Note: This is an older review to introduce Substackers to our house style (TCTIN). A majority of the books we review will be advanced review copies (ARCs) given to our parent companies, everafterbooks.uk and theubergroup.org.
The coolest thing I noticed about the science fiction novel Project Hail Mary was how amnesia is used as a tool to reveal the main character's (Ryland's) world, their motivations, and the plot of the story itself, while the story is underway (blurb-level spoilers follow).
In brief, Ryland wakes up in a strange, laboratory-like environment that he soon realizes is a spacecraft on automatic pilot. He does not know why he's there, what the spacecraft's mission might be, or even his own name for much of the story. Ryland's life is soon in danger and, as events unfold, sensory and emotional cues trigger flashbacks that slowly fill in the blanks.
What made this intriguing for me was what was held back, until almost the end: why Ryland's there in the first place, and how he needs to change. Most fiction I've run into is more direct about this, presenting these challenges as a dilemma, premise, or whatever we'd like to call it as early as possible. Even other stories relying on amnesia seem to start with characters facing obvious problems that are closely related to these questions.
But in Project Hail Mary, Ryland starts out not wanting to be where he is and with no obvious purpose, and for much of the story he would've gladly returned home. As the amnesia gives way, however, he learns about his mission and its importance, but only finds out why he's specifically there and, in the same breath, how he must change as a person, moments before all is lost.
This might seem like a railroad of a plot with an unsympathetic character, but I think the way the flashbacks are organized prevents this. The first flashbacks make it clear that, for example, Ryland's a good guy and lives in a world that needs him, but they're vague-enough to keep both him and me, as a reader, wanting more.
In other words, I think Ryland's amnesia helps make his motivations and the plot itself into worthwhile mysteries of their own. And a neat side effect, for me at least, was how this trickle of information adds emotion to the otherwise less-interesting, survival-driven parts of the story, and delivers backstory in a way that's easy to digest and balances the tension of the main plot.
Are there any critters? Just asking...
______________________________________________________________PROJECT HAIL MARY
A lone astronaut.
An impossible mission.
An ally he never imagined.
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery-and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
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