Do yourself a favor and get a copy of the audiobook! This might be one of the rare cases where the Audiobook is a better experience than reading the book - especially if you're me and science makes your eyes go crossed. Ray Porter is brilliant, and you get to hear Rocky! I wholeheartedly recommend the book, the audiobook, and the movie. On to my review for the book:

Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up in a spaceship with no memory of how or why he’s there. He’s a jr high school science teacher, why is he on a spaceship?

Slowly, Grace’s memory starts to come back: he’s on a mission to save the Earth. There’s this nasty space bacteria-thingy called Astrophage that’s dimming the Sun. That’s bad for the Earth. Apocalypse bad. Unless Project Hail Mary finds a solution. And there seems to be a solution out there - Tau Ceti seems to be the only star not infected with Astrophage. How? This all-powerful woman called Stratt, who has been given authority by …everyone yanks Grace out of his classroom to study Astrophage, and then, he can’t remember how, roped him into going on a dozen-light-year journey to Tau Ceti with the crew of the Hail Mary. Only the rest of the crew is dead. Something went wrong while they were in a coma during their 4-year space voyage. In the Hail Mary. Full of a dude called Grace. I see what you did there, Weir.

Soon, Grace spots something on the Hail Mary’s radar. It’s another spaceship? Yup, it’s aliens. Grace gets to make first contact with the creatures of a planet in the system 40 Eridani. Turns out 40 Eridani also has an Astrophage problem, and their ship just happened to be around Tau Ceti at the exact same time as the Hail Mary. After the long process of learning to communicate, Grace and the lone Eridian, whom Grace calls Rocky, team up to save their respective worlds.

If you loved The Martian, you’ll love Project Hail Mary. They’re similar, but Hail Mary is on a much larger scale - there’s a lot more at stake in the hands of one guy. Plus: Rocky!