Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir
A lone astronaut wakes up on a spaceship with no memory and must solve a puzzle that could save Earth, with help from an unlikely friend. Funny, clever, and full of heart. Read the full description
Best for: Readers who like smart, heartfelt adventures
Project Hail Mary is #73 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 55 out of 100.
Project Hail Mary: reading interest over the past 12 months
Sources: Open Library’s public reading-log and ratings data (dump of 2026-08-31), Wikipedia page views and Wikidata. Monthly counts are exact; they show relative interest among readers of these public sources, not total readership.
Ranked against the other books on this list, Project Hail Mary’s reading interest has run from #1 to #70 over these 12 months. Interest rank blends shelf adds, Wikipedia page views and rating activity, each compared with the other 99 books that month.
Shelf adds by month
Project Hail Mary was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 607 times in the past 12 months, peaking in April 2026 with 106 (110% above its monthly average of 51). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were down 32% on the three months before. 81% of the adds were “want to read”, 4% “currently reading” and 15% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
Wikipedia page views
Its Wikipedia article was viewed 5,324,327 times in the past 12 months, peaking in March 2026 with 1,749,738 views. The latest three months were down 76% on the three before.
Source: Wikimedia monthly page views for the article Project Hail Mary.
Adaptations
- Project Hail Mary (film), 2026
Adaptations are listed from Wikidata; a release date near a rise in the charts above is context, not proof of a cause.
Awards and honours listed on Wikidata: Seiun Award for Best Translated Long Work, Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year, Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
What the data says about Project Hail Mary
- Moderate swings. Monthly shelf adds averaged 51 with some ups and downs.
- Busiest and quietest months. April 2026 was its busiest month (106 adds), about 6.2 times its quietest, December 2025 (17).
- Ratings above the list’s middle. Its Open Library average of 4.52 from 184 ratings is 0.40 higher than the middle book on the list (4.12).
- Against its genre. It had 16% more shelf adds than the average Sci-fi book on this list.
- Share of the list. It accounts for 0.6% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #58 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 2021 (5 years ago), it is older than 7% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
Project Hail Mary on the Top 100: rank history
First charted in September 2026. The chart gains a point with every monthly update, so its peak, climbs and falls will show here as they happen.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #73 | 55 |
Is Project Hail Mary rising or falling?
Cooling It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level.
On Open Library, Project Hail Mary ranks #114 this week, #79 this month, and #71 over the past year. A longer bar means a higher position. Comparing the three windows shows whether readers are arriving faster than the book's long-term pace. Readings as of 2026-09-30.
Why Project Hail Mary made the Top 100
Project Hail Mary made the list mainly on momentum (+22.3 points) and reader love (+20 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0). The BookWard Score blends five public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 and weighted as shown.
The reading-now, rating and rank signals come from Open Library’s public data, not from BookWard’s own readers. The score measures reading interest, not quality or sales. How the score works.
Open Library reader stats for Project Hail Mary
Source: Open Library public reading logs, as of 2026-09-30. BookWard’s own monthly snapshots are added to the picture, and anonymous BookWard reader data will be layered in as the community grows.
More readers have Project Hail Mary open right now than 1% of the other books on this list. These counts come from one public source, so they show relative interest rather than total readership.
Where it sits among Sci-fi books
It is #3 of the 3 Sci-fi books on this month’s list.
About Project Hail Mary
A lone astronaut wakes up on a spaceship with no memory and must solve a puzzle that could save Earth, with help from an unlikely friend. Funny, clever, and full of heart.
Why it’s here: It is the science fiction book that people who do not read science fiction tend to love.
Best for: Readers who like smart, heartfelt adventures
At a glance
- First published
- 2021-05-04
- Genre
- Sci-fi
- Also described as
- science fiction
- Length
- about 496 pages (the median across its editions)
- Original language
- English
- Languages
- editions in 9 languages listed on Open Library
- Editions
- 32 on Open Library
- Setting
- Tau Ceti e, Earth
- Characters listed
- Dr Ryland Grace, Rocky, Eva Stratt
- Awards and honours
- Seiun Award for Best Translated Long Work, Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year, Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- Survival
- Problem-solving
- Unlikely friendship
What reading it is like
Fast and funny hard science fiction that works through real science.
At about 496 pages it is a longer read: roughly 10 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
A standalone. The less you know going in, the better.
The premise
Ryland Grace wakes alone on a spaceship with no memory of who he is. As his memories return, he realizes he is humanity's last hope, and finds help from an unlikely friend.
What you’ll get
- Clever science-driven problem solving
- A heartfelt friendship
- Humor and suspense
You might skip it if you dislike science detail.
Pairs well with: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy · Dune
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #72 and #74
More Sci-fi on the Top 100
Questions about Project Hail Mary
What rank is Project Hail Mary on the Top 100 books?
Project Hail Mary is #73 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 55 out of 100.
Is Project Hail Mary rising or falling?
Cooling. It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level. On Open Library, Project Hail Mary ranks #114 this week, #79 this month, and #71 over the past year.
Why is Project Hail Mary on the Top 100?
Project Hail Mary made the list mainly on momentum (+22.3 points) and reader love (+20 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0).
How many people are reading Project Hail Mary right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 43 readers currently reading Project Hail Mary, 1,045 who want to read it and 291 who have logged it as read (as of 2026-09-30). These are counts from one public source, not all readers.
How much interest has Project Hail Mary had over the past year?
607 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak April 2026, 106); latest three months down 32% on the prior three; 5,324,327 Wikipedia views in the past 12 months (down 76% over the latest three months); Adaptations on Wikidata: Project Hail Mary (2026). Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is Project Hail Mary best for?
Readers who like smart, heartfelt adventures.
Ask a question about Project Hail Mary
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How we know
This page is built from public data: Open Library’s dated reading-log and ratings dumps, Wikipedia page views, Wikidata, and BookWard’s own monthly Top 100 snapshots. The interest rank blends shelf adds (45%), Wikipedia page views (30%), rating activity (10%) and, for months where a snapshot exists, BookWard’s own score (15%), each as a percentile among the Top 100 books. Every month shown is real data; nothing is estimated. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Last updated September 2026. Read the full methodology.
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