The Martian - Review
Link to the author's (A. Weir) personal website
Genre: Sci-Fi
Publication Type: Journal
Tags:
- Average Age of Main Characters (35)
- Length (4 / 10)
Link to Goodreads
Blurb: Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
Review: This is still worth reading even if you've seen the film (which is also awesome)! I think the format this book's written in works well given its length, and this goes doubly so given its content and story. It touches on sci-fi only lightly, with the technology used only based on hopes for what will exist in 2035. The biggest strength of this book is the main character, Mark. His POV is done in an entertaining yet simultaneously educating way. Combining this somewhat rare viewpoint from a character in isolation with teases to the importance of different aspects of science honestly was just captivating. The story as a whole and the other characters don't drag the story down either, with what I think was the perfect amount of different moving parts in the plot happening. All in all, this is simply a good read that I think everyone would enjoy, and it's short enough not to have too much commitment.