It's impossible to talk about Project Hail Mary without spoiling anything. So, all I'm going to say is that it's a sci-fi story about a man who wakes up in a room with two other dead people.

When I put it like that, it sounds like an instant gripper of a novel. It was, actually. At least, the first 30%. The protagonist seemed like a nice guy with highbrow humor. He managed to squeeze a couple of chuckles out of me. Or perhaps, it was due to the phenomenal voice acting of Ray Porter who narrated the audiobook.

I was having a fun time reading until I came across the first wave of calculations. It was too much for me that I was about to quit if it weren't for the good people of Facebook's Book Recommendations group encouraging me to carry on. So, carry on, I did... And I wish I hadn't. The technicality of astrophysics and the quasi-realistic nitty-gritty detailing of the interstellar spaceship project didn't go away. In fact, it got worse to the point that I suspected that Weir gets high off of flaunting intellectual superiority. But that wasn't the problem as much as Weir expecting the readers to gulp it all without questioning. The interactive role of readers (in contemplating the text, actively seeing beyond it, even predicting where the story is going to go) has been rendered passive. Readers of PHM are mere receivers of spiritless information and the writer is expecting us to feel wowed.

Do you know what's a good idea for fun, Weir? Not mathematics. Take notes.

PHM is, without a shadow of a doubt, a prime example of 'info-dumping' at the expense of the plot, a plot that is more of a generic end-of-the-world cliche.

I understand that many fans will boo me for this review (considering the bloated 4.5/5 stars on GoodReads), but that's how I felt during my reading experience. Heck! I didn't get to the issues of how two-dimensional the characters are or how they lack development, or the issue of the know-it-all hero, which the protagonist clearly is. By the 60% mark, I completely lost my interest and finally quit reading. The protagonist, Ryland Grace (aka Gary Sue), was so unrelatable to me, even though I'm a high school teacher and in love with science. If I were a heterosexual woman, my thoughts about Grace would be like this: "he's the kinda guy who is genuinely good, the kinda guy whom you could hang out with, but definitely not make out with".

The only redeeming quality about PHM was Rocky, the alien. He was the only reason why I soldiered my way through two-thirds of the book.

Summary:       

Project Hail Mary presents an interesting concept of life-threatening danger, but sadly, fails in impactful delivery because of its realistic narrative approach. 

This got me thinking. Was the book about saving Earth or just a scientific jargon pissing contest? If this is a How-To book, I bet the title would be: 'How to make science more (less) appealing to the masses?'

Anyway, PHM is like Cast Away meeting Arrival...while being the opposite of Don't Look Up.

Midway through, the plot lost its momentum and was like drifting through space. Ironic, isn't it?

Andy Weir has done his homework...with overkill.