Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Can’t believe I’m saying this, but… Meh.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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Aw man. I was so excited for this one. It’s been on my wish list since it came out. I haven’t read anything else by Andy Weir, but the reviews were fantastic and the premise was cool.  It’s been a few days since I finished Project Hail Mary, and I’ve been putting off this review, hoping I’d like it more upon reflection. That didn’t happen, and now I’ve got to put it into words. What it boils down to is that the narrator drove me […]

Saving Grace

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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I’ve read all of Andy Weir’s books. He’s written three so that’s not exactly a major achievement, but it does give me the opportunity to compare and contrast them. Like most people I enjoyed The Martian but did not care very much for Artemis (which, well-intentioned though it may be, is a textbook example of how not to write a strong female character). I loved Project Hail Mary, though with a couple of caveats. But hey, that’s what reviews are for.  First up: it’s really […]

Not as good as The Martian but still pretty good

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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I’m not a big reader of science fiction, but when I stumbled on The Martian by Andy Weir about six years ago I was more than pleasantly surprised. I loved that book. So, when I eagerly picked up his second book, Artemis, I was disappointed. Thus it was with some trepidation that I started reading Project Hail Mary (2021)–Weir’s latest novel set in space. Fortunately, I’m putting Project Hail Mary firmly in second place. It’s not nearly as good as The Martian, but it’s much better than Artemis. Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship. There […]

Hail Mary, full of Grace

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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According to Wikipedia, “A Hail Mary pass is a very long forward pass in American football, typically made in desperation, with an exceptionally small chance of achieving a completion. Due to the difficulty of a completion with this pass, it makes reference to the Catholic “Hail Mary” prayer for divine help.” When Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary begins, Ryland Grace is the sole living astronaut onboard a spaceship named Hail Mary heading to a distant star as a one-shot suicide mission to save the Earth. […]

Fun, fun, fun!

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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Ryland Grace wakes up in a spaceship. He has two dead bodies to keep him company and robotic arms to move things around, but he doesn’t know who he is or what he’s doing there. His memory is not gone gone, however; gradually it starts returning, but unfortunately that’s not such good news. See, Ryland Grace is not really an astronaut, but a science teacher. Earth is in BIG trouble and he’s the only one left who can help. And he’s very, VERY far away […]

Not quite The Martian, but pretty darn good

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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[Read as an ebook from the public library.] I read The Martian in one sitting — couldn’t put the thing down. It was pretty much everything I love about science fiction and being a giant NASA dork. I got a few chapters into Weir’s next book, Artemis, but it was just too much heist and too little space for my tastes. Project Hail Mary is a welcome return to a lot of what I loved about his first book. It’s a love letter to science and […]



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