Introduction
This is a novel from the writer of The Martian, a well-written and entertaining book that was also made into a film starring Matt Damon. While the hype surrounding it suggests it is on par with “The Martian,” I find it falls short, although it is entertaining.
Amazon’s description:
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 does not know that. He cannot even remember his name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he has been asleep for a very, very long time. And he has just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crew mates are dead, his memories are fuzzily returning, and Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it is 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 has got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
Plot, Character, Setting, Narrative
The plot is fairly straightforward, but an interesting take on the idea of planetary disaster and what must be done for salvation. The issue I had from the beginning is that the main character is a high school science teacher. Yet, he also appears to have been a researcher who published papers that were widely panned but come to be important with the discovery of the issue that threatens Earth. Due to a bit of a forced concept of genetic needs, he ends up being one of three sent into space. The junior high science teacher saving the world is a bit implausible the way it is written. It would have been much more believable if he had been a university professor and researcher.
The character is fine, although he does not really grow throughout the entire story, although he does come to accept some things he would rather not accept. The character has some silly thoughts and is sometimes quite whiny about his situation. After all, he is not an astronaut, or even a military man, he is just a high school teacher. The best parts are where he uses his knowledge and ingenuity to solve some problems—like in “The Martian.” Other characters are rather flat and predictable, except for a character with him in space.
The setting is mostly believable, for Weir’s understanding and knowledge of technology and science is sound, as we read in The Martian. While some might think the idea of all nations working together to develop a spacecraft and send it off with a crew of three might be difficult to believe, the person put in charge of this has been given carte blanche it seems. She will do anything to try to save the planet, even if it ruins her in the end. Perhaps that was the best way to handle this issue.
Literary Aspects
I was struck by The Martian’s believable and realistic setting, plot, and character. I had no trouble believing it could happen. Project Hail Mary, not so much. While the writing is good, and the plot and characters are mostly entertaining, it has a juvenile feel about it, mixed with some good science. It is a bit disconcerting. It cannot decide whether it is a YA novel or an adult novel.
Some inner dialogue of the protagonist also seems childish. I think it was intended to be humorous, but I just found it distracting. He is almost a caricature of a junior high teacher, saying things like, “golly,” and “darn,” “I wish parents would do a better job with their kids,” and “Hey, junior high science teachers know things!”
This book reads to me as if he was trying to recreate the success of The Martian, but it feels forced. The plot concept is a good one, the execution leaves much to be desired.
Summary and Recommendation
This was a pretty negative review, and part of that may be because The Martian set my expectations so high. Perhaps the glowing reviews also made me expect it to be on par with the earlier novel. It is not. And I find myself standing at the many glowing reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
It is true that the things that happened to the character are entertaining, and I did not get bored. I would cautiously recommend it as a quick and entertaining read, but do not expect anything like The Martian. The science and discoveries are the most interesting thing about this novel, and if you enjoy that sort of thing in your novels, you will enjoy that part, at least.
A fun, light read, but do not expect any depth of character or literary excellence.
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