Andy Weir, Fist My Bump (Project Hail Mary Review)
Astrophage. Astrofayj? Astrofagey? /ˈæstɹəˌfeɪdʒ/? I think it’s pronounced Astrofayj, which rolls right off the tongue. I tried to ask Andy Weir directly through his AMA but only got an answer from the community. However it’s pronounced, it’s just amazing he came up with the word and idea in general.
The premise of the book is that this Astrophage is basically munching on the Sun and causing it to dim which would pretty much kill all life on Earth. Fan-damn-tastic premise and it’s so original, or is it…just kidding. I think.
Fan Since the Martian
I was first introduced to Andy Weir when I read The Martian back in 2015. I recall that it was the first book in a very long time that I just couldn’t put down. The straight-up “science the shit out of it” type of storytelling just tickles my engineering mind. It checked all the boxes for me; space, survival, engineering, science, humor (“nutin tea”), and great storytelling. After that, I consumed everything that Andy Weir put out including “the other book” (as he puts it), Artemis. I also loved the collaboration with Kurzgesagt (had to look that one up to spell it right) on his story called The Egg. The amount of thought and detail that he puts in his writing are truly phenomenal.
Needless to say, as soon as I heard he was going to release another book, I signed up for the waiting list and did not hesitate to purchase the book. When I first heard the name Project Hail Mary, I thought it was a code name or placeholder for the new book as if this was the book that was going to save his career or something (not that I think he needed saving).
As soon as it was released, I sent it straight to my Kindle and started reading that night. Like a kid that got his first Nintendo, I was eager to jump in and see what world I could escape to. It started similar to The Martian where shit was already hitting the fan and we, as the reader, were immediately flooded with ideas of what the hell was going on. Super intriguing from the get-go.
Andy Weir did something in this book that he hasn’t done before and I liked it. He sort of told two stories at the same time by jumping back in time, building the back story on how the main character, Ryland Grace, got on the Hail Mary spaceship in the first place. It’s something that I really liked about the show Lost, introducing flashbacks and adding character depth.
Then, just as I was already invested in the story of how the hell Grace got on this ship, the book took a wonderful turn. When Grace spotted some other spaceship while hurling through space at close to the speed of light, it was so late at night that I was falling asleep and had to put the book down. The next day I couldn’t wait to see what direction Weir was going to head with this spaceship. I even said to myself, no way he’s going to introduce an alien, that’s too impractical for a Weir book!
Sure enough, Weir introduces a 5-legged (armed?) alien and names him Rocky. Both Grace and Rocky’s spaceship are heading to Tau Ceti for the same reasons, to find out why it’s the only star in the vicinity of Astrophage’s meal that’s not dimming. Rocky is from Erid which is a planet located around the real star, 40 Eridani. Weir takes all the information we know about this system and wonderfully crafts Rocky’s physical traits based on the physics. Rocky may be the most “realistic” alien ever conceived.
Of course a community on Reddit popped up, dedicated to Project Hail Mary and the internet never lets me down. People started sketching out what Rocky looks like and u/prefim even made a 3D animation of how Rocky might look and move. There are really some dedicated people out there.
Grace gets all this information from Rocky by learning how to communicate. Some of my favorite alien movies are ones where it focuses on language. Most recently, the movie Arrival blew me away with how language was explored. I felt some parallels with how language was introduced in PHM but I really loved how it was based on music. If science is right about frequency, which it seems like it is (see electromagnetic spectrum and also being a human), music is the perfect universal language. Close Encounters of the Third Kind introduced tones as means of communication back in 1977. Musicians often refer to music progressions as having a conversation. I read PHM on the Kindle and there were musical notes in the text when Rocky initially spoke. I’ve heard that the audiobook actually plays the music which is a whole other experience for the book, one I might have to hear for myself.
Once the communication was established, the dynamic duo were off to solve the Astrophage mystery. The theories, the problem solving, and the detailed science that went into crafting the storyline was nothing short of amazing. To sprinkle an intriguing storyline with actual science is Andy Weir’s superpower and I haven’t come across anything quite like it. At times, it seems like he just throws some science explanation in there to flex but flexing it ok with me.
The whole book is a rollercoaster ride of alien emotions and was difficult to know where it was ultimately headed. It’s always challenging to end a great story but I think Weir made the right choice on this one. You really start to care about Rocky as Weir didn’t go the typical route of portraying a far more superior alien race out to destroy us. No, Rocky’s race was intelligent but there were things that humans knew better such as space travel. Both races had something to learn from one another and it was really refreshing to see.
Just as Grace was headed back home after Rocky and he solved the Astrophage problem for both of their stars, Grace realized one last problem that would prevent Rocky from getting back home. Since Grace already sent off the unmanned ship back to Earth with all the information they needed to solve the problem, he decided to risk his life and go save Rocky.
He knew that he wouldn’t be able to live or eat on Rocky’s planet in its natural form, he just wanted to pass the information along to Rocky that his mission would be doomed. The Astrophage ended up eating through the xenoite, which was what Rocky’s race exclusively used to make everything and which housed the Astrophage that was going to save both of their planets.
I thought the ending was the best ending the book could have. Grace ends up living in a bubble on Erid and becoming the subject of Eridian study. The Eridians, being the smart, engineering SOBs they are, came up with a way to make food for Grace to keep him alive. We find out that Sol (Earth’s sun) has returned to full luminance which establishes closure but leaves out how the dimming affected the people of Earth which is part of the mystery. We’re left with Grace teaching a group of Eridian kids which is the cherry on top of this story because Grace’s “kids” (students) were his reason to keep going throughout the whole book. Now, Grace has another purpose to keep going, although it’s on a different planet. “Amaze!”
Whatever Andy Weir writes next, I’m in. Put me on the list. I also cannot wait to see how the movie turns out. Ryan Gosling is already cast as Ryland Grace and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are the directors. I have the highest of hopes for this movie and I cannot wait to see how they pull this off. I’m also ready to buy Rocky plush toys for mysel…my 4 year old son.