Project Hail Mary is a sci-fi novel by American novelist Andy Weir. Published in 2021 by Ballantine Books, the novel explores a near future event when Ryland Grace is catapulted into the farthest edges of space, on a mission to save humanity. The book cover was designed by Will Staehle and the audiobook was performed by Ray Porter.
In his third novel, Weir introduces Grace, a teacher who has to become an astronaut. He is tasked with venturing deep into space, to another solar system, far away from our own, to prevent a heavenly event that has the potential to upend human civilization as we know it. The story begins midway after he's already on the spaceship. He has suffered from a mild amnesia.
The suspense from the beginning to the end is consistent and as Grace slowly remembers his mission, everything falls into place. The novel was written in between the completion of The Martian and another shelved book series. After scrapping the work, Weir would go on to implement some elements from the series into a new book that became Project Hail Mary. The final product is a cinematic space odyssey and sci-fi mastery that compliments it's highly cultivated suspense.
Project Hail Mary is set to be adapted to the big screen after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights for $3 million. Christopher Miller and Phil Lord are directing, Drew Goddard is writing the script, Ken Kao is producing, and Ryan Reynolds will play the role of Ryland Grace. The novel won the 2021 Dragon Award for Best Sci-fi Novel.
