Is there an audiobook of Project Hail Mary?

Yes. Project Hail Mary has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Ray Porter.

How long is the Project Hail Mary audiobook?

The Project Hail Mary audiobook runs 16 hr 10 min.

Is Project Hail Mary on Kindle Unlimited?

No. Project Hail Mary was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 26, 2026.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir book cover for the Book of the Day science fiction book review

Our score

4.6/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to Project Hail Mary free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

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EDITION PUBLISHEDMay 2021

PublisherBallentine Books

Genres

Fiction Science Fiction Adventure

Themes

Survival through ingenuityUnexpected connectionTrust built across difference

Project Hail Mary

Name: Project Hail Mary
Price: 14.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Andy Weir

Andy Weir

Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary wakes a man on a spaceship with no memory, no living crew, and a job that decides whether humanity survives. It's hard SF built as a survival puzzle, an amnesia story used as a working engine rather than a hook, and it's warm in ways the genre rarely manages.

The Review

Our take

The setup is almost cruel in its efficiency. A man wakes alone, a long way from anyone who could help him, his fellow travelers dead and his own name missing. He has to rebuild who he is and why he's there at the same pace the reader does, and Weir uses that amnesia as a working engine rather than a gimmick. Memory returns in flashbacks dosed out precisely when the present-day crisis needs a piece of context, so past and present keep handing each other tools. The structure is clever, and it rarely feels like a trick.

What lifts it past mere structure is the protagonist's voice. Ryland Grace is a working scientist, not an action hero, and the book's pleasure comes from watching him reason his way out of trouble in real time. He measures, hypothesizes, fails, recalculates. Weir shows the math without making it feel like homework, and he lets you feel the small triumph of a problem cracked with a few crude instruments and a stubborn brain. If you loved that quality in The Martian, this is that instinct refined and aimed at a bigger canvas.

The central speculative idea is where the book opens up, and I'll stay vague to protect the joy of discovery. Weir takes a hard-science premise and pushes it into territory that's both rigorously worked out and genuinely moving. The internal logic holds because he commits to it: cause and effect honored, constraints respected, no convenient miracles. When a solution arrives, it's because the rules allowed it, and that consistency is what gives the late stretches their emotional weight. The story turns out to be about connection as much as survival, and the warmth sneaks up on you.

Pacing-wise, the crisis-flashback-crisis rhythm keeps the momentum tight. There's always a problem on the clock, always a new variable arriving. The tone stays light even when the danger is planetary: Grace cracks jokes, geeks out, narrates his own panic with self-deprecating energy. Some readers will find that voice a touch glib for a story this dark, and the science explainers, while clear, occasionally slow a chapter to a careful crawl. But those are the costs of a book that genuinely wants you to understand how every solution works, and most readers will happily pay them.

Why you should read

Readers who loved The Martian's solve-it-yourself problem-solving
Fans of hard SF where the science actually matters
Anyone who wants optimism and humor in their space survival stories

What to expect

Readers who prefer literary prose or a somber tone may find the wisecracking narrator too breezy
The detailed science explainers occasionally slow the pace for those who'd rather skip the math

This is the rare science fiction novel that earns its sense of wonder through process rather than spectacle. Think of the stretch where Grace builds a makeshift tool from junk and a guess, and the payoff lands as a feeling, not a fireworks display. For anyone who wants speculative fiction with rules that hold and a heart that shows up when you least expect it, it's a deeply satisfying ride.

Reviewed by Rowan · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.6/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to Project Hail Mary free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Buy on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of Project Hail Mary?: Yes. Project Hail Mary has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Ray Porter.
Listen to Project Hail Mary free with an Audible trial
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the Project Hail Mary audiobook?: The Project Hail Mary audiobook runs 16 hr 10 min.
Is Project Hail Mary on Kindle Unlimited?: No. Project Hail Mary was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 26, 2026.
How much does Project Hail Mary cost?: On Amazon: Kindle $14.99, Paperback $13.88, Hardcover $19.29. Prices as of August 27, 2026 at 3:45 AM EDT and may change.

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Common questions

What is Project Hail Mary about?: The setup is almost cruel in its efficiency. A man wakes alone, a long way from anyone who could help him, his fellow travelers dead and his own name missing. He has to rebuild who he is and why he's there at the same pace the reader does, and Weir uses that amnesia as a working engine rather than…
Is Project Hail Mary worth reading?: We scored Project Hail Mary 4.6 out of 5. Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary wakes a man on a spaceship with no memory, no living crew, and a job that decides whether humanity survives. It's hard SF built as a survival puzzle, an amnesia story used as a working engine rather than a hook, and it's warm in ways the genre…