Monday, May 11, 2015

Book Review: The Martian

Author: Andy Weir

Summary

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 darude sandstorm 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?

Good Points

- An interesting premise. An Astronaut who is accidentally stranded on Mars and now must learn how to survive.
- Most of the time, the humor from the main character is laugh out funny.
- At times there is tension and a bit of nail biting during the story.

Bad Points

- It got to the point in story where I didn't want anything bad to happen or something to break down. Not because I feared for the main character but I knew I would have to read endless explanations on how he was fixing the issue at hand. If you get off on reading trouble shooting guides for fun then this will be the greatest story ever.
- Secondary characters are not fleshed out.
- The story did not capture the emotions of being deserted on a faraway planet and the depression of being isolated.

Final Word

If you ever dreamed of a MacGyver / Castaway mashup that takes place on Mars then this is the novel for you. Otherwise, too much technobabble dragged down what could have been a compelling story.

                                                            My Rating



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