“Project: Hail Mary” Review, Part One of Three (Print Book)
Project Hail Mary, A Cultural Phenomenon
Project Hail Mary, both book and movie, has been all over my timeline this year with gushing endorsements and glowing reviews. I’d say the appreciation for either book or movie or both has been universal. As such, I had to check it out.
I started with the book because that is what I normally do, but I admit I almost did it backwards from normal and watched the movie first and even considered doing the audiobook first, based on the reviews. I was stunned the book had been out for several years! The premiere of the movie compelled people in my circles to read (or listen to) the book this year and I’m sad I hadn’t heard of it before.
Actually, that is not true. Daniel Speer and Nathan Patton of the Rambling Ever On staff both mentioned the Project Hail Mary audiobook and how exceptional it was way back in 2021 in our online communication. It just didn’t register with me. To my shame!
Speaking of the audiobook, that leads me to why I titled this article “Part One”. I am going to do three reviews. One of the print book (this article), one for the audiobook, and one for the movie. Let’s start with the ink and paper!
[This article will feature major Project: Hail Mary spoilers henceforth.]
I do not have really anything negative to say about the book in the way of critique. The only thing that I really didn’t like as I was reading, aside from one of the huge positives below that I changed my mind about after reflection, were the constant references to evolution. To be fair, this is to be expected from someone who has Andy Weir’s worldview.
And it probably speaks some to my insecurities because if you are firm in what you believe – and as a Christian who believes the biblical accounts of creation, I should be – then you should be able to read someone who disagrees with you without offense. In the mind of the story’s main character, Grace, filtering all of the plot elements through that aspect of his worldview was essential. I will say I found it very fascinating that Grace spoke as if evolution had a will and a personality at times.
The highlights I loved about Project: Hail Mary are the aspects that are causing it to garner such rave reviews. The friendship of Grace and Rocky is as endearing and entertaining as anything I’ve experienced in a fiction book in a decade. The way they figured out how to communicate and the creative way Weir used the language barrier and resulting mishaps caused me to laugh hard (notably at the way Rocky kept messing up “fist bump”) and weep at times (as when they said good-bye the first time, as I literally spilt a tear on that page in the book while reading).
I also LOVED Stratt. She was such a warrior and general and the way book developed her as the one who would do literally anything to save the world, no matter how questionable or controversial, flooded my heart with joy. She was willing to be jailed for the rest of her life, or worse, to get the job done. And I respect that so much I can hardly stand it.
In the real world you have to have leaders who are willing to be misunderstood and be the bad guy and even face dire social consequences to get things done sometimes and Stratt was impeccably written to fulfill that in the most emphatic way possible. Stratt is one of those characters that I wish were real so I could shake her hand.
Though we do not know what became of her after the mission began, I know that no matter what happened, she literally did not care. Because she was a true leader.
When A Book Makes You Think…
And that leads me to the two risky plot decisions in Project: Hail Mary that I, at first, scoffed at before realizing how brilliant they were when I thought about it for a while instead of merely reacting in the moment. At first, I was sorely disappointed that Grace wasn’t the hero who volunteered, but rather the guy forced to go. Despite what I said above about Stratt, I still was conflicted by that plot twist and even a bit angry.
But, as I sat in the quiet the next few days and thought back on it, I realized it was the right move. I had never heard of or thought about the “Reluctant Hero” trope in literature before, but it rings true of real life and the best fiction I’ve ever read. I’m not a big enough expert in this area to know if all of these characters are typically considered to be the Reluctant Hero, but Grace in Project: Hail Mary definitely reminded me of Katniss Everdeen, Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins and even real life heroes like George Washington1 and Alvin C. York.
There is something refreshing and relatable about the humility that comes with not seeking the glory and/or not having the courage to act without compulsion.
And then there was the decision to send Grace to Erid, with his final future left hanging, instead of sending him back to earth. Now, do not be mistaken, his sacrifice to save the Eridians was huge and impressed me greatly. But a part of me was still hoping he could get back to Earth somehow. Weir brought some closure to the Earth’s imminent doom by including the news that the planet survived. But I still wanted to see how everyone reacted to Grace upon his return. Especially Stratt.
But then I came to the conclusion that this novel manner of ending such an epic adventure was bold and refreshing. I want to consider myself weird and innovative so for me to want and even expect a predictable ending made me realize maybe I’m not those things as much as I want to be. Weir made me realize the reason I want to be them, however. Just a mere 15 minutes of reflection after I finished, I went from disappointed to impressed. It reminded me somewhat of how the TV Show “Chuck” ended.
Truly Project: Hail Mary has blown away and moved and impressed innumerable people for good reason. It will be one I read again. But first, I must hear this audio version I have heard so many superlative comments about! Part Two of this trilogy coming soon!
- I’m not a historian but when I was in college the guys who all lived on the South wing of the first floor of my dorm my senior year jokingly banded together to declare our independence from the rest of the dorm. We branded ourselves “Southtown” after the P.O.D song and even had a manifesto/declaration of independence type document, written up by Rambling Ever On contributor David Lytle and a guy named Brett. Since I was the resident assitant of the first floor, my friend Charles said I should be the president and I balked saying I wasn’t as smart as the rest of them and didn’t want to do it. And he as a student of history, jokingly yet still in a good teaching moment, told me that was what George Washington was like. ↩
I formerly pastored at Bear Point Church in Sesser, IL for six years and before that served for 17 years as the associate bilingual pastor at Northwest Community Church in Chicago.
My wife, Kayla, and I have been married 11 years and have a 7-year-old son, Liam Erasmus, and a three-year-old, Bo Tyndale. I have been a student at Welch College in Nashville and at Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago. I love The USC (the real one in SC, not the other one in CA), Seinfeld, John 3:30, Chick-fil-A, Dumb and Dumber, the book of Job, preaching and teaching, and arguing about sports.
- “Project: Hail Mary” Review, Part One of Three (Print Book) - June 8, 2026
- Indiana Deserves The Celebration Of Every College Football Fan - January 19, 2026
- God Isn’t Supposed To Always Make Sense - October 20, 2025
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