; just go read it! I’m sure the book will be better than the movie coming out on March 20th, 2026 and I plan to see the movie too. But I would stop reading here; buy the book and read it so you don’t have anything spoiled. After you’re done come back here and tell me what you thought. I’d love to hear your opinions.
I don’t really see how you could write a Project Hail Mary book review without giving out spoilers and the rest of this review will contain spoilers. I’m actually writing this the same day that I watched the trailer for the upcoming Project Hail Mary movie with Ryan Gosling and will do my best to keep the spoilers limited to what gets spoiled in the movie trailer.
From this point on, this post contains spoilers for Project Hail Mary.
How the Dual Timeline Works
Weir fuses two timelines together wonderfully using Dr. Grace’s amnesia as a plot device. Real-time memories flood in when a name or event makes them relevant, effortlessly switching between timelines. Just when you’re on the edge of your seat during a dangerous moment in space, Weir cuts to a flashback, building suspense in both timelines simultaneously.
My Favorite Scene: Meeting Rocky
One of my absolute favorite scenes in the book is when Dr. Grace meets Rocky! I simply love the excitement that builds as you quickly realize that Dr. Grace is no longer alone. At that point the reader is still figuring out what is going on with the mission and doesn’t really grasp the whole picture. But then another ship shows up and I’m left guessing.
Is this an enemy who created the cataclysmic amoeba astrophage?
Is this a drone ship of a long dead civilization that succumbed to the fate Earth is plummeting towards?
Is this story about to turn really dark when we meet an aggressive new alien?
I didn’t have any other guesses and really hoped that I wasn’t about to discover new nightmare fuel.
I honestly didn’t even think to guess that this would be a ship from a civilization facing a similar fate. Perhaps that’s why I was frustrated that the trailer just gives the mystery away.
More likely it was because the surprise of the first contact; the step by step back and forth as both Grace and Rocky are figuring each other out, is my favorite scene in the book. It felt as realistic as you can get with a benevolent alien species.
Why This Scene Resonates With Me as a Teacher
The explanation of alien communication is excellently written and gave me chills. I was enthralled at the way that Rocky and Dr. Grace learn to communicate. I am a teacher and have taught a wide range of students; many with severe communication disabilities; some completely non-verbal. Andy Weir used the necessity of humanity’s looming extinction, combining a middle school math teacher’s ability to navigate weird situations with his brilliant scientific background with an alien of fantastic skill, to explain to the reader how the best and brightest of our world might one day make first contact. It made me realize that although I’ve become well versed in mutual unintelligibility resulting in body language, and smiles; I would be absolutely terrible at learning to communicate if they couldn’t “see” me. So bravo to Andy Weir for making this scene believable.
Character Development That Surprised Me
One of the main aspects of Project Hail Mary that I loved was the character development. You go into it thinking it’s a one man story in space, how many characters can there possibly be? But Andy Weir’s dual timeline storytelling brings backstory to the forefront at just the right moments. Dr. Grace at first remembers why he was chosen to be on the Hail Mary team. We learn about his life as a middle school science teacher and that he is an infamous expert on molecular biology. We also meet a slew of characters that influenced Dr. Grace launching into space.
It’s incredible how Weir develops a story seemingly of all protagonists. Perhaps that’s why I thought the aliens would be hostile. On the one hand astrophage really is a hostile alien, but since they are single celled organisms it’s more of a disease or disaster plot like Outbreak, or 28 Days Later. The antagonist isn’t really a “character” but rather as astrophage research is revealed to the reader it is more of a plot device than a villain.
Eva Stratt, the egomaniac in charge of Project Hail Mary becomes increasingly antagonistic, and yet her development feels realistic. You almost have a comedic sense of pride in her ability to take hyperbolic action to stave off the apocalypse as she puts emotion aside to save humanity. By the end we are certainly left feeling like she is the antagonist, perhaps even a villain; but then again, I find her to be my 3rd favorite character behind Grace and Rocky. I guess that’s not fair when the main character is on a solo mission and meets an alien bringing the character total for main events to two.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve made it this far I hope you still plan to read the book! Buy it now on Amazon and you can finish before the Project Hail Mary movie releases on March 20th, 2026!
Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary is a thrilling, emotional, and ultimately hopeful story about the power of curiosity, friendship, and human ingenuity. I can’t recommend it enough.
