The story of Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir starts with our protagonist waking up somewhere but without knowing where he is, nor who he even is! Eventually, he will learn that he’s on a mission to save all of humanity from extinction. Something has caused our sun to no longer provide enough heat and so the climate is rapidly changing, just in the direction opposite to what we are currently experiencing.
In a sense, Project Hail Mary feels like a clear successor to The Martian, once again there is a primary protagonist that acts mostly in isolation. Ryland Grace is similar to Mark Watney in that he is clever, open-minded, but also very relatable and funny. His initial memory loss is slowly but steadily resolved by the story jumping back in time every other chapter. Once such a chapter is complete, he also remembers what happened back then. Neat trick!
Nobody can really help him there as he is - again similar to the protagonist from The Martian” - all alone. That feeling of loneliness is again very well represented here. It helps you realize once again how a small speck of matter you as a human being are in the grand scheme of things. That and how far away even the closest stars are from Earth.
I guess by now I don’t really have to say that I really enjoyed this one. Sure, it’s not as “novel” as “The Martian” but it improves on nearly every aspect here, increasing the scope once more and simply makes for an awesome read!
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