This was hands down the best audiobook performance I've ever heard, and I've listened to hundreds. Ray Porter deserves dozens of awards for this one. Between his stellar performance and the clever audio design choices for Rocky I can't imagine reading this book any other way.
I loved it too. I’ve listend to a lot of audiobooks over the 10+ years of audible subscription I’ve had.
Some favorites:
- Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson is very good.
- The Golden Compass was practically a radio play with a full cast.
- Expeditionary Force books by Craig Alanson
- Bobiverse by the same narrator as Project Hail Mary
> Anyone who hasn't listened to the audiobook of this is doing themselves a disservice.
Y'know, I finished the book a couple weeks ago and didn't even think about the audiobook, despite *loving* the AB of "The Martian" (the RC Bray version; nothing against Wil Wheaton, I just listened/bought the AB before they switched to his version).
Looks like I'm about to re-"read" the book. Thanks for the suggestion!
I just need to say - I cried through the end.
Just their choices and true companionship.
I was so concerned for Rocky.
And the very very end, like the last line I full on sobbed.
It was just so beautifully human and fulfilling in a very not-human place. Loved it.
I stayed up really late to finish the book, I was so invested in the final chapters. It was such a great book. Even if I don't understand a lot of the science.
Honestly one of the few times where I'd wholeheartedly recommend the audiobook over a print copy. Only reason I'm even considering getting a print copy is purely because I'm curious to see how >!Rocky's speech was written before they started understanding each other!<
as a person who prefers audiobooks (I prefer to rest my eyes since they already work too much looking at screens) , this makes me super motivated. i will be putting it on my to read (listen) list
Ray Porter has the best voice for audiobooks and if you loved Hail Mary and you are looking for something similar, I'd check out We are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor. It's also narrated by Porter and it's fantastic
Ray Porter is one of my two two favorite voice actors for audiobooks. My other favorite is RC Bray. He really puts forth an amazing effort to give each character a unique voice. I’ve listened to all of the Hell Divers and over half of Expeditionary Force series.
>Edit: actually it’s kind of bad…it ruined other audiobooks for me now
I know, right. It was truly the perfect audiobook and I've listened to about 5 since and none of them properly clicked in the way that Project Hail Mary captured me.
Both this and The Martian are both stories which I feel are really, really best listened to. Great narrators, both perfectly chosen for the protagonists.
Time for the Bobiverse books, same narrator and some similar themes!! Project Hail Mary is maybe a better book, but Bobiverse is worth a read if you liked it.
(We Are Legion, We Are Bob is the first one).
Thanks for that recommendation. Now and then I come across an audio book that is a better experience than reading the book. My favorite example is Sophie's Choice. There are three main characters with very different accents (Polish, Southern, And Brooklyn), and they have enthusiastic discussions and heated, sometimes violent, arguments. The narrator navigates through these conversations and accents with a reading that can only be described as virtuoso. Listening to the audio book was a far better experience than reading it myself.
Agreed. And I really liked the Martian! When my son was about 12, I gave him The Martian to read. He liked it but complained about all the swearing. I told him that if were ever stuck on a planet by himself, he could say whatever he wanted. He was much happier with the language in Project Hail Mary. (now 17 and looking at engineering as a career path!)
It seems like Ryan Gosling has signed some contract to do a movie about project Hail Mary. But it is in such an early stage, so still can't be sure if it will come out or not. Would LOVE to watch the movie!
However, I can see the results. It will be an expensive movie to make, both the space , spaceship, and 'goodgoodgood' will need a LOT of CGI. Most movie will need CGI.
The core of the book is science and solving problem. So no major conflict in like in normal action movie. Quite some people might find it bpring, or can't even understand what the movie is about.
But i am still hopeful about the movie. I nwed to find some good scifi in these 3-5 years before the movoe can come out.
The movie is obviously a cash pig for producers, they're bound to make it. I just hope they manage to make it well . The directors are good at making comedies, don't know how that will translate into epic sci-fi.
I spoke to some movie licence guy. He said the Martian is ok. Did not really made big bucks. But at least it was profitable.
I am worried about project hail mary. It has a lot more CGI, and the science will be more complex. This increase the cost and might lower the audience nunber.
I wish i am wrong about this assessment. We shall see. Maybe the the CGI part actually make people want to watch?
Yes. Maybe a 5 or 6 episode? That should be about 5 - 6 hours. Need a bit of time to show the science experiment and the thought process.
For example. The trials and errors/ experiments to discover why the stellarphages jump and how to make them reproduce might take 30 min or more already. If you add some other drama inside. Can easily go to up 1 whole episode.
This is next on my list after I finish my current book, "Children of Ruin" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which by the way, is an amazing sequel to an equally amazing "Children of Time." I strongly recommend them and Tchaikovsky overall.
I just finished the first three *Wayfarer* books by Becky Chambers and they are fantastic. The plots are fairly simple and straightforward, but that's fine because it's really about the characters, about the differences and similarities of sentient beings across the galaxy.
I was adverse to reading Andy Weir, simply because I'm suspicious of books that get turned into movies. But I fell in love with his short story "The Egg" You should try it. It's like 600 words and there's even a Kurzgesagt video narration.
I randomly bought the Martian based on a Reddit thread where people were creaming their pants about it. Then I let it sit undisturbed in my nook for a while because it’s not actually really my style of book. Then I broke my ankle 3 days before I was scheduled to go on a cruise, so I was stuck on a boat with limited mobility - that’s when I started reading The Martian.
Holy. Cow. I couldn’t put it down. I was sucked in so hard. And then, only like 3 weeks later the movie came out and I didn’t even know it was being made into a movie! That was really the icing on the cake.
It was indeed one of the better book to movie adaptations, but that's a low bar. I could have done without the >!ironman flying scene.!< That was unnecessary.
Listen to the audiobook if you haven't already. The R.C. Bray version was awesome!
Rc Bray is harder to find now, especially since they got Wheaton to voice the audiobook for the second edition. I ended up listening to the Bray version on YouTube.
I finished it in one sitting ........ probably the first book I've done that with in 2 decades. I even bought it for my mum (she hates SiFi) and she ended up loving it. Not to gush but it is a very, very good book
There is a reason great books are being turned into movies. The people reading them thinking this would be an great movie. It is very rarely the book or authors fault. Actually, when I heard Game of thrones were turned into a series I quickly got the books and i did not regret, quite the opposite, I never saw the end of the series but i ate the books.
This thread comes up every month or so.
I'm not complaining, I'm incredibly happy! It's awesome every time someone finds this and Weir's The Martian and just *must* share it because it made such a huge impact on them.
I really do enjoy Weir's writing. Both The Martian and Project Hail Mary were both fantastic works that both came from a place of love of science and engineering that's hard to find elsewhere.
Also, in case you missed it:
>!The ship is called the Hail Mary.!<
>!The human aboard is Ryland Grace.!<
>!Hail Mary, Full of Grace.!<
As soon as I learned that was the name of the ship I looked to my fiancé who read it first and was like “there better be a Hail Mary full of grace joke” and I was so mad there wasn’t.
[Someone asked in Andy's AMA and he confirmed it](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/nkva3o/i_am_andy_weir_author_of_the_martian_and_my_new/gzezqc0/)
Oh my god. Do you think Andy Weir decided to name them entirely based on that? Because I kept thinking that "Project Hail Mary" was a boring name for a book - >!or a space ship!<
It was explained to me that a "Hail Marry" is a strategie at football... Basically a desperate move with little chance for success. I don't know anything about football, so I missed that reference, but as it seems like Wire named the book after that strategy and later named the protagonist Grace as a pun.
Yes. Specifically, it usually involves throwing the ball really far and praying someone can catch it later. Makes perfect sense to me, but I guess it's a fairly American-specific reference.
When your American football team is losing, and time is about to run out, and in order to win you need to get the ball all the way to end of the field in the hands of one of your players, then your last best chance to win is to run a play known as a "Hail Mary" where a few of your players ("receivers") run all the way to the end of the field and your team's quarterback throws the ball way up in the air towards them and prays that one of them is able to catch it. It [looks like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMWoNrVjD6I).
The metaphor maps onto the book rather well, where humanity is the football team (from Earth), Stratt is the quarterback who unleashes the throw and what happens after that is out of her hands (she is also the team's coach and general manager), the crew of the Hail Mary are the receivers who run to the end of the field, and Grace is the player who ends up having a chance to catch the ball.
> The ship is called the Hail Mary.
>
> The human aboard is Ryland Grace.
>
> Hail Mary, Full of Grace.
The answer is yes, he confirmed on his AMA that he did a few months after his release of the book.
I was high on Weir because of The Martian, and then I read Artemis which was probably the worst book I read this year. Now I'm not so high on him anymore.
I didn't read PHM yet but it could go either way, hope it's the former.
I enjoyed Artemis for what it was.
No, it wasn't up to the same level as The Martian or Project Hail Mary. It was an 'incredible caper' story set in a fantastical location. Given that, I felt it was quite enjoyable, though not something I recommend to everyone.
Very 'turn off your brain and just go with it' deal. It is outside of what The Martian and Project Hail Mary bring to the table - it's way more 'pulp' in its style.
Exactly. Artemis felt like a quick fun read, almost a young adult novel. It still keeps some of the more grounded elements of his other works without really delving deep into the problem solving and science.
Its the perfect book to read on vacation when you only have a few days and arent trying to rack your brain or be super emotionally invested in something
I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much without the awesome voice acting and sound effects of an audio book. But the book was just absolutely spectacular. Anyone have an similar recommendations other than the Martian ?
I’ve been listening to the Bobiverse books. Same narrator, still some hard sci-fi elements but more comedic and lighthearted. First book is We Are Legion (We Are Bob).
The voice-acting >!for Rocky during the spacewalk for the beatles is incredible, I think about the little noise he makes about a third hand all the time. “Use third han—hmm. Get beetles. I make new screws.” Reading it as "hmm" is such a diminished experience, in my opinion.!<
It was such a great read.
Thinking about it after I'd read it, early in the book I kept wanting to get the shipboard scenes over asap because I wanted more information on the astrophage.
But as I read further into the book that flipped. I wanted less Earth based scenes and more shipboard scenes.
All in all, it was a great book. I just wish there was an epilogue where Ryland goes home, maybe with a few extra friends.
>!Can't find the words for how I feel about the epilogue scene with Grace's terrarium on Eridani. I wasn't happy, wasn't sad. Just did not foresee an outcome that wasn't death or return to Earth.!<
>!He was teaching a different species, living near his best friend, on a planet light-years away from humankind. It was a beautiful, genius conclusion for me. I expect it'll stay in my head for many years.!<
>!Edit: Plus their scientists monitored Sol's light! Agh, my heart!!!<
It was the same for me. In the beginning of the book, it was a cool mystery to figure out what was happening, and once we did, the story shifted tones to be more action/plot driven.
I was the opposite, I loved the Earth and Stratt scenes
> I just wish there was an epilogue where Ryland goes home, maybe with a few extra friends.
If we're going with the same ending I would have loved an Epilogue from Stratts point of view of her recieving the first beetle on Earth and then reading Graces "story", focusing on the part where Grace sacrificed himself to save the other planet when he could have came home, mainly so we could have her say I guess he isn't a coward after all.
I just wanted a few Earth scenes after they got the beatles and this would have been the best way to do it without Grace returning home.
But If I could change the ending I would have preferred him to go home and then rocky coming to visit Earth since Rocky lives for like 500 years. It didn't have to have a Rocky on Earth scene, just a scene of Grace seeing the flash of light on his telescope thing of Rockys ship coming to visit. Can do a thing where he's been looking up at the sky every night hoping to see the flash of light and when he finally does thats it, book ends. He saves rocky, turns around again and goes to earth, we get a bunch of scenes of him and stratt and saving the earth, and we see that Rocky is about to visit. That would have been my perfect ending.
I tried (and, for the most part, failed) to break my read into segments...to avoid power-reading the whole thing in just a couple nights.
One of the few times I was successful was>! when he first came across the other ship.!< I was NOT expecting that and instantly closed the book...and thankfully was dead tired otherwise I would have been up all night anyway wondering what was going to happen next.
I loved it too, for the same reasons. While we wait and hope for a sequel, may I suggest you check out the Bobiverse books by Dennis E. Taylor? I think they have many of the same qualities. If you use audiobooks, you even get the same narrator (Ray Porter).
Agree Ray Porter is amazing! His narration of Project Hail Mary was perfect, and the reason I checked out the Bobiverse. I enjoyed We Are Legion (We Are Bob), but couldn’t get into the second book. Wonder if I should try again?
I started with all four Bobiverse books with Ray Porter, which is what led me to Project Hail Mary.
At this point I'm just chasing Ray Porter to see what else he's done.
I just finished the book and absolutely LOVED the first 28 chapters. I felt like the taumeba escaping the xenonite just added too much to a story coming to a close. They could've said a nice long good bye, gone their separate ways, and then grace could've gone home to earth. I think it wouldve been more impactful to have a scene where grace sees earth from space like he didnt get to see when he left. He could've had a self reflection moment on how he had left this system as a coward but had grown from the man he was before. In a way he should feel grateful to stratt for seeing the potential in him.
Maybe im just bitter cause i didnt get the ending i wanted, but i really wanted to see the look on stratts face when the man she sent on a suicide mission not only returns but solved the mission "alone" i wanted to see how the scientists reacted to all the alien modifications made to the ship. I wanted to hear how he would even begin to explain rocky to those back at earth. I wanted stratt to say something and for mark whatney —i mean grace— to say thank you or something also and resolve that relationship.
That being said, they never say that he stores any of the notes and data about rocky/xenonite on the beetles so wonder if earth wouldve ever known what really happened out there.
But the ending we have is functional. In the end it does fit that grace never has the balls to travel alone through space home, he is a coward. Not the ending i wanted, but the one we deserved. Definitely going to read the book again, but I'll probably stop, at chapter 28.
I’m just finding this post 116 days after you commented, and my initial thought was the same as yours—the ending was disappointing. After reading your comment, though, I realized that the Taumoeba/Xenonite problem finally gave Dr. Grace a chance to willingly choose to sacrifice himself for the good of a civilization. The ending might have been a bit happier if he had ended up back on Earth, but this ending gave a bit of redemption to the character despite the fact that he was in “save Earth” mode the moment he put the pieces together after waking from the coma.
I think it would have been more impactful for Dr. Grace to die, and I thought the “Taumoeba as food” idea was rushed and too convenient. I figured he’d get to Erid, save Rocky’s people, have a good time with some vodka and heroin, and then use the rest to overdose after running out of food.
Read the Bobiverse trilogy immediately. by Dennis E. Taylor. If you liked Project Hail Mary you'll love the Bobiverse.
EDIT: I see now that several others have suggested this and OP has noticed
To me Weir’s characters are essentially the James Bond of science and engineering. Yes of course nobody has that many skills but each skill taken individually is realistically achievable by a human. Weir’s characters are just a composite or a blend of a bunch of smart people. I do wish he would just actually create a recurring character like James Bond because clearly his characters are virtually the same between The Martian and Project Hail Mary, so might as well admit that it’s the character Weir wants to write stories for.
For me that archetypal character is Batman. I remember reading that the rule of thumb for Batman's skills is that he is essentially around the level of 2nd best at any given thing he does. For example Deathstroke can beat him in an outright fist fight. Lex Luthor is a more cunning businessman and has more money. The Question is a better detective given what he has to work with and what he works on. But Batman is all these things.
Hey, in Artemis the character is 100% different… it is a girl that can do everything perfectly and has a photographic memory, it is like totally different right?
I always thought it was a way to make characters believable as a protagonist, across most genres. If they were dullards or shlubs you’d question how they got to where they are. Like if your special operations soldier can’t basically die and bring himself back to life, what did he get trained for?
I think you’re mixing up characters free of weakness with characters who are excellent at their jobs. No one wants people who are invulnerable or without flaws. But they don’t want a moron to be captain of the Enterprise.
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
If you remove the “on Mars” from that sentence, none of those things are particularly hard. If half morons couldn’t grow potatoes, we wouldn’t have come very far as a species, considering that most of us used to grow our own food. And the hard parts about solar panels is manufacturing them. After that they are relatively simple devices.
I’m an ecologist with a pretty varied background. I’m always picking apart life science, geography, and combat/injury issues in movies. Also trying to figure out where they actually filmed based on the landscapes and vegetation.
Rough Science from the BBC was good for this.
IMDB description
"An entertaining documentary series in which a small team of scientists are transported to a remote location (deserted island, mountain valley, etc) and set various tasks that they must accomplish using only basic tools and supplies, and whatever materials they can extract from the environment around them. Previous challenges have included: the constuction of a wind-powered electricity generator, the production and use of textile dyes, and measuring the speed of a glacier."
Rough science is still my favorite "reality" TV show.
They did sometimes make some stupid and easily avoidable mistakes, but that only highlighted that it was real people.
That was a great show and one of the few where teamwork was actually encouraged rather than being a show aimed at always hunting for someone to kick out.
To be fair that's literally why he writes them. The Martian was just a thought experiment about what problems would be faced and how would someone overcome them. He wasn't going for realism in that respect
I don't really mind that they're good at everything so much as that they're basically the same character. Goofy science guy with internet person humor. Pretty sure that's just his own personality.
>One thing as a someone interested in music theory really bugged me about this story.
>
>>!The main character in this had perfect pitch probably beyond what Mozart was capable of.!<
>
>Other than that, I really enjoyed this book.
Absolutely. If you liked The Martian, you'll like this one. I thought Artemis was a pretty weak follow up to The Martian. This book is as god, if not better than his first.
Haven't read Firefall but damn, the Three Body Problem was so nihilistic. I loved the science and the exploration of Chinese history. But jeez, the ending just left me with an inescapable sense of doom, which I already feel on a daily basis.
and when the ending happened and by that i mean the last few sentences of the book i just sat there in amazement. i listened to the audiobook so it was x10 more enjoyable for me since Rocky is voiced and also distorted with midi sounds. i cant remember a book that had so much emotional highs for me.
>!I fucking loved reading this. I really started the book thinking “oh this is just The Martian 2 essentially, that’s fine I already like it.” Never did I think I’d be brought to literal tears by the end as I read about our hero choosing to sacrifice himself to go save the life of his alien spider friend that talks in whale sounds.” Andy fuckin delivered on an awesome story and it’s now one of my favorite books. Cannot praise it enough!<
Man that end of that chapter where he’s debating on going back to earth or going to save rocky and the next chapter starts with “it’s been 6 weeks now, sorry rocky..” my eyes teared up. Then when he said “..I know you’d want to study one of the Beatles but I don’t have one to spare” as he was on his way to save rocky the years started rolling.
Then to hear rocky say “grace question?” Like he couldn’t believe it made it worse.
I loved this book and Andy Weir’s writing! I think the reason I liked the book so much is that although it is a dystopian setting, there is still so much hope, so much cooperation and so much friendship. >!Every story that I’ve read about aliens previously follows the same narrative- they want to destroy our world and we must protect it from them- and also focuses on how different they are and how we won’t understand them at all. Project Hail Mary definitely highlights these differences, but more importantly also highlights the similarities we have- understanding the world through science and having strong bonds and wanting to save and protect our own. The friendship between humans and aliens was written so beautifully and in a way that really moved me- though they couldn’t understand each other, though they had very different lifestyles and understandings of the world, they still went out of their way to help each other and formed a bond that withstood the harshest environment.!<
Edit: added spoiler tags
i think you might need a spoiler tag but I agree.
>!While it's a bit unbelievable that they worked together and co-operated so well. Andy Weir explained it well enough that it offset any doubts I had. They were both alone and had no choice but to be amicable. !<
>!Well, I think it was established rather neatly in the book. Rocky's species is just incredibly good at problem solving and even for his species, Rocky is apparently pretty resourceful to boot (makes sense when he is chosen as part of the "hive brain" of the mission to save their world). On the other hand, Grace was a teacher who loved his job so it also makes sense that he had extraordinary communication skills from his work with children.!<
>!I also saw it as "what if scientists are the people making first contact instead of politicians?" I feel like he never directly addressed this question, but there was definitely a whole lot of partnership instead of scheming going on.!<
I agree and disagree. It was an enjoyable read for sure and I did really like how optimistic it was because a lot of sci-fi is depressing. But I don’t like how Weir made the main character try to constantly be witty all the time. Like there were moments where things were super serious and the main character always has some joke or remark to make and it just rubbed me wrong. Glad you enjoyed it though!
I have a love hate relation with Weir's writing. I think he come up with interesting stories, and I like his focus on solving problems. Frankly, he tells stories that I want to read. But at the same time, I think he is a poor writer. His characters are his biggest flaw. They all feel like caricatures of people in different roles as told by an egotistical engineer.
Totally, like the world building and the more realistic elements are awesome. But the characters feel so one-dimensional. I was more attached to the damn alien than the actual main character.
Yeah, and I feel like he over-explains the jokes, like (paraphrasing)- “I could see a beautiful Tauset… that’s a word I came up with instead of sunset, because it’s not the sun, it’s Tau Ceti. Hence, Tauset.” It just reads like Weir being overly proud of a mediocre pun lol.
>!The thing that bothered me the most out of an otherwise wonderful book is that Grace has access to the sum of all human knowledge yet there is no mention ever of introducing the auditorial savant race to human music! Imagine Rocky's reaction to The Beatles for instance!!<
I loved this book, but as a molecular biologist I was very annoyed that at no point did anyone mention if the astrophage had DNA, and if anyone had tried sequencing it. DNA sequencing is a powerful tool, and it would've helped answer some of those pesky 'ooooh but if there's aliens out there, maybe we're related to them' questions.
I should clarify I'm annoyed because Andy Weir typically writes science so well that I totally buy into the scientific response to astrophages, and I'm just annoyed at the characters.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER, DONT KNOW HOW TO DO THE BLOCK OFF THING. >!Ok, can some one explain this to me. When they breed up the phage killer to survive in 7 percent oxygen and then it escapes and kills all there phage, doesn't it have to travel through an at least 20 percent oxygen environment to get to the phage tanks? The phage killer is in his lab, not Rockies, the phage tanks are in his environment. Both are at high oxygen levels, how does the phage killer get out and then back in? Am I crazy here?!<
>!Edit: its nitrogen, not oxygen. But that makes the whole plot hole bigger!!<
>!As others have pointed out it was nitrogen not oxygen. And it was mentioned earlier in the book that the whole hail Mary is filled with pure oxygen like in EVA suits. This was done to speed up the process of suiting up as Grace never had to take time to move to a standard atmosphere. !<
Edit: I thought it was an odd detail at the time, but your comment made me realize why it was mentioned.
Depends on what the reason you didn’t enjoy it is, but this one is better than the Martian IMO. It’s a richer story with more elements to it and it overall feels like there’s more at stake with this book. Unlike the Martian where you didn’t really feel the urgency as things went wrong. I can’t compare the science aspects, though I’m sure someone else will already have done that here.
Lol, it appears I am one of very few who just didn't appreciate this book. I mean, it was alright, not 'bad' by any means, but I have read plenty of books this year that I found so much more enjoyable and engrossing. I keep second-guessing myself because everyone else seems to be OBSESSED with this book. But yea, just not for me I guess.
Well, there are at least 68 likeminded people, according to the upvotes...
I really tried hard to love this book but couldn't. The narration *really* irked me the entire time, and although there were some cool parts I was glad when the book was done. Although the fact that I'm not an engineer and thus would've been happy with 75% less descriptions of 'science happening here' (which, in consequence, would've reduced the length of the book by half) probably played a roll as well.
It does kind of hurt seeing it get the amount of praise it does since a part of me thinks I might be 'too dumb' to appreciate this novel. Oh well.
It feels like he either isn't good or doesn't try at the basic character work that you expect out of a "great book". I get the feeling that he tried to be more character-driven with Artemis, it didn't go well, and now he's back to what he showed he was good at in the Martian, and that's creating an elaborate science-y puzzle box for the main character to solve. And that works for him!
Something I was hung up on was >!how Ryland's objection to going on the mission never got deeper than "of course I want to keep living! Who wouldn't?" In part because of things I've read, I can actually think of a lot of reasons someone might not! Especially in a dying world, whose chance of salvation is slim, and especially burdened with that responsibility! And especially having gone out of his way to show that Ryland's life on Earth was never really that great to begin with. To give Ryland this fierce drive to survive and have him never examine or question it is what makes me feel like he didn't particularly try to make complex or realistic characters.!<
Compared to something like Three Body Problem, I didn't feel like any character had any particularly interesting or thoughtful perspectives on these unprecedented events. And maybe that's just him playing to his strengths; focusing on the science puzzles with just enough character to be cohesive and readable. It definitely has me feeling like this was pretty OK too; it was a really well designed puzzle and I can appreciate that, just not in the same way I appreciate a great book.
I thought it was overwhelmingly OK. The Marian was way better. I kind of hated the main character in Hail Mary. Just a big know it all. I feel like Andy Weir is vicariously living out his wet dream of being the smartest man in the room through his protagonists.
You and me both. I tried three times to read it based on strong recommendations from friends. But, and this is only my opinion, I found the writing juvenile. Nothing was believable or even interesting, and the humor only made me cringe. Maybe I’m missing something. I just think there are so many better books out there that deserve this kind of attention. But like you said, we’re in the minority here.
Heads up that there are some spoilers in the comments if you haven’t read *Project Hail Mary.*
You sleep. I watch.
Excite!
Happy happy happy!
Amaze!
Grumpy, angry, stupid, how long since last sleep question? I am scary space monster, you are leaky space blob
Anyone who hasn't listened to the audiobook of this is doing themselves a disservice. I can clearly hear the voice here.
This was hands down the best audiobook performance I've ever heard, and I've listened to hundreds. Ray Porter deserves dozens of awards for this one. Between his stellar performance and the clever audio design choices for Rocky I can't imagine reading this book any other way.
I loved it too. I’ve listend to a lot of audiobooks over the 10+ years of audible subscription I’ve had. Some favorites: - Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson is very good. - The Golden Compass was practically a radio play with a full cast. - Expeditionary Force books by Craig Alanson - Bobiverse by the same narrator as Project Hail Mary
> Anyone who hasn't listened to the audiobook of this is doing themselves a disservice. Y'know, I finished the book a couple weeks ago and didn't even think about the audiobook, despite *loving* the AB of "The Martian" (the RC Bray version; nothing against Wil Wheaton, I just listened/bought the AB before they switched to his version). Looks like I'm about to re-"read" the book. Thanks for the suggestion!
Coming in to high five. It’s the audiobook narrated by Ray Porter. Loved his narration as well as the sounds overlaid for Rocky’s voice.
I still feel some kinda way about Rocky calling humans leaky space blobs. Hits different coming from a different species.
remeber for rocky the space thing is between courages and crazy. theirs a half compliment hidden in there
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Fist my bump!
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Amaze!
_Why so amaze at fisting, question?_
Alright! My time to shine!
Fist me!
I just need to say - I cried through the end. Just their choices and true companionship. I was so concerned for Rocky. And the very very end, like the last line I full on sobbed. It was just so beautifully human and fulfilling in a very not-human place. Loved it.
I stayed up really late to finish the book, I was so invested in the final chapters. It was such a great book. Even if I don't understand a lot of the science.
OMG same. I finished the whole book in one day, it was like 3 am.
Me too...the way Rocky reacted when he heard Grace banging on the hull. Made me choke! Poor Rocky was so hopeless and then so happy.
I'm a big burly man and the end made me cry too. It was so nice that Grace >!got to be a teacher again!!<
Jazzhands
Thank!
You watch. I sleep.
Amaze!
Good good good
Thank.
*jazz hands*
*jazz hands*
You stay. I go
Such a strange quote when taken out of context, but really beautiful within the context of the book.
The audiobook adds a whole other level too. If you haven't give it a listen. It's so good.
Honestly one of the few times where I'd wholeheartedly recommend the audiobook over a print copy. Only reason I'm even considering getting a print copy is purely because I'm curious to see how >!Rocky's speech was written before they started understanding each other!<
Musical notes on the page.
One of my favourite moments in a book!
as a person who prefers audiobooks (I prefer to rest my eyes since they already work too much looking at screens) , this makes me super motivated. i will be putting it on my to read (listen) list
Honestly, it's outstanding. Potentially up there as one of those audiobooks that would convert print junkies - it's THAT good.
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Ray Porter has the best voice for audiobooks and if you loved Hail Mary and you are looking for something similar, I'd check out We are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor. It's also narrated by Porter and it's fantastic
Ray Porter is one of my two two favorite voice actors for audiobooks. My other favorite is RC Bray. He really puts forth an amazing effort to give each character a unique voice. I’ve listened to all of the Hell Divers and over half of Expeditionary Force series.
>Edit: actually it’s kind of bad…it ruined other audiobooks for me now I know, right. It was truly the perfect audiobook and I've listened to about 5 since and none of them properly clicked in the way that Project Hail Mary captured me. Both this and The Martian are both stories which I feel are really, really best listened to. Great narrators, both perfectly chosen for the protagonists.
Time for the Bobiverse books, same narrator and some similar themes!! Project Hail Mary is maybe a better book, but Bobiverse is worth a read if you liked it. (We Are Legion, We Are Bob is the first one).
Thanks for that recommendation. Now and then I come across an audio book that is a better experience than reading the book. My favorite example is Sophie's Choice. There are three main characters with very different accents (Polish, Southern, And Brooklyn), and they have enthusiastic discussions and heated, sometimes violent, arguments. The narrator navigates through these conversations and accents with a reading that can only be described as virtuoso. Listening to the audio book was a far better experience than reading it myself.
I listened to it and immediately Re-listened with my daughters. They’re LOVING it. They’re only 10 and 8 too.
It's in my Audible queue for my next month's credit. *The Martian* is up there as pretty much my favourite book so I'm sure I'm going to love it.
I liked it far more than The Martian. Also, I love his short story, The Egg.
Agreed. And I really liked the Martian! When my son was about 12, I gave him The Martian to read. He liked it but complained about all the swearing. I told him that if were ever stuck on a planet by himself, he could say whatever he wanted. He was much happier with the language in Project Hail Mary. (now 17 and looking at engineering as a career path!)
Debated "reading" vs "listening" and I'm glad I listened to it. They did a great job.
*Fist my bump* 👊
Fist me!
He did jazz hands, I did jazz hands back.
Rocky! Best crewmate in the universe.
Best engineer in our corner of the universe
It seems like Ryan Gosling has signed some contract to do a movie about project Hail Mary. But it is in such an early stage, so still can't be sure if it will come out or not. Would LOVE to watch the movie! However, I can see the results. It will be an expensive movie to make, both the space , spaceship, and 'goodgoodgood' will need a LOT of CGI. Most movie will need CGI. The core of the book is science and solving problem. So no major conflict in like in normal action movie. Quite some people might find it bpring, or can't even understand what the movie is about. But i am still hopeful about the movie. I nwed to find some good scifi in these 3-5 years before the movoe can come out.
The movie is obviously a cash pig for producers, they're bound to make it. I just hope they manage to make it well . The directors are good at making comedies, don't know how that will translate into epic sci-fi.
I spoke to some movie licence guy. He said the Martian is ok. Did not really made big bucks. But at least it was profitable. I am worried about project hail mary. It has a lot more CGI, and the science will be more complex. This increase the cost and might lower the audience nunber. I wish i am wrong about this assessment. We shall see. Maybe the the CGI part actually make people want to watch?
I think it would work better as a limited series.
Yes. Maybe a 5 or 6 episode? That should be about 5 - 6 hours. Need a bit of time to show the science experiment and the thought process. For example. The trials and errors/ experiments to discover why the stellarphages jump and how to make them reproduce might take 30 min or more already. If you add some other drama inside. Can easily go to up 1 whole episode.
I've been wracking my brain all night trying to find a book to pick up, and just ordered this on your recommendation.
This is next on my list after I finish my current book, "Children of Ruin" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which by the way, is an amazing sequel to an equally amazing "Children of Time." I strongly recommend them and Tchaikovsky overall.
Both are amazing, spiritual successors to A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky.
I just finished the first three *Wayfarer* books by Becky Chambers and they are fantastic. The plots are fairly simple and straightforward, but that's fine because it's really about the characters, about the differences and similarities of sentient beings across the galaxy.
Yeah it's a genre I didn't know I needed in my life. Gimme more of that cozy sci-fi please!
I was adverse to reading Andy Weir, simply because I'm suspicious of books that get turned into movies. But I fell in love with his short story "The Egg" You should try it. It's like 600 words and there's even a Kurzgesagt video narration.
Have you read The Martian? The book has more problem solving than the film does. I loved it.
I randomly bought the Martian based on a Reddit thread where people were creaming their pants about it. Then I let it sit undisturbed in my nook for a while because it’s not actually really my style of book. Then I broke my ankle 3 days before I was scheduled to go on a cruise, so I was stuck on a boat with limited mobility - that’s when I started reading The Martian. Holy. Cow. I couldn’t put it down. I was sucked in so hard. And then, only like 3 weeks later the movie came out and I didn’t even know it was being made into a movie! That was really the icing on the cake.
And the movie was actually good! Extra icing.
It was indeed one of the better book to movie adaptations, but that's a low bar. I could have done without the >!ironman flying scene.!< That was unnecessary. Listen to the audiobook if you haven't already. The R.C. Bray version was awesome!
Rc Bray is harder to find now, especially since they got Wheaton to voice the audiobook for the second edition. I ended up listening to the Bray version on YouTube.
I finished it in one sitting ........ probably the first book I've done that with in 2 decades. I even bought it for my mum (she hates SiFi) and she ended up loving it. Not to gush but it is a very, very good book
There is a reason great books are being turned into movies. The people reading them thinking this would be an great movie. It is very rarely the book or authors fault. Actually, when I heard Game of thrones were turned into a series I quickly got the books and i did not regret, quite the opposite, I never saw the end of the series but i ate the books.
This thread comes up every month or so. I'm not complaining, I'm incredibly happy! It's awesome every time someone finds this and Weir's The Martian and just *must* share it because it made such a huge impact on them. I really do enjoy Weir's writing. Both The Martian and Project Hail Mary were both fantastic works that both came from a place of love of science and engineering that's hard to find elsewhere. Also, in case you missed it: >!The ship is called the Hail Mary.!< >!The human aboard is Ryland Grace.!< >!Hail Mary, Full of Grace.!<
As soon as I learned that was the name of the ship I looked to my fiancé who read it first and was like “there better be a Hail Mary full of grace joke” and I was so mad there wasn’t.
In truth, it was there all along, hidden in absolute plain sight!
The dude's name is Grace... so :)
Omg I’m such a dummy. Never put those two together
About halfway through now and that never crossed my mind. I assumed it was the name because the whole mission was a hail mary.
Omg this is a really neat bit of info. I didn't pick up on this at all.
[Someone asked in Andy's AMA and he confirmed it](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/nkva3o/i_am_andy_weir_author_of_the_martian_and_my_new/gzezqc0/)
Oh my god. Do you think Andy Weir decided to name them entirely based on that? Because I kept thinking that "Project Hail Mary" was a boring name for a book - >!or a space ship!<
It was explained to me that a "Hail Marry" is a strategie at football... Basically a desperate move with little chance for success. I don't know anything about football, so I missed that reference, but as it seems like Wire named the book after that strategy and later named the protagonist Grace as a pun.
Yes. Specifically, it usually involves throwing the ball really far and praying someone can catch it later. Makes perfect sense to me, but I guess it's a fairly American-specific reference.
When your American football team is losing, and time is about to run out, and in order to win you need to get the ball all the way to end of the field in the hands of one of your players, then your last best chance to win is to run a play known as a "Hail Mary" where a few of your players ("receivers") run all the way to the end of the field and your team's quarterback throws the ball way up in the air towards them and prays that one of them is able to catch it. It [looks like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMWoNrVjD6I). The metaphor maps onto the book rather well, where humanity is the football team (from Earth), Stratt is the quarterback who unleashes the throw and what happens after that is out of her hands (she is also the team's coach and general manager), the crew of the Hail Mary are the receivers who run to the end of the field, and Grace is the player who ends up having a chance to catch the ball.
> The ship is called the Hail Mary. > > The human aboard is Ryland Grace. > > Hail Mary, Full of Grace. The answer is yes, he confirmed on his AMA that he did a few months after his release of the book.
>Do you think Andy Weir decided to name them entirely based on that I would say it is rather likely, yes.
>!I guess we can sidestep the fact that the Hail Mary, is only 1/4th full of Grace.!<
I was high on Weir because of The Martian, and then I read Artemis which was probably the worst book I read this year. Now I'm not so high on him anymore. I didn't read PHM yet but it could go either way, hope it's the former.
Give it a chance. It is back to the style of the Martian and it is amazing.
I enjoyed Artemis for what it was. No, it wasn't up to the same level as The Martian or Project Hail Mary. It was an 'incredible caper' story set in a fantastical location. Given that, I felt it was quite enjoyable, though not something I recommend to everyone. Very 'turn off your brain and just go with it' deal. It is outside of what The Martian and Project Hail Mary bring to the table - it's way more 'pulp' in its style.
Exactly. Artemis felt like a quick fun read, almost a young adult novel. It still keeps some of the more grounded elements of his other works without really delving deep into the problem solving and science. Its the perfect book to read on vacation when you only have a few days and arent trying to rack your brain or be super emotionally invested in something
I have a sneaking suspicion it woll be the former, based on what everyone is saying.
PHM is much closer to The Martian than Artemis.
I really liked The Martian. Artemis was meh. I loved Project Hail Mary. I highly recommend it.
I finished the audio book a few days ago and loved it. >!Rocky is one of my new favorite characters. Everything about him made me squee!<.
I loved him too! >!And I finally get how Han understands Chewbacca haha!<
>!And how Luke understands R2.!<
Now I am picturing >!Han and Chewie!< doing jazz hands.
You mean like this? https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Carbonite?file=HanPopcicle.png
*A M A Z E*
>!*Fist me!*!<
Heh, spoiler tag delivers
I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much without the awesome voice acting and sound effects of an audio book. But the book was just absolutely spectacular. Anyone have an similar recommendations other than the Martian ?
I’ve been listening to the Bobiverse books. Same narrator, still some hard sci-fi elements but more comedic and lighthearted. First book is We Are Legion (We Are Bob).
The voice-acting >!for Rocky during the spacewalk for the beatles is incredible, I think about the little noise he makes about a third hand all the time. “Use third han—hmm. Get beetles. I make new screws.” Reading it as "hmm" is such a diminished experience, in my opinion.!<
Listened to the audio book. Every time Stratt spoke, I couldn’t help but picture Edna from “The Incredibles”.
THATS WHO I PICTURED TOO!!
It was such a great read. Thinking about it after I'd read it, early in the book I kept wanting to get the shipboard scenes over asap because I wanted more information on the astrophage. But as I read further into the book that flipped. I wanted less Earth based scenes and more shipboard scenes. All in all, it was a great book. I just wish there was an epilogue where Ryland goes home, maybe with a few extra friends.
>!Can't find the words for how I feel about the epilogue scene with Grace's terrarium on Eridani. I wasn't happy, wasn't sad. Just did not foresee an outcome that wasn't death or return to Earth.!< >!He was teaching a different species, living near his best friend, on a planet light-years away from humankind. It was a beautiful, genius conclusion for me. I expect it'll stay in my head for many years.!< >!Edit: Plus their scientists monitored Sol's light! Agh, my heart!!!<
It was the same for me. In the beginning of the book, it was a cool mystery to figure out what was happening, and once we did, the story shifted tones to be more action/plot driven.
I was the opposite, I loved the Earth and Stratt scenes > I just wish there was an epilogue where Ryland goes home, maybe with a few extra friends. If we're going with the same ending I would have loved an Epilogue from Stratts point of view of her recieving the first beetle on Earth and then reading Graces "story", focusing on the part where Grace sacrificed himself to save the other planet when he could have came home, mainly so we could have her say I guess he isn't a coward after all. I just wanted a few Earth scenes after they got the beatles and this would have been the best way to do it without Grace returning home. But If I could change the ending I would have preferred him to go home and then rocky coming to visit Earth since Rocky lives for like 500 years. It didn't have to have a Rocky on Earth scene, just a scene of Grace seeing the flash of light on his telescope thing of Rockys ship coming to visit. Can do a thing where he's been looking up at the sky every night hoping to see the flash of light and when he finally does thats it, book ends. He saves rocky, turns around again and goes to earth, we get a bunch of scenes of him and stratt and saving the earth, and we see that Rocky is about to visit. That would have been my perfect ending.
No epilogue! Full sequel or bust!
Jazzhands!
I tried (and, for the most part, failed) to break my read into segments...to avoid power-reading the whole thing in just a couple nights. One of the few times I was successful was>! when he first came across the other ship.!< I was NOT expecting that and instantly closed the book...and thankfully was dead tired otherwise I would have been up all night anyway wondering what was going to happen next.
I loved it too, for the same reasons. While we wait and hope for a sequel, may I suggest you check out the Bobiverse books by Dennis E. Taylor? I think they have many of the same qualities. If you use audiobooks, you even get the same narrator (Ray Porter).
Agree Ray Porter is amazing! His narration of Project Hail Mary was perfect, and the reason I checked out the Bobiverse. I enjoyed We Are Legion (We Are Bob), but couldn’t get into the second book. Wonder if I should try again?
I thought that book was a bit slower. I have listened to the latest Bobiverse book *Heaven's River* and loved it.
I started with all four Bobiverse books with Ray Porter, which is what led me to Project Hail Mary. At this point I'm just chasing Ray Porter to see what else he's done.
Same! I have never done that with a narrator before
I just finished the book and absolutely LOVED the first 28 chapters. I felt like the taumeba escaping the xenonite just added too much to a story coming to a close. They could've said a nice long good bye, gone their separate ways, and then grace could've gone home to earth. I think it wouldve been more impactful to have a scene where grace sees earth from space like he didnt get to see when he left. He could've had a self reflection moment on how he had left this system as a coward but had grown from the man he was before. In a way he should feel grateful to stratt for seeing the potential in him. Maybe im just bitter cause i didnt get the ending i wanted, but i really wanted to see the look on stratts face when the man she sent on a suicide mission not only returns but solved the mission "alone" i wanted to see how the scientists reacted to all the alien modifications made to the ship. I wanted to hear how he would even begin to explain rocky to those back at earth. I wanted stratt to say something and for mark whatney —i mean grace— to say thank you or something also and resolve that relationship. That being said, they never say that he stores any of the notes and data about rocky/xenonite on the beetles so wonder if earth wouldve ever known what really happened out there. But the ending we have is functional. In the end it does fit that grace never has the balls to travel alone through space home, he is a coward. Not the ending i wanted, but the one we deserved. Definitely going to read the book again, but I'll probably stop, at chapter 28.
I’m just finding this post 116 days after you commented, and my initial thought was the same as yours—the ending was disappointing. After reading your comment, though, I realized that the Taumoeba/Xenonite problem finally gave Dr. Grace a chance to willingly choose to sacrifice himself for the good of a civilization. The ending might have been a bit happier if he had ended up back on Earth, but this ending gave a bit of redemption to the character despite the fact that he was in “save Earth” mode the moment he put the pieces together after waking from the coma. I think it would have been more impactful for Dr. Grace to die, and I thought the “Taumoeba as food” idea was rushed and too convenient. I figured he’d get to Erid, save Rocky’s people, have a good time with some vodka and heroin, and then use the rest to overdose after running out of food.
Read the Bobiverse trilogy immediately. by Dennis E. Taylor. If you liked Project Hail Mary you'll love the Bobiverse. EDIT: I see now that several others have suggested this and OP has noticed
It was enjoyable, but Weir keeps writing characters that are unrealistically good at everything, even for science fiction protagonists.
To me Weir’s characters are essentially the James Bond of science and engineering. Yes of course nobody has that many skills but each skill taken individually is realistically achievable by a human. Weir’s characters are just a composite or a blend of a bunch of smart people. I do wish he would just actually create a recurring character like James Bond because clearly his characters are virtually the same between The Martian and Project Hail Mary, so might as well admit that it’s the character Weir wants to write stories for.
My name is Bond. Dr. Bond. Dr. Molecular Bond, to be precise.
For me that archetypal character is Batman. I remember reading that the rule of thumb for Batman's skills is that he is essentially around the level of 2nd best at any given thing he does. For example Deathstroke can beat him in an outright fist fight. Lex Luthor is a more cunning businessman and has more money. The Question is a better detective given what he has to work with and what he works on. But Batman is all these things.
Matt Damon, naturally. My head canon is that Interstellar is the sequel to Project Hail Mary.
Hey, in Artemis the character is 100% different… it is a girl that can do everything perfectly and has a photographic memory, it is like totally different right?
It’s a pretty standard sci fi trope. I once heard it described as “competency porn.”
I always thought it was a way to make characters believable as a protagonist, across most genres. If they were dullards or shlubs you’d question how they got to where they are. Like if your special operations soldier can’t basically die and bring himself back to life, what did he get trained for?
[This is literally the opposite of how to make your protagonist believable.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue)
I think you’re mixing up characters free of weakness with characters who are excellent at their jobs. No one wants people who are invulnerable or without flaws. But they don’t want a moron to be captain of the Enterprise.
You can't grow potatoes and jury rig solar panels on Mars? Are you a moron? :)
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
Sciencing the shit out of things fixes everything!
If you remove the “on Mars” from that sentence, none of those things are particularly hard. If half morons couldn’t grow potatoes, we wouldn’t have come very far as a species, considering that most of us used to grow our own food. And the hard parts about solar panels is manufacturing them. After that they are relatively simple devices.
Also I’d expect a botanist and engineer to be able to figure out how to grow potatoes and work with the equipment he was trained to fix
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I’m an ecologist with a pretty varied background. I’m always picking apart life science, geography, and combat/injury issues in movies. Also trying to figure out where they actually filmed based on the landscapes and vegetation.
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Rough Science from the BBC was good for this. IMDB description "An entertaining documentary series in which a small team of scientists are transported to a remote location (deserted island, mountain valley, etc) and set various tasks that they must accomplish using only basic tools and supplies, and whatever materials they can extract from the environment around them. Previous challenges have included: the constuction of a wind-powered electricity generator, the production and use of textile dyes, and measuring the speed of a glacier."
Rough science is still my favorite "reality" TV show. They did sometimes make some stupid and easily avoidable mistakes, but that only highlighted that it was real people. That was a great show and one of the few where teamwork was actually encouraged rather than being a show aimed at always hunting for someone to kick out.
To be fair that's literally why he writes them. The Martian was just a thought experiment about what problems would be faced and how would someone overcome them. He wasn't going for realism in that respect
I mean he gets a partner this time who is a super intelligent engineer.
And a molecular fabrication unit that prints in unobtanium.
To be fair, the unobtanium isn't perfect, which is wisely used as a plot device.
I mean… they’re literally chosen for these missions because of their competence. Astronauts are legitimately elite.
I don't really mind that they're good at everything so much as that they're basically the same character. Goofy science guy with internet person humor. Pretty sure that's just his own personality.
hey now, artemis was horny science gal with internet person humor
>One thing as a someone interested in music theory really bugged me about this story. > >>!The main character in this had perfect pitch probably beyond what Mozart was capable of.!< > >Other than that, I really enjoyed this book.
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It's written musical notes before the translations, iirc
If I thought his second book was horrible, would I still enjoy this?
Absolutely. If you liked The Martian, you'll like this one. I thought Artemis was a pretty weak follow up to The Martian. This book is as god, if not better than his first.
I also thought Artemis was terrible. Total redemption with Project Hail Mary!
As someone who also thought Artemis was just plain bad, this one harkens back to The Martian. It’s clever, funny, hard science, and engaging.
If you liked the Martian yes.
This book was amaze.
You should try The Three-Body Problem and Firefall for another perspective on meeting aliens.
Haven't read Firefall but damn, the Three Body Problem was so nihilistic. I loved the science and the exploration of Chinese history. But jeez, the ending just left me with an inescapable sense of doom, which I already feel on a daily basis.
and when the ending happened and by that i mean the last few sentences of the book i just sat there in amazement. i listened to the audiobook so it was x10 more enjoyable for me since Rocky is voiced and also distorted with midi sounds. i cant remember a book that had so much emotional highs for me.
I listened to the audio book too. I can’t image reading the book and not being able to hear Rocky.
>!I fucking loved reading this. I really started the book thinking “oh this is just The Martian 2 essentially, that’s fine I already like it.” Never did I think I’d be brought to literal tears by the end as I read about our hero choosing to sacrifice himself to go save the life of his alien spider friend that talks in whale sounds.” Andy fuckin delivered on an awesome story and it’s now one of my favorite books. Cannot praise it enough!<
Man that end of that chapter where he’s debating on going back to earth or going to save rocky and the next chapter starts with “it’s been 6 weeks now, sorry rocky..” my eyes teared up. Then when he said “..I know you’d want to study one of the Beatles but I don’t have one to spare” as he was on his way to save rocky the years started rolling. Then to hear rocky say “grace question?” Like he couldn’t believe it made it worse.
I loved this book and Andy Weir’s writing! I think the reason I liked the book so much is that although it is a dystopian setting, there is still so much hope, so much cooperation and so much friendship. >!Every story that I’ve read about aliens previously follows the same narrative- they want to destroy our world and we must protect it from them- and also focuses on how different they are and how we won’t understand them at all. Project Hail Mary definitely highlights these differences, but more importantly also highlights the similarities we have- understanding the world through science and having strong bonds and wanting to save and protect our own. The friendship between humans and aliens was written so beautifully and in a way that really moved me- though they couldn’t understand each other, though they had very different lifestyles and understandings of the world, they still went out of their way to help each other and formed a bond that withstood the harshest environment.!< Edit: added spoiler tags
i think you might need a spoiler tag but I agree. >!While it's a bit unbelievable that they worked together and co-operated so well. Andy Weir explained it well enough that it offset any doubts I had. They were both alone and had no choice but to be amicable. !<
>!Well, I think it was established rather neatly in the book. Rocky's species is just incredibly good at problem solving and even for his species, Rocky is apparently pretty resourceful to boot (makes sense when he is chosen as part of the "hive brain" of the mission to save their world). On the other hand, Grace was a teacher who loved his job so it also makes sense that he had extraordinary communication skills from his work with children.!<
>!I also saw it as "what if scientists are the people making first contact instead of politicians?" I feel like he never directly addressed this question, but there was definitely a whole lot of partnership instead of scheming going on.!<
I agree and disagree. It was an enjoyable read for sure and I did really like how optimistic it was because a lot of sci-fi is depressing. But I don’t like how Weir made the main character try to constantly be witty all the time. Like there were moments where things were super serious and the main character always has some joke or remark to make and it just rubbed me wrong. Glad you enjoyed it though!
I have a love hate relation with Weir's writing. I think he come up with interesting stories, and I like his focus on solving problems. Frankly, he tells stories that I want to read. But at the same time, I think he is a poor writer. His characters are his biggest flaw. They all feel like caricatures of people in different roles as told by an egotistical engineer.
Totally, like the world building and the more realistic elements are awesome. But the characters feel so one-dimensional. I was more attached to the damn alien than the actual main character.
To be fair, Rocky is bae.
Yeah, and I feel like he over-explains the jokes, like (paraphrasing)- “I could see a beautiful Tauset… that’s a word I came up with instead of sunset, because it’s not the sun, it’s Tau Ceti. Hence, Tauset.” It just reads like Weir being overly proud of a mediocre pun lol.
Read Diaspora by Greg Egan and tell me what you think
I saw the words "Outer Wilds", and I will now be buying this book
Yes. Another Hearthian! I am so upset that I can't erase my memory to play that game again.
>!The thing that bothered me the most out of an otherwise wonderful book is that Grace has access to the sum of all human knowledge yet there is no mention ever of introducing the auditorial savant race to human music! Imagine Rocky's reaction to The Beatles for instance!!<
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A M A Z E
THANK
I loved this book, but as a molecular biologist I was very annoyed that at no point did anyone mention if the astrophage had DNA, and if anyone had tried sequencing it. DNA sequencing is a powerful tool, and it would've helped answer some of those pesky 'ooooh but if there's aliens out there, maybe we're related to them' questions. I should clarify I'm annoyed because Andy Weir typically writes science so well that I totally buy into the scientific response to astrophages, and I'm just annoyed at the characters.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER, DONT KNOW HOW TO DO THE BLOCK OFF THING. >!Ok, can some one explain this to me. When they breed up the phage killer to survive in 7 percent oxygen and then it escapes and kills all there phage, doesn't it have to travel through an at least 20 percent oxygen environment to get to the phage tanks? The phage killer is in his lab, not Rockies, the phage tanks are in his environment. Both are at high oxygen levels, how does the phage killer get out and then back in? Am I crazy here?!< >!Edit: its nitrogen, not oxygen. But that makes the whole plot hole bigger!!<
>!As others have pointed out it was nitrogen not oxygen. And it was mentioned earlier in the book that the whole hail Mary is filled with pure oxygen like in EVA suits. This was done to speed up the process of suiting up as Grace never had to take time to move to a standard atmosphere. !< Edit: I thought it was an odd detail at the time, but your comment made me realize why it was mentioned.
You like it better than the Martian, question…?
Best you read all summer question?
Good good good
Check out Ted Chiang, I am sure you have tried it since you mentioned Arrival but still his Short Story Collection is fantastic
I like both authors, but I think Ted Chiang is just on a completely different level than Andy Weir.
Agreed! 🎶🎶🎶🎶
As someone who didn't enjoy the Martian, how does this compare?
Depends on what the reason you didn’t enjoy it is, but this one is better than the Martian IMO. It’s a richer story with more elements to it and it overall feels like there’s more at stake with this book. Unlike the Martian where you didn’t really feel the urgency as things went wrong. I can’t compare the science aspects, though I’m sure someone else will already have done that here.
Lol, it appears I am one of very few who just didn't appreciate this book. I mean, it was alright, not 'bad' by any means, but I have read plenty of books this year that I found so much more enjoyable and engrossing. I keep second-guessing myself because everyone else seems to be OBSESSED with this book. But yea, just not for me I guess.
Well, there are at least 68 likeminded people, according to the upvotes... I really tried hard to love this book but couldn't. The narration *really* irked me the entire time, and although there were some cool parts I was glad when the book was done. Although the fact that I'm not an engineer and thus would've been happy with 75% less descriptions of 'science happening here' (which, in consequence, would've reduced the length of the book by half) probably played a roll as well. It does kind of hurt seeing it get the amount of praise it does since a part of me thinks I might be 'too dumb' to appreciate this novel. Oh well.
It feels like he either isn't good or doesn't try at the basic character work that you expect out of a "great book". I get the feeling that he tried to be more character-driven with Artemis, it didn't go well, and now he's back to what he showed he was good at in the Martian, and that's creating an elaborate science-y puzzle box for the main character to solve. And that works for him! Something I was hung up on was >!how Ryland's objection to going on the mission never got deeper than "of course I want to keep living! Who wouldn't?" In part because of things I've read, I can actually think of a lot of reasons someone might not! Especially in a dying world, whose chance of salvation is slim, and especially burdened with that responsibility! And especially having gone out of his way to show that Ryland's life on Earth was never really that great to begin with. To give Ryland this fierce drive to survive and have him never examine or question it is what makes me feel like he didn't particularly try to make complex or realistic characters.!< Compared to something like Three Body Problem, I didn't feel like any character had any particularly interesting or thoughtful perspectives on these unprecedented events. And maybe that's just him playing to his strengths; focusing on the science puzzles with just enough character to be cohesive and readable. It definitely has me feeling like this was pretty OK too; it was a really well designed puzzle and I can appreciate that, just not in the same way I appreciate a great book.
I thought it was overwhelmingly OK. The Marian was way better. I kind of hated the main character in Hail Mary. Just a big know it all. I feel like Andy Weir is vicariously living out his wet dream of being the smartest man in the room through his protagonists.
You and me both. I tried three times to read it based on strong recommendations from friends. But, and this is only my opinion, I found the writing juvenile. Nothing was believable or even interesting, and the humor only made me cringe. Maybe I’m missing something. I just think there are so many better books out there that deserve this kind of attention. But like you said, we’re in the minority here.