written on October 13, 2026, read November 2025
It was one of the books I took with me to hospital last year. I didn’t actually get round to reading it until after rehab, though: Project Hail Mary.
The film does the book justice in many respects. It shows that a five-armed (or five-legged?) “rock creature” can be more interesting than entire Marvel universes.
Still, if you liked the film, I’d definitely recommend reading the book – if only because the ending is fleshed out in much more detail.
Spoiler alert! Don’t read any further if you’ve neither seen the film nor read the book.
I’m sure of only one thing: if Rocky had had to rescue Grace, humanity would never have built him a biodome. More likely, we’d first have gone to war over who got to strip Rocky and his technology for parts – in the most literal sense. That’s why I forgive Mr Weir for making the human the one who saves the alien civilisation. The other way round, an ending like that would simply have been unbelievable.