Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

As I rule, I'm not a sci-fi fan. I don't know why, it's just never really pulled me in. Maybe it's deeprooted trauma from being made to watch Star Wars on repeat when I was younger both by my Dad and my brother. My brain just shuts down and I'm not interested.

But a few years ago I went to see The Martian and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (If I remember rightly I was on a bit of Matt Damon binge at the time). I then read Artemis and though that was cool as hell, and then I went back and read The Martian... incredible.

So when Project Hail Mary came out, I was obviously going to give it a go.

I cannot put into words how impressive I found this book. It might be because I have a limited point of reference but:

It was the first time I've ever had to put a book down because I actually felt like I was going to throw up from Vertigo. WEIR MANAGED TO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE I WAS PHYSICALLY IN SPACE

I actually had to sit up in my ~~pit~~ bed at points because I was so tense.

Now I'm not saying I don't normally feel emotions when I read books because I do; I cry, I laugh out loud, I cringe. But to feel such intense feelings that had drawn me in so deep... bloody brilliant.

Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship. His two crew mates are dead and he's just woken up from a three year medically induced coma to do... something. But he can't remember what.

The story is told through a series of flashbacks amongst his real time experiences and he works out pretty early on that's he's there to save the world. OF COURSE HE IS.

The science in this book is mind-blowing. It could all be complete bollocks for all I know. I haven't even so much as thought about a petri dish in 20 years. But it sounded bloody good.

Grace is such a normal person too. He's not even an astronaut - he's a high school science teacher. And his thought processes throughout the entire ordeal (because that's exactly what it is) are perfectly reasonable given his situation.

This is an incredible story, written absolutely fantastically. I don't think they'd ever turn it into a film, but I would be first in line to see it.

Comments

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