Restoring Faith in Humanity In The Face Of Insurmountable Odds
If I were to think about the elements of a good story, it wouldn’t take long before I hit upon the relationship between a protagonist and their antagonist. Or perhaps, I would focus on a sense of conflict between the characters.
Project Hail Mary deftly answers the question: does a story still hold together if some of these seemingly essential elements are missing?
Therein lies the uniqueness of Project Hail Mary. It’s a contemporary SciFi story that oozes technical style without ever talking down to its reader — which sometimes the genre falls prey to. It’s a book that does away with some of the traditional elements of telling a good story, without losing it’s impact on the reader. It’s a book that mystifies and warms in equal measure. There is no antagonist, and the main draw of the novel isn’t the conflict between the characters, but the sense of cooperation.
What I’m trying to say here is that Project Hail Mary is different.
The story premise is simple, a microscopic organism is discovered in space that multiplies so fast, it creates a blanket between Earth and the Sun, preventing the Sun’s rays from warming the planet, risking an ice age and mass extinction for every living organism. This mysterious microorganism is found to be incredibly useful to humans, jolting us forwards technologically hundreds of years… if only it didn’t also herald the end of the world.
The antagonist here is a concept, rather than a tangible entity, even this microorganism isn’t the ‘bad guy’. Instead, the antagonist is human nature; our capacity to put aside our differences to do what we need to do to make our species survive.
The story is told through the lens of Ryland Grace, who wakes up in a mysterious facility with no memories of who he is, where he is, or what he’s supposed to be doing. This is a brilliant way to tell this complex story, giving us the ability to learn his purpose along with him. There are no secrets kept from the reader — just amnesia. As his memories begin to unfurl, we are treated to the narrative that leads him to that mysterious facility in flashback form, as he grapples with his mission.
Grace learns that he is in space, and that he is alone, and that he can never go home. As Grace battles with his human nature, his in-built cowardice, his incredible intelligence and his need to “do right”, we begin to piece together his purpose, and how he must put aside his emotions to rise up and save the planet.
The book’s central conflict revolves around technical disciplines such as astronomy, microbiology, physics and chemistry — does Grace have the necessary knowledge and tools to complete his mission? If he doesn’t, how does he overcome that problem?
The central themes are selflessness and cooperation. There are moments that make you laugh, moments that trigger introspection, and moments that push you to tears.
The book was a genuine joy to read throughout, and honestly left me wanting more, despite the neat little bow the author added to the end of the story.
I’ve heard it described as “Cooperation Porn” which glamorises the human ability to be selfless, putting aside all the things that cause us conflict as a species (politics, race, religion), presenting us an idealised version of what our world would be like if we were ever faced with such an extinction level event. Some readers may find this lack of human-nature ‘realism’ to be strange to read, but when it’s presented in the confines of this incredible story, even this lack of realism becomes endearing, rather than uncomfortable.
There are surprises in store for anyone who wants to dive into the world that Andy Weir has created. It’s not a simple story, but Weir carefully guides you through the emotional ups and downs to ensure you’re always reading something engaging, even if it’s tense or upsetting.
I listened to this book on Audible, and the experience was so great, that I’d go so far as to say that Audiobook is the better medium for consuming this story — as an avid book reader, it feels like blasphemy to say this, but if you listen to the audiobook, you’ll undoubtedly know exactly what I mean.
Overall, this book was a genuine treat to read, and Weir has turned me into a superfan immediately.