Project Hail Mary

By: Andy Weir

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2022 Audie Awards' Audiobook of the Year

Number-One Audible and New York Times Audio Best Seller

More than one million audiobooks sold

A lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this incredible new science-based thriller from the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Martian.

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.

Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian - while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

PLEASE NOTE: To accommodate this audio edition, some changes to the original text have been made with the approval of author Andy Weir.

©2021 Andy Weir (P)2021 Audible Studios

Bazinga

I enjoyed both The Martian and Artemis so I pre-ordered this one and started it immediately. It did not disappoint. Andy Weir is one of my favorite authors and Ray Porter is one of my favorite narrators so this combination is a win-win. The narration is superb and the writing is great. I recommend this book. Don't over think it. This is worth the price of admission.

Disclaimer: My enjoyment of the narrator is based on my listening speed. I only leave 5 stars for books I've listened to or will listen to multiple times.

Absolutely Great... way better than Artemis

Awesome story telling. Great build up of the characters and universe. Can't compare to The Martian as that was novel/unique, but this absolutely crushes Artemis. Reminds me of a cross between Old Man's War and the Three Body Problem (but slightly less cerebral than the latter).

Highest Order of Geekgasm Medal

Let me start off by saying that I strongly enjoyed The Martian and Artemis (please, please don't let the negative comments of others dissuade you from reading Artemis). Until yesterday, American Gods was my unrivaled favorite; as of finishing Project Hail Mary, it is now tied for my very favorite. I will not provide spoilers, but if you enjoy good science fiction (Scalzi, Taylor, Adams) and understand that what makes good science fiction is good science, get Project Hail Mary.

As for Ray Porter, I fell in love with his narration of We Are Legion (We Are Bob) and its sequels. His enthusiastic, geeky, humorous, witty, and sarcastic tones are an absolute delight to my ears. No other narrator could have done as well or better.

I don't regret preordering both the audiobook and a signed copy of Project Hail Mary in the slightest. To the contrary, I am elated and am looking forward to listening to this audiobook many, many times.

So good, it's depressing

Every once in a while I'll finish a book and can't help but get a bit depressed. Knowing that the magic and intrigue you felt can never quite be captured again. Part of this comes from completing it so quickly, I just couldn't put it down. The other was I KNEW I would love it just because it was written by Andy Weir. Most books it takes a few chapters to start getting into it but was hooked from the start.

Without giving anything away I'd say that it's a mix of the Bobiverse and the Martian. The amazing adventure that comes with space while geeking out on science projects.

NOT the Martian

In the Martian his "high school science lecture" content was acceptable because of the suspense. Here, which as far as I can tell is an attempt to re-create that, it totally fails. After several hours of boring basic science and NOTHING at all happening, I had enough. It's just dull, the attempt at suspense seems manufactured and there's no action. I really liked Artemis, and wish he's written a sequel to that. I am returning this one disappointed.

Wow. AMAZE. AMAZE. AMAZE.

I rarely write reviews but had to this time. This was the best and most fun I’ve had listening to an audiobook ever. Perfect mix of science fiction and humor and just overall amazing. The narrator is so talented! Highly highly highly recommend.

Smart but predictable

It has all the science we love from an Andy Weir book. It makes you think and even look up stuff you didn’t know, but it was a tad predictable. If you love his other two books you will enjoy this read/listen. Would have like to hear R.C. Bray as the narrator, the Martian audio book will always be one of my favorites. While the narrator wasn’t bad in this one, just wasn’t sucked into the characters as much as with the Martian or even Artemis. Maybe having preorder the book built up a hype He couldn’t have possible matched but I did finish the book in three days. I would recommend.

A fun Weir novel, but a step back

if you know Andy Weir, this book will fit your expectations while still offering great surprises. however, it also shows done of his weakness. characters are generally flat, and the protagonist's shallow sarcasm wears on you. The reader performs it admirably, but the work could have benefited from backing off a bit rather than leaning into the goofiness.

The inherently mysterious nature of the work makes it hard to discuss the plot or characters in a review, but suffice it to say that the incredible amount of research and thought that went into the science is on display, and there's some creative thinking there that seems both wondrous and plausible. All the moving parts cone together on the end, but not without reasonable yet unexpected consequences.

I enjoyed it, but of you aren't a fan of Weir, try The Martian first.

Good book, similar to the Martian, but not quite

Definately Weir returning to his origins. A single engineer/scientist against all odds solving problems and making things work.

It's a good book. Though the lack of interest in using the astrophage problem to solve it did become a bit annoying. They have a 5000,000 ISP rocket engine and that's never used to deploy anti astrophage methods? makes no sense.

This does suffer from the Portal 2 dillema. Is it as good as the Martian? No. Is it good? Yes. Below the Martian and Artemis, but still very readable.

I recommend reading. It's a bit too long though.

Danger, aliens ahead

Great story 😌. surprise ending.

.A very different approach to a very perplexing problem. Go for it!