Book 11 Project Hail Mary

 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir fulfills the category “Book that Features Two Languages” for the PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge. I also read The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield.

SPOILER ALERT

If you have not read Project Hail Mary, do not read this blog. I’m going to spill all the goods. Come back once you’ve finished the book.

As usual, I read two novels for the prompt. It was even worse this time, though. I read two space books, and the same person narrated both. Yeah, what was I thinking? I distanced them a bit and decided both are worthy of the blog. Let’s talk about The Apollo Murders first.

This book was written by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. Maybe you’ve heard of him. He’s the one who used to sing on the international space station. Space Oddity, anyone? His book is about a 1973 Apollo18 mission (which didn’t exist). He uses a mix of actual history and fiction. In the novel, a mission commander is killed in a helicopter accident before launch, causing a load of problems.

So the two-language prompt… The second language is Russian. The Apollo astronauts try to sabotage a Russian observatory satellite, but they don’t know that it’s manned. Suddenly, they have a Russian passenger on their spaceship and are forced to take her (yes, a woman) to the moon. Now we have a possible murder, a Russian and another astronaut on one ship—interesting and intriguing. The female cosmonaut was an amazing character. It was a great book with a unique twist on language and communication.

But Project Hail Mary…

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir starts with a catastrophic event in space. Microscopic organisms are eating our sun. Mankind has to stop these astrophages. The science in the story is fantastic. The language part doesn’t come in until the end after they’ve launched the ship, Hail Mary, into space. One other star nearby is not experiencing the same dimming issue. That’s the Hail Mary’s destination. Our hero, Ryland Grace, ends up alone in the Tal Ceti system because his crewmates didn’t survive the trip. Once in orbit around Tal Ceti, Grace finds another ship! It’s an alien!

Here’s where the second language comes in. The alien race, the Eridians, has a musical language. It’s amazing! A completely different life form and they use music to talk. I’m a big music fan so this was thrilling for me. The book was compelling, science-y, and funny. And I totally cried twice. Andy Weir is a brilliant writer.

That’s the spoiler. There are aliens.

Both books were great for the prompt. They are page-turners, for sure. The reader did an amazing job, especially with Project Hail Mary, where he sounded like John Goodman in space. I highly recommend both novels, especially if you love space stories.

I give The Apollo Murders Five Special Rocks (hint hint).

I give Project Hail Mary Five Nobel Gas Alloys (if you read it, you get it).