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Imagine waking up in a room with no windows, no clothes, and multitudes of tubes hooked up to you. You have no idea who or where you are, but somewhere in the back of your mind, you know, you are here for a very important reason:
- The sun is infected with “Astrophage” a bacterium that feasts on the energy of stars.
- Every other star in the local part of our galaxy is getting dimmer: Except Tau Ceti.
- It is your responsibility to go there, figure out why Tau is immune, and how to save the sun.
The kicker: your crew mates are dead, and even if you succeed, you don’t have enough fuel to get home. This is a suicide mission. You are quite literally, Earth’s ‘Hail Mary’ pass at surviving a star plague.
This is the predicament of Dr. Ryland Grace, the former microbiologist and cool science teacher from an American junior high school.
From Andy Weir, the bestselling author of The Martian (2011) and Artemis (2017), comes his latest novel and my new favorite science fiction thriller, Project Hail Mary.
Like his previous novels, Weir gives his characters a sarcastic, practical and conversational tone in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. With every new complication, change in circumstance or serious mistake, Weir walks readers through the character’s practical thought process, including layman’s explanations of their mathematical and scientific reasoning. This creates a fascinating, immersive, and terrifyingly real reading experience.
Meet characters like Eva Stratt, the matter of fact, morally grey administrator who has complete control of all the UN’s resources in order to get the mission to Tau Ceti, ‘Project Hail Mary’ off the ground. Dimitri Komorov, a Russian scientist who designs an interstellar travel method using the very bacteria that are eating the sun, a ‘spin drive’ so powerful that they can only test them in the middle of the ocean. Francis LeClerc, a climatologist who dedicated his life to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, ironically only to end up figuring out how to blanket the earth with them to preserve heat as the sun dims. Oh and who can forget Rocky: Dr. Grace’s unexpected five legged roommate.
Essentially, if you want to be puzzled by a brand new fictitious solid metal compound (somehow made out of a Noble Gas?), gain a new respect for the potential field of extraterrestrial linguistics, or appreciate the idea of having a dorky alien roommate who makes you feel bad about your math skills and watches you sleep, then this is definitely the book for you.
That said, this book does have some inconsistencies. One brought up by the initial review of the book in The Washington Post, is the insane lack of checklists. This may seem like a small thing, but modern missions, manned and unmanned, from any country all rely on exhaustive and redundant sets of lists to ensure that missions go off without a hitch. No such planning is evident here, if only to create situations for Weir to show off Grace’s creativity and quick thinking.
Some scientists got more nitpicky about the book, including Alex Howe, a recent PhD graduate from Princeton University, who noted some of Weir’s evaluations of exoplanetary conditions were inaccurate, including the relative brightness on the surface of a planet with 29 atmospheres worth of pressure. Another general mistake Howe points out is some subtle inaccuracies within the math pertaining to relativity and interstellar travel.
In my opinion, these mistakes do not take away from the book at all, but merely bring home the idea that no book, nor author, is perfect.
Action packed, nerdy, and humorous, Project Hail Mary is a great choice for a wildly entertaining weekend read.
