Houston Southard

andy weir - project hail mary

Project Hail Mary had a lot riding on it. Not just the last ditch intergalactic flight to save the world from the looming ice-age plague surrounding its plot, but also that. Not just the ousted molecular biologist turned high school teacher turned astronaut protagonist trying to survive its hail mary mission, but also that too. Andy Weir created something special with The Martian, and this is his latest attempt to best himself. I'm not sure he got there, but he definitely turned the dial up on his signature style riding that fine line between sci-fi and holy shit this is not fiction. His poetic waxing on the evolution of language, religion, and science outweigh the sometimes tiring plot conveniences and manufactured crises specifically written to allow our main character to flex his cleverness. Despite some small nitpicking, the prose delivers multiple alliterative hat tricks: It's got aliens, armageddon, and anxiety-inducing stakes. It's entertaining, educative, and enlightening. Most of all, it's filled with intense, introspective, and intimate moments that won't make you regret picking it up. Thanks Andy for a hat trick of hat tricks, a hat trick of best sellers, and making me think it's okay to say hat trick more than a hat trick of times. I tip my hat to you, trickily.