A review by startjpw23
The Martian by Andy Weir

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

In this book, Mark Watney is an astronaut who is part of the Ares 3 mission which is the 3rd mission by NASA to land people on Mars. The year of the mission isn't stated, but the book does mention the Pathfinder vehicle being landed on Mars around 20 years ago. That puts the Ares 3 mission around 2016 which is a few years after the publication of the book. It presents a more optimistic view of how far exploration of Mars has advanced than the current reality. At the beginning of the book, a strong storm hits the area the where the crew has their station (the station they stay at is called the Hab). Watney is blown away by the storm. The remainder of the crew believes him dead and is forced to leave the surface of Mars without Watney. Watney was injured, but he didn't die. Not long after, people in Nasa discover that Watney is alive. The remainder of the book is Watney trying to survive long enough so a mission to save him can be mounted. This is a hard science Sci-Fi book. There are a lot of details about the technical things Watney and the NASA people do to try to get Watney back home. Watney is a mechanical engineer and a botanist so the technical things he does are believable. Although I found the detailed explanations mostly interesting to read, there were points I found them tedious. There were some off-color jokes and statements made by people in the book that some may find a little offensive. As I worked in technical fields, I found these jokes and statements realistic. Many of us who work in those areas are a little awkward. We deal better with things than people. The book was very thrilling. I recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a problem with the hard science parts of it (there are a lot of these) and the off-color jokes and statements (there aren't that many of these).
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