Project Hail Mary: A Novel

Andy Weir

May 2021 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture starring Ryan Gosling, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, with a screenplay by Drew Goddard

A lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this “propulsive” (Entertainment Weekly), cinematic thriller full of suspense, humor, and fascinating science—from the author of The Martian.

HUGO AWARD FINALIST • NEW YORK TIMES READER PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY • ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: Parade, Newsweek, New York Public Library, Polygon, Shelf Awareness, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal

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, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

Hailed by USA Today as “an epic story of redemption, discovery, and cool speculative sci-fi,” Project Hail Mary is an irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver.

Ratings and reviews

I adored this book! 10/10 This is a story about the world ending and a suicide mission into space... and Andy Weir somehow made it heartwarming and exciting! I'm very impressed with how lighthearted this story is while still maintaining the seriousness of the scenario. The main character is goofy in a charming way while being believably smart, and I got attached to the other main characters as well. The science in this book is believable enough to me, someone without a scientific background, and the way it's written allows the reader to feel like they're finding solutions right alongside the main characters! My only criticism is very small, and it's that there are a couple of deus ex machinas, but it wasn't enough to ruin the story for me by any means. I'm currently reading this a second time this year since I enjoyed it so much! I'd definitely recommend it if you'd like a "scary" space story but with a more positive perspective and fun characters. :)

A science teacher wakes on a ship with no memory, recalls he was dragged onto a one-way mission to save the sun from a space microbe. He meets Rocky, an alien doing the same for his own dying star, and they team up to solve it before both worlds freeze. It’s genuinely fun, though the reputation overshoots. The science is the star: problem-solving, Astrophage, and building a shared language deliver real intellectual joy. Grace himself is thinner than the plot, all quips and competence, and the flashbacks drag. The tone stays so upbeat it softens the stakes. Curiosity and cooperation save the day, hammered in with motivational-poster subtlety. About 70% of the hype is earned: strong recent sci-fi, but more comfort read than profundity. ❤️ 🇮🇱

PROJECT HAIL MARY is a love story. its about the love for your people, your planet, the stars, for learning and teaching and living. it is about the bonds that make us alive, the knowledge that we truly are all in this together, and the hope that comes with it. and, of course, it is about having alien roommate who you would do anything and everything for, because you care so much about them that it saves the world. I can't properly say how much I loved this book. I read it in roughly two days because I couldn't stop my every waking thought from becoming "When can I read more?" Andy Weir has done it again and crafted something equal parts hopeful and terrifying and fascinating with just the right amount of science that my pea brain could understand while still feeling like I was reading a book and not listening to a lecture. My only complaint is that I can't read the book fresh a thousand times over, just to experience it for the first time again. 15/10, GRACE ROCKY SAVE STARS! ❤️❤️❤️

About the author

Andy Weir built a two-decade career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, The Martian, allowed him to live out his dream of writing full-time. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of such subjects as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail. He lives in California.