Shannon's Library

LET’S GET EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK!

Earth is in crisis. Humanity’s future is at stake. A lone astronaut is on a mission to save the day. There’s only one problem, he’s just woken up on his spaceship, light years from Earth and has no idea who he is or what he is supposed to be doing!

Keep reading below for my full review of this unputdownable interstellar adventure!

Shannon’s Rating — R (The F-word is used 4 times. So, if it was a movie, it would have to be rated R. But other than that, it was fairly clean.)

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LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK!

If you know me at all, you know I love apocalyptic movies. The ones where the fate of earth and all mankind hang in the balance of a few noble heroes. Yes, these stories are predictable and formulaic. I do not care. I love them all. Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, War of the Worlds, 2012, World War Z… all great! And, of course, it’s required in my household to watch Independence Day every Fourth of July! So, to say I am the perfect audience for “Project Hail Mary,” by Andy Weir, would be absolutely correct!

I’ve been hearing about “Project Hail Mary” for quite some time now. While the concept seemed right up my alley, I was a little hesitant because I heard it had a lot of science in it. Science is not my thing. Math is not my thing. I barely passed physics in High School, avoided chemistry like the plague, and took the bare minimum of math in order to get a history degree in college. So, reading a book full of science/math terminology seemed kind of intimidating. If anyone else out there is feeling the same way, rest assured, you can casually skim over the science parts (like I did) and not lose any crucial part of the story. And for those of you that really get into the science stuff, there’s enough chemistry/physics/math to keep you all entertained!

After all my worrying about the science and math that would be in this book, I laughed out loud when the first sentence was “What’s two plus two?” When I read that, I figured maybe I’d be ok!

This fun-filled adventure novel begins with our protagonist, Ryland Grace being asked this 2+2 math question. Ryland has woken up aboard a spaceship, light years away from earth. He has no memory of who or where he is. Gradually his memories return, and he realizes he has one job to do…save all of humankind! Ryland is a down-to-earth, sarcastic, dad-joking kind of a guy and I loved him! He was the space version of MacGyver and I was totally cheering him on the whole time. I’m not going to go into anymore of the plot than that because you just need to experience it all for yourself. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Usually when I read a book, I’ll use sticky tabs to mark all the beautifully written parts or quotes that I want to remember when I write my review. Well, when I finished this book there weren’t any sticky notes sticking out of it. But is that necessarily a bad thing? No. It just means this is a different type of book to enjoy.

I did love one thing Ryland said…

“Maybe it’s just the childish optimist in me, but humanity can be pretty impressive when we put our minds to it.”

I loved how all of humanity worked together on this mission to save Earth. With so many countries in turmoil and conflict with each other right now, it was refreshing to read about we could do if we worked together.

Also, while this novel falls squarely into the action/adventure genre, it had some tender moments of courage, sacrifice and friendship that surprised me. Not to mention quite a few comedic parts!

And, if you need one more reason to be excited about “Project Hail Mary,” Ryan Gosling has signed on to star in the upcoming movie adaption! Enough said.

Now go read this book and get excited with me about Ryan Gosling portraying Ryland Grace. R.G. and R.G. It was meant to be!