WeHa Book Club

*Spoiler Free Review*

Wow, what an absolute blast!

I have been hearing about this book for a few years now, having it actively recommended to me by at least four or five people. I do have to mention that Alli was the first person to recommend this book to me, long before I had heard it muttered by anybody else. And that last sentence was to make sure I don’t get any shit for not mentioning that haha.

At any rate, the buzz has predictably ticked up over the past few months with the theatrical release of the Ryan Gosling project. And for good reason! For ‘movie-only’ people, this is a follow-up from the guy who wrote The Martian, which went on to receive seven Oscar noms and clear a cool $630 million at the box office (6x it’s budget).

In it’s own right, Project Hail Mary has already doubled it’s budget, raking in over $400 million and counting. It’s got a 94% and 96% (critics and audience score, respectively) on Rotten Tomatoes, eclipsing even The Martian which scored a 91%/91%.

But we’re not hear to talk about the movies. We’re here to talk about the book. And Amaze, Jazz Hands, Excite – this was a truly fantastic ride.

Super science heavy but somehow able to avoid feeling like a lecture, sharp humor and a generally engrossing plot keep Project Hail Mary moving at a blistering pace that makes it nearly impossible to put this thing down.

Let’s be honest, I’m usually excited to get to the last page of a book. There’s a sense of accomplishment from finishing something, you finally get the conclusion you’ve been driving towards for hundreds of pages, you get to feel super smart for being a reader at all. It’s rewarding! But this was a rare example of me not wanting the story to end at all; a feeling usually reserved for giant book series like The Dark Tower or Harry Potter.

I could have spent another 500 pages on that space ship and it still would’ve been too short. Don’t get me wrong, I was as hungry to see how this story ended as anyone, but I was so sad for it to be over. The excitement these characters have for learning and discovery, alone, was infectious! It made me miss going to school!

I’ll save you any more details, because I really think this is one of those ‘the less you know the better’ type of books. But let me be extremely clear here… Project Hail Mary was a masterpiece of science fiction. Read. This. Book.

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Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir