Narrated by Ray Porter.
Released 4th May 2021 by Audible Studios.
From the cover:
A lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this incredible new science-based thriller from the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Martian.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.
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I actually listened to this excellent audio book some months ago, but it is so difficult to know how to approach writing a review that I have left it to the end of the year before sharing my thoughts with you about it.
I love Andy Weir's books, his stories are always beautifully put together with engaging characters, and absolutely cracking thrills and spills - and Project Hail Mary is his best yet. There is a lot I cannot tell you about the story, because much of its magic lies in the twists and turns that arise, but basically the premise revolves around a lone astronaut on a mission to save the planet from a cataclysmic event that spells doom for the Sun.
The astronaut, Ryland Grace, awakes to find he is the sole survivor of the mission, but he cannot remember who he is, or why he is there. The story unfurls in two parallel timelines from the point of view of Grace as he recovers his memories of the events that have led him to being on the Hail Mary in one, and he works through the challenges that face him as the single person carrying the fate of the world on his shoulders in the other. Eventually, the timelines clash together in such a clever way too.
It is absolutely compelling stuff, packed with even more fascinating science that The Martian, and Weir has you standing shoulder to shoulder with Grace while he finds ways to solve the significant problems on his plate - in fact, if you have ever wondered about the value of learning STEM subjects, then this book is absolute cheerleader for how important they are.
And this is where I find myself with the impossibility of telling you why everything else Weir threads into this story makes it so emotional and life affirming - you are just going to have to take my word for it that this is Weir's finest work yet... and I have no idea how they are going to convey its magic in the planned film adaptation on the horizon, staring Ryan Gosling as Grace. I have my doubts that it can be done.
If you can, I highly recommend experiencing this book in audio format, because Ray Porter does an outstanding job of narrating Grace's story with rare intimacy and powerful emotion. There is a point in this story when I actually found myself bursting into tears, and I sobbed on and off throughout the rest, which I really was not expecting. There are tonnes of laughs along the way too. Just superb!
Project Hail Mary is available to buy now in gardcover, paperback, ebook and audio formats.
About the author:
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.
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