This post WILL include spoilers, read at your own risk. With that being said, the spoilers will be marked as such so you can just scroll real fast past it!

I have successfully read Project Hail Mary before the movie came out! I’m really proud of that fact specifically because I’m usually very late to the game.

I don’t typically read science fiction. Something about the genre makes it difficult for me to fully resonate with it. I think it has something to do with the large amount of info dumping that’s honestly kind of necessary for this genre. Like, you can’t expect the average reader to know how molecular biology works so you need to explain it to them in a way someone who doesn’t study it would understand.

Although this can be interesting (I spent two of my lunch breaks not that long ago watching videos about black holes…my search history is vast, odd, and extremely eclectic) it also can take the reader out of the story in my opinion.

I found this when I read Jurassic Park for the first time last year. Watching the movie, you can feel the horror of the situation. There are children stuck in a kitchen with raptors and a dude gets eaten on a toilet. Jeff Goldblum is being sassy the whole time and almost dies. The book however, lacked this for me. I didn’t feel the connection to the fear that the movie managed to do for me. Ian Malcom isn’t nearly as entertaining and frankly, I quiet enjoyed that the film made there be a romance between Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler. It’s one of those rare moments where I preferred the movie (I know, blasphemous).

Now, Project Hail Mary nailed I think the overall atmosphere it was trying to give. It’s meant to be cool. Like, holy s**t I just met an alien, cool. But again, I found myself feeling separated from the horror of the novel.

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The premise of the novel is that Ryland Grace, an elementary school science teacher, ends up being the primary scientist studying a micro-organism called Astrophage. This is an alien species that is found to be eating the Sun. Yup, you read that right. The sun is literally being eaten. It’s fire and light are slowly but surely being consumed by these little black dots.

I won’t give everything away, but Ryland Grace ends up light years away, meets an alien he names Rocky (we love Rocky, we want Rocky to live here) and successfully saves not only Earth but Rocky’s planet who managed to have the exact same problem.

This is really frigging cool at the base level BUT I think I was supposed to be more affected by the horrors of Earth potentially ceasing to exist because of these little black sun-eating dots. And I just felt…indifferent. Like yeah, it was pretty messed up that so many deaths happened and reading about Grace trying his little heart out to solve the issue was in some way heartbreaking. But it was still removed somehow. The only part that really hit me was Rocky almost dying. That was sad and I would have had some choice words for Mr. Andy Weir if he had killed him off.

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I’ve come to realize something the more I read widely that I need emotional connection to truly enjoy a book. This lacking can even happen in books whose entire purpose is to be emotional. Like woman’s fiction for example. I read The Life List not long after Project Hail Mary. I adored the movie so much. Basically, anything with Sofia Carson brings me joy, and she absolutely nailed the role. I think most woman can resonate with a daughter losing their mother. Not to mention I’m getting close to the age of the main character, so I think I just felt truly connected with Alex Rose.

However, the book felt chaotic. The main character was erratic and kind of annoying. She was completely all over the place (although I can relate to this so maybe it was a personal annoyance with myself that made me not like this character trait) and Alex felt completely unrelatable the way she was written. It’s crazy how the character was perfection in the film but someone I’d never want to know her in book form.

With that being said, 3 out 5 stars for Project Hail Mary. I think that’s fair. For someone who is hardcore into science fiction this would likely be a 5-star read. It’s chock-full of fun science facts and Ryland Grace is so obviously passionate about his work that it’s hard to not feel that excitement alongside him. I just personally need more…pizzazz (insert jazz hands here).

Okay, now for the shameless self-insert.
For those of you who don’t know, my name is Shy MacShannon and I am a Canadian (soon to be published) author. I’m currently working on my debut titled Chuck the Chosen, a comedic fantasy about a 34-year-old guy who just wants to know if this whole chosen thing comes with any benefits, like a pay cheque perhaps.

If you’d like to stick around to watch my journey to becoming published you can do so here, on threads or on IG ❤️