Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, 476 pages, ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

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, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - 482 pages

Ok, y'all.  

Do not read the summary of this book.  Don't do it.  Just trust me on this one.

Do you enjoy books that are:

1.) Entertaining?

2.) Smart and science-y?

3.) Laugh out loud funny?

Then bingo, this is a book for you! I completely loved this book, and was sobbing by the end. SOBBING I tell ya.  This was a five star read for me, and is definitley going on my favorite books of the year list.

Go forth and read, my friends! 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, 476 p.

"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."--Goodread blurb
 I've book looking forward to the release of this book for many months, and it did not disappoint. Weir's great talent for hilarious and heartfelt stories, plus a large dose of science-y stuff, it was one of my favorite reads of the year so far. If you love science and buddy comedies, this is a great read. I don't five-star books often, but this one got *****

Artemis by Andy Weir

Artemis: A Novel by Andy Weir ---  305 pages

Jazz Bashara a smart-mouthed ex-juvenile delinquent who's never stopped rebelling against authority, ekes out a living as a porter and  a small-time crook who smuggles in contraband to people living in the lunar frontier town of Artemis.

The sum of her ambition is to pay off her debts so that she can ditch her "coffin" space for a place big enough to turn around in with her own private bathroom. When one of her regular customers asks her to help him sabotage a lunar mining operation so he can take over its contract to supply oxygen to the city, she's not interested --- until he offers her a million slugs (local currency) to do the job. Jazz comes up with a plan that can't fail --- until it does, spectacularly so. Her customer is murdered and Jazz finds herself in the crosshairs of a conspiracy to take over Artemis.

Andy Weir is a former software engineer who wrote science fiction in his spare time, until his first, self-published novel The Martian was picked up by Crown Publishing Group, then turned into a major motion picture in 2015, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon.

In 2016 Weir won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Analog Magazine.

Artemis, like many sophomore efforts, has not quite lived up to the promise of The Martian, in the opinion of reviewers, but has already been optioned for development as a film.

Click HERE to read an interview with Andy Weir from The Verge.

Click HERE to read a review of Artemis from The Guardian.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read a review from Tor.com.

The Martian by Andy Weir - 387 pages

The Martian by Andy Weir - 387 pages

Mark Watney is stranded on Mars after an unfortunate impaling, and has to figure out how to survive being the first man to do nearly everything on the red planet.  Mechanical failures, food shortages, and physics debacles abound in this story of one man against absolutely no actual martians.

This book was full of wry humor, sarcasm, near death experiences, and ultimately an uplifting (haha, a little astronaut humor) message about maintaining a constructive attitude in the face of severe potato shortages and explosive decompression.  Sometimes veering into near-techno-speak, it was the kind of believable sci-fi that made me feel smart and space-saavy even though I'm not, and had me rooting for Watney all the way.