REVIEW:

Project Hail Mary rises like a phoenix from the ashes of the steaming dumpster fire that was Andy Weir’s unfinishable Artemis.

Weir’s return to form brings us a science teacher, Ryland Grace, who’s thrust into an effort to save Earth from a raging space algae that’s draining the sun. (Kinda like if Walter White had gone good instead of breaking bad with a meth empire.) He wakes up alone on a spacecraft and has to remember how and why he got there, not to mention how he’ll get home.

If his stranded-in-space circumstance sounds a little like Mark Whatney’s in The Martian, that’s because it is. Imagine The Martian as a box of cereal that’s been reformulated, rebranded, and relaunched with promo bursts like: “Same great sarcasm!” “Now with even higher stakes!” “Fortified with more science!” “New and improved female characterization!” “Adorable alien life form gift with purchase!”

Can I blame the author for giving people what they want again after tumbling over a turd like Artemis? No I cannot. Can I help you try to decide which format to choose for this one? I can try.

Audiobook:

• Ray Porter narrates (presumably because Wil Wheaton was either busy or the producers realized having him do it would turn Ryland Grace 100% into Mark Whatney). Porter can be a little hammy for my tastes, but many people love him.

• The story dips in and out between Grace’s present on the spacecraft and past on Earth leading up to his mission. There are no discernible markers other than dangling, unfinished sentences… so it can be tricky to notice the time shifted.

• Grace meets an alien named Rocky who communicates initially through tones and eventually through pixelated/robotic English. On audio his voice is fun fun fun!

• The title is an Audible Exclusive, so you won’t be able to find it from other audiobook services or through your library apps like Hoopla or Libby. Bad bad bad.

Print:

• An illustration of Grace’s spacecraft is included.

• Time shifts are easy to recognize.

• Rocky’s native tonal language is represented by musical notes.

• You get the author’s Acknowledgements, but he basically just thanks people.

It’s almost a toss up, but for my money I’d give the edge to experiencing this story in print. Better do it before the movie starring Ryan Gosling comes out. Amaze! ;)

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

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.