Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
Published: October 28th, 2014 by Crown/Random House
Format: Paperback, 387 pages
Genre: Science Fiction
Description:
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 the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars' surface, completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years 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's not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills — and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength – he embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive, using his botany expertise to grow food and even hatching a mad plan to contact NASA back on Earth.
As he overcomes one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next, Mark begins to let himself believe he might make it off the planet alive – but Mars has plenty of surprises in store for him yet.
Grounded in real, present-day science from the first page to the last, yet propelled by a brilliantly ingenious plot that surprises the reader again and again, The Martian is a truly remarkable thriller: an impossible-to-put-down suspense novel that manages to read like a real-life survival tale.
Review:
Astronaut Mark Watney is completely and utterly screwed. Left for dead on a planet with no air, no water, and no escape, his only chance at survival is science. And a whole lot of luck.
With one disaster after another, it's amazing Watney even lasts long enough to worry about running out of food, much less getting rescued years down the line, but Andy Weir is a master of his genre and craft. As a botanist and an engineer, Watney seems uniquely qualified for an attempt at habitation on the red planet, and his continued documentation of his survival provides readers with the explanations they need to understand just how he's managed to stay alive. While this may prove too hard-science fiction for some, I loved seeing Watney's mind at work, seeing him talk things through and do the math, watching the impact those numbers have on his psyche.
And Watney. Oh I love Mark Watney. Not in a romantic kind of way, but his mind and his personality and his sheer determination are captivating. The man is trapped on Mars and basically waiting to die, but he refuses to give in and, more impressive, retains his sense of humor. The entire book he picks on his crew mate's music choices, talks to himself, cracks jokes, and even talks back to the planet itself. His personality is constant, and it is what keeps this story from becoming depressing and overly tense. It's dramatic, yes, and it should be, but it's refreshingly comedic too. I found myself laughing out loud a number of times and running off to read individual lines to nearby people.
This book had me from the very first line, and that's not something a lot of books do. Funny and tense, this is one sci-fi novel you won't want to miss.
Buy It Now:
I really enjoyed the book, as well. I also thought the movie adaptation was very good--even with all the changes. In fact, I thought that if you ever wanted a fun exercise in studying story revision, compare The Martian book to the movie version by Ridley Scott. The changes he makes in terms of characters and plot provide an interesting example of how to heighten tension and increase a story's impact. When revising our own writing, I think it might be helpful.
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