Project Hail Mary by Andy WeirMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars
🚫 Zero Spice lol
This book is light years away from my normal day to day read, but turns out that did not matter because fudging hell, I loved it!!
The book starts off pretty easy. There is humor and mystery, and honestly, I felt like I slipped into the book as easily as breathing. It is hard to even put into words why the book worked so well, but I will start with my highlights.
The premise of the story itself, the high stakes, the risks, and this massive unknown all work brilliantly. As someone who is not particularly science minded, I would say that even with all the information and technical details sprinkled throughout the book, I was still completely invested.
I normally dislike books that use flashbacks or things that pull me away from the main story, but here it felt like I was living inside Grace's struggling mind as he worked to understand for himself what in the world had happened to get him here. It made for the BEST mystery. I spent almost the whole flipping book convinced of one thing, only to reach the end and go OMG!!! I was wrong. It completely flipped everything on its head, and I loved it. It had me gasping and feeling awful for Grace when he learned the truth too.
While Grace was, of course, the lead, and I really enjoyed his character, Rocky totally stole the top spot for me. He was so likable, and watching him become a little sassier, more fun, and more outspoken as the story went on had me rolling around giggling. I loved watching the pair bounce off one another, learn together, and simply try to do the best they could.
I was honestly shocked by how much I liked this book because it somehow felt like it had both a lot going on and not much going on at the same time. It is such a weird feeling. Normally when I read a book there are so many characters that I need notes to remember important names, but here the story is limited and contained because of the environment and situation.
The flashbacks give you lots of people, places, and events, but they all exist within Grace's memories. In reality, you are stuck on a small ship and almost completely alone. I felt like the author handled the back and forth between those two elements incredibly well, and I could not have been happier with it.
A few things I struggled with were that some of the science became a little overwhelming for me, and I had to reread those sections. I also would have loved a more emotional reaction from Grace in a few places. There were moments where I felt he should have had a bigger outburst or more emotional turmoil. I know I would have been climbing the walls.
Also, that ending... OMG!!! Perfect. I really liked how it ended, but I did have one massive question and one moment that made me gasp. I cannot say much more because I do not want to spoil anything for people who have not read it.
Overall, a fantastic science fiction book!!
View all my reviews
