Scientist turned middle school teacher gets roped into a last ditch effort to save Earth. There's lots of nerdy science and even aliens from outer space. This was the second time reading this. Enjoyed it as much as the first reading. If you liked The Martian, you'll like this one, too. ( )

I enjoyed the plot of Hail Mary but didn't like it as much as The Martian. I could easily understand calorie intake and fractions of potatoes in the latter, but the scientific explanations in Hail Mary were far beyond me and I found myself skimming through much of the book. ( )

A bit plodding at times (especially in the earth sections), but absolutely loved the dialogue between Rocky and Grace. Totally made this worth reading. ( )

1st read: August 2021
2nd read: January 2022

I love this book just as much the second time around.
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Ryland Grace wakes up from a coma and doesn't remember his name or where he is, but slowly remembers more and more. Eventually he figures out that he's on a spaceship and what he needs to do to save humanity.

It took me a while (about 25% or so) to really get into Project Hail Mary, but then I couldn't put it down. I'm wary about saying too much about it, because one of the best parts of this book was how unexpected some of the events were, so I'm going to keep this pretty vague.

Project Hail Mary shows Grace's present and his past (via flashbacks). The present and past parts of the story fit well together and were both interesting. I really like Grace's interactions with other characters, and the banter and friendships that develop.

There is a lot of math and science in this book, which I think added a lot to the story. I think that the author did a good job of explaining things so that non-science-y people could understand, even if I sometimes had to read a section through twice. ( )

Extremely compelling plot set-up - earth is doomed - and we know why - something is eating the sun. ONw go find something that will eat the thing that's eating the sun. where the story got tedious - and was most of the book - is with the alien encounter. Autho missed a big chance to make that more interesting - why was he 100% friendly and aligned? could have been more intrigue still overall a very good read. ( )