Project Hail Mary is a new novel by Andy Weir, author of The Martian. It’s in keeping with his novels of problem solving and thought exercises. In it he’s created a cataclysmic disaster that may be the end of humans or their salvation depending on whether we can learn to control an out of control alien organism that’s stealing energy from the Sun.

It’s largely set on a spacecraft winding its way towards somewhere that appears to have solved the out of control astro-phage issue. Along the way we pick up a member of an alien species that is more alien in biology than anything I’ve ever read, and yet is more human than some of the human characters we meet in flashbacks.

It’s a nail biter of whether our intrepid human science guy and our alien engineer can survive and solve the problem of a completely alien organism before it destroys two civilizations.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes mysteries, engineering, weird alien biology and a fun space romp.