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aelys_althea 's review for:

The Martian by Andy Weir
2.5
emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective slow-paced

I really wanted to like this more, especially since I liked Project Hail Mary so much. 

I found this one too heavy on the science without the balance of the characterisation and plot enrichment. The chopping and changing between perspective styles - the logs, the third person with characters, then the more omnipotent third person elements - was a bit too haphazard too, and I frankly found the characters pretty unlikeable. Mark especially: he’s kind of a dick, not nearly as funny as all the characters in the book we’re trying to tell me he was, and a bit of a racist and misogynist. 

I really would have appreciated - and felt it made sense for - an exploration of the psychological impact of being stuck in a planet by yourself too, but this was kind of just… not really touched on? Or only really mentioned. Missed opportunity. 

Basically, I’m glad I read PHM first because if I’d read them the other way around I don’t think I would have read another Andy Weir book at all. A shame.