First published 2021. Penguin, paperback, 2022, pp 478, c.120,000 words.
Warning: this review contains some minor plot spoilers, and as many have said, this excellent book is best first read completely cold. Don’t even read the blurb on the back.
Weir has almost single-handedly revived hard science fiction, a genre that had almost disappeared under the weight of fantasy. His books largely apply the laws of physics as they stand today. It was a well populated field back in the 1950s through to the 1980s with prominent authors such as Arthur C. Clarke. Science fiction has always had a speculative bent, of course, and it has been very common to break some laws of physics, very often around faster-than-light travel. Physics is, after all, advancing. At the start of the twentieth century, many physicists felt that all the basics were known and all scientists were left to do was to improve the accuracy of measurement of the fundamental constants and to catalogue the stars. Yet within fifty years physics had been up-ended by the discoveries of radioactivity, relativity, quantum mechanics, the big bang and the expansion of the universe. Today all we can be sure about is that we don’t know everything, e.g. relativity and quantum mechanics have yet to be reconciled, the ability of neutrinos to transform themselves remains a mystery, and dark matter and dark energy remain elusive. It may not be possibly for us to ever pin down somethings – see for example, Du Sautoy’s What We Cannot Know. However there is no place in science fiction for magic spells and superheroes. Those things are for childish fantasies.
The Martian, Weir’s first novel, achieved huge success as both a book and a film, and deservedly so. It was an exciting tale, entirely plausible, set in the near future. The physics and engineering were (nearly) all thoroughly thought through, and Weir wasn’t afraid of being geeky and describing in some detail the processes that were required for survival. ‘Do the math’ was a stock phrase of the hero.
Project Hail Mary is Weir’s third title, after the rather lighter weight, but enjoyable, Artemis. In some ways it is an amped up version of The Martian. In this case life on Earth is threatened by a sudden dimming in the sun’s output. Ryland Grace is the protagonist, a former academic who disagreed with his peers regarding the possibility of life without water, and he consequently became a school science teacher – a job he loves. However, a marvellously drawn Dutch woman named Stratt comes calling because his academic work may be relevant to Earth’s survival.
Ryland Grace is almost entirely in the same mould as Mark Watney from The Martian – although a little less obviously heroic – and Jazz Bashara from Artemis. He has the same sense of humour and the same propensity to grind through problems by ‘doing the math.’ Most of the other characters are slightly (or very) weird, off-beat figures who have something unique to contribute. All seemed plausible in the context.
Weir has done a first-rate job of planning the project and realising the situations that Grace is placed in. He has thought through some very strange encounters in very convincing style. The science appears to be spot on, although close examination will reveal flaws in the rocket equations, the thermodynamics of some processes, and a few other quibbles such as the invention of ‘super cross-sectionality’. Only real science geeks will worry about those [see https://sciencemeetsfiction.com/2021/06/15/the-science-of-project-hail-mary/ or https://nusantaranaga.wordpress.com/2021/09/12/close-encounters-of-the-nerd-kind-a-review-of-andy-weirs-project-hail-mary/ for example].
Weir breaks several of the rules given to novice novel writers such as ‘don’t start your book with someone waking up, particularly in hospital’ – which apparently a third of new authors choose as their opening setting (I did until I read the rule). Another ‘rule’ of good writing is ‘show, not tell’. Well there is a lot of telling in this book, particularly on how things work. Weir is a masterful writer, and so neither of these aspects grate. A structural element that is annoying in some books is opening in the middle of a story (often the most exciting point) and then later filling in the backstory before moving to the denouement. Weir uses this device, but in a very clever way that makes it an enjoyable exercise to unravel the puzzle set at the beginning of how Grace ended up where he is.
Weir’s literary style is undemanding and gently humorous. The book contains quite lot of dialog, making for easy and engaging reading. A minor quibble is that it is slightly sentimental in a Spielberg or Disney-ish fashion. The title I found slightly off-putting, but Weir loved the joke ‘Hail Mary, full of grace’, and as he is so successful presumably his publishers weren’t arguing with his choice. I very strongly recommend this book to all those who enjoy a good story, well told; and not just to science fiction fans.
© William John Graham, December 2022