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, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s 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’s got to do it all alone. 

Or does he?

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

Wow, what a fantastic read/listen this was! I picked up the Audible version narrated by the brilliant Ray Porter. Having thoroughly enjoyed The Martian, I was excited by the premise of Project Hail Mary.

With the discovery that the sun is dying due to a mysterious and previously unknow organism known as astrophage is feeding on its energy, the world’s scientists are plunged into a mission to find a way to prevent disaster. The story begins with middle school teacher Dr. Ryland Grace regains consciousness on a space craft floating through space. He can’t remember who he is or why he’s there. What transpires is a story that flits between the past, explaining the back story that led him to where he is now, and the present, outlining the mission he finds himself on.

It’s a beautiful, heart-warming story of the human ability to come together to save ourselves, but even more so, it’s a story of the connection between a man alone in space and a lonely rock-based alien lifeform, affectionately named Rocky. They spend a lot of time learning how to communicate despite their differences. Their connection and their shared drive to save their worlds is wonderful, filling the story with hope, and the ending only made the story that much more beautiful.

My rating: