This article contains my raw thoughts on the book "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir.
Started project hail mary today (25th Feb 2024). Finished the first chapter. It seems pretty cool. I find the narrator funny. I'm instantly hooked, and super curious about what the main character is going to do. I like the way that he is analyzing his own thoughts and words to understand more about himself. The pace and the tone of the narrator resonates with my own writing style I felt. I'm thinking of starting chapter 2 too.
I read the second and third chapter. Turns out he's a teacher. What was his name Rudley something. So, this is an alien story. It seemed we are moving away from the sun, but it turns out to be another solar system. From what I'm reading so far, I'm gonna predict the story. MC finds out that aliens are eating the sun. They make a plan with the Stratt person to either form a separate colony of humans or maybe take all the aliens with them in a rocket and maybe send the aliens to a different solar system in which case probably the rocket is using those alien's abilities as fuel. Though, both seem a bit unlikely too. If they wanted to start a colony, they could've sent more people. The computer clearly has some error, cuz two people are dead. So, if this book doesn't have a happy ending, maybe it'll make sense a bit? idk. Assuming it does have a happy ending, it's even possible that the rest of the crew is in some other part of the rocket right now, and they'll start a colony in that solar system they're going towards I guess. If they're just taking away the aliens somewhere and sacrificing themselves, I'm not sure if that's a good ending. Idk depends on the way it's told. But so far, this seems to be more unlikely. How would the MC feel when he discovers that he's sacrificing his life? Is that all this story amounts to? I'm curious what's going on and feel like reading more immediately. Maybe I'll do some other work and get back to it before sleeping.
Read chapter 4 last night too. it was fun. i was right about a few things. so it indeed is a one way trip and the astrophage are the fuel. now about saving humanity with it as the MC guesses, I'm not sure about it. if so, it's possible that the aliens were slowed down and the sun is not in that bad of a state as predicted since it's probably been a lot of years on the rocket for Grace. Im quite immersed into the story. I'll read the next chapter tomorrow.
So, it's 2nd March. I finished the novel today afternoon around 1530-1600 I think. It's an amazing adventure. Turns out that Dr. Grace never wanted to be a part of the crew. That was an unexpected twist. I loved reading this book. It's emotional and tense.
I love every interaction between Rocky and Grace. It's incredibly cute. I love how they get excited over science, how they teach each other, and how they know each other's habits without being explicitly told. I think they've risked their life for each other multiple times.
The mystery about the Astrophage and the solution that comes up is satisfying. The disasters that follow them while and after acquiring Taumoeba have been such an incredible read. The suspense about how they're going to fix this problem and the surprise at the solution leaves me feeling happy for these characters and hoping they'd both get their good ending.
The end wasn't expected but I was always hoping that Grace should get to visit Erid, and then he did! Plus he stayed there for years! It totally makes sense that he would become a teacher there too. It's a bit funny, but I love it. I'm also glad that they didn't leave out the crucial thing - whether or not Earth survived. I'm glad to have a satisfying end. Though, I'd love it if there are more books after this too. Maybe the events on Earth after the Hail Mary left till the beetles returned. I was also hoping that maybe Grace returns to Earth and we get to see how the characters react to his information that he met an alien , and the solution to the Astrophage problem. But I know I was hoping for too much. That's unnecessary for a novel, I don't know why. Most novels / any media don't really show what happens after the audience is sure that the protagonist(s) have solved every problem. I wanted to know how Grace would confront Stratt when he returned, I imagine she'd be an old lady, probably in prison or something. And when he meets Grace he just feels bad? Nah, even if she's in prison, she'd probably be ruling the prison. Though, if I think like that, it's also likely that she doesn't end up in prison at all and that she's already made plans about how to navigate after Hail Mary took off. But to be fair, Grace didn't have much on Earth it seemed. He had his college friend, his students and Stratt. He did care for his students. Don't know about the college friend, I don't think she had another appearance after her first one. I also wonder what if they had decided that Rocky and Grace visit Earth first, and then Earthians help Rocky go back to Erid. Who knows how that'd have ended up. I guess the novel would've ended when they spot Earth or something. Which is kinda how it ended really too.
Anyway, good book. Would recommend. 10/10