In 'Project Hail Mary', Andy Weir returns to what he does best - the lone scientist guy, bravely sciencing the heck out of an apparently insurmountable problem.
Something is depleting the radiation from our sun. If this goes on, the earth will be an icicle in just a few decades. Even all our race's fossil fuel burning these last few centuries has bought just a year or two more grace. A bizarre interstellar organism feeds on the energy of stars. And not just our star but all of the others in the our stellar neighbourhood. Except it seems, for Tau Ceti. If humanity can get there and find out why, the human race might be saved! Fortunately the 'astrophage' not only eats stars but has energy density to die for. What a fuel!
All of humanity cooperates to build a starship and send a crew of 3 to find the solution and send back the answer. Hence 'Project Hail Mary'. [Minor quibble - with the whole population of earth from which to choose, and a genetic quirk which only 1 in 7000 have, the 3 crew and their 3 backups are - drum roll - one from China, 3 from Russia and 2 from the USA - Weir has forgotten that the rest of the planet exists] (Weir also skips over the few decades where the wealthy deny there is a problem with sun dimming, conspiracy theorists assert that all of the research data is faked and the libertarians conclude it is a huge communist conspiracy to sap the Free World of its vital bodily fluids, its Free Dumb and its guns-as would happen in our timeline).
Ryland Grace finds himself the last best hope of humanity as he battles to find why Tau Ceti is not dimmed by the astrophage plague. His crewmates have not survived the journey. And he does not remember how to operate the 'Hail Mary' or even it seems, his name. It comes back to him, slowly and fuzzily. But it turns out that he is not alone. Another starship is in the Tau Ceti system, it seems seeking a solution to the stareater problem. Not it seems to blow Ryland up or to eat him fortunately. Enter Rocky, the plucky alien from Eridani who has also lost all its crewmates (unfortunate consequence of a failure to understand radiation). Whilst Ryland is the scientific savant, Rocky is the ultimate engineer, who fortuitously confabulates anything needed to wriggle around a plot knot out of pure handwavium and unobtanium. Together they will try to save both their civilizations.
Despite these drawbacks it is a fun and hopeful read. Weir has a light touch, and this helps the infodump medicines go down. The science is logical if a little (well actually a lot) serendipitous, and the twist in the tail both unexpected and rewarding. I was most impressed by the description of 'first contact' between species who share neither means of communication, nor environment. The way Ryland and Rocky develop their common language and understanding is well done and satisfying. The 'astrophage' is clearly a metaphor for our planets current climate crisis. The need for cooperation and funding is paramount. Pity we do not have it now.
For the uninitiated 'Hail Mary' is a term from the US perversion of rugby, wherein a team in a near hopeless position, tries and audacious tactic which has a small chance of snatching victory form the jaws of defeat.
Something is depleting the radiation from our sun. If this goes on, the earth will be an icicle in just a few decades. Even all our race's fossil fuel burning these last few centuries has bought just a year or two more grace. A bizarre interstellar organism feeds on the energy of stars. And not just our star but all of the others in the our stellar neighbourhood. Except it seems, for Tau Ceti. If humanity can get there and find out why, the human race might be saved! Fortunately the 'astrophage' not only eats stars but has energy density to die for. What a fuel!
All of humanity cooperates to build a starship and send a crew of 3 to find the solution and send back the answer. Hence 'Project Hail Mary'. [Minor quibble - with the whole population of earth from which to choose, and a genetic quirk which only 1 in 7000 have, the 3 crew and their 3 backups are - drum roll - one from China, 3 from Russia and 2 from the USA - Weir has forgotten that the rest of the planet exists] (Weir also skips over the few decades where the wealthy deny there is a problem with sun dimming, conspiracy theorists assert that all of the research data is faked and the libertarians conclude it is a huge communist conspiracy to sap the Free World of its vital bodily fluids, its Free Dumb and its guns-as would happen in our timeline).
Ryland Grace finds himself the last best hope of humanity as he battles to find why Tau Ceti is not dimmed by the astrophage plague. His crewmates have not survived the journey. And he does not remember how to operate the 'Hail Mary' or even it seems, his name. It comes back to him, slowly and fuzzily. But it turns out that he is not alone. Another starship is in the Tau Ceti system, it seems seeking a solution to the stareater problem. Not it seems to blow Ryland up or to eat him fortunately. Enter Rocky, the plucky alien from Eridani who has also lost all its crewmates (unfortunate consequence of a failure to understand radiation). Whilst Ryland is the scientific savant, Rocky is the ultimate engineer, who fortuitously confabulates anything needed to wriggle around a plot knot out of pure handwavium and unobtanium. Together they will try to save both their civilizations.
Despite these drawbacks it is a fun and hopeful read. Weir has a light touch, and this helps the infodump medicines go down. The science is logical if a little (well actually a lot) serendipitous, and the twist in the tail both unexpected and rewarding. I was most impressed by the description of 'first contact' between species who share neither means of communication, nor environment. The way Ryland and Rocky develop their common language and understanding is well done and satisfying. The 'astrophage' is clearly a metaphor for our planets current climate crisis. The need for cooperation and funding is paramount. Pity we do not have it now.
For the uninitiated 'Hail Mary' is a term from the US perversion of rugby, wherein a team in a near hopeless position, tries and audacious tactic which has a small chance of snatching victory form the jaws of defeat.