6 reviews for The Martian
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The Martian
by Andy Weir
Description:
A mission to Mars. A freak accident. One man’s struggle to survive. 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, Mark 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 skillsand a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strengthhe 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.
About The Author
Andy Taylor Weir (born June 16, 1972) is an American novelist whose debut novel, The Martian, was later adapted into a film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott in 2015. He also worked as a computer programmer for much of his life. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016.
Skryf Review
“Amazing Book”
Abbas
This is a fast-paced, enthralling novel about Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded on Mars, his struggle to survive and NASA’s efforts to rescue him. This book is hard SF, which means it’s not a space opera. There’s actual science in here. Pros: This book is by turns educational, heartbreaking, thrilling, and laugh-out-loud funny. The book shows Watney and the other characters coping with problems time and again, breaking them down into pieces and working them out. That makes these characters great role models. There are no bad guys. Men and women of different races and religions are portrayed in a very positive light, and all work together to solve the problem. Cons: Parents should know that there are many curse words in this book including frequent usage of the f-word. There are one or two brief and general mentions of how long its been since Watney has seen a woman and similar things, but nothing more than that. There’s a reference to cannibalism in dire situations and Watney mentions that he’ll deliberately OD on morphine rather than starve to death, but he has no plans to starve and the subject does not arise again. I had no concerns about my 12 year old reading this book.
Anmol
Love it, love it! A meticulously researched, briskly paced and surprisingly funny story about an astronaut left behind on Mars, presumed dead, who must now figure out how to survive and let the folks back on Earth know he is alive and needs rescue. This is hard-science science fiction. Parts of it read like really complicated (but amusing) word problems, juggling mass and time and weight, etc. But all of that adds to the realism. You can tell Andy Weir loves his space exploration and knows a ton about it. He totally had me convinced, anyway. The Martian is a fast read, and the main character’s irrepressible sense of humor will have you cheering for him as he tries to survive against impossible odds. I will also never eat another potato again. (Long story.) If you’re looking for a fast-paced, believable space adventure set in present day, this is your book.
arif
We’re going to science the s**t outa this! Fascinating character… just can’t stop cussing because that’s his personal sense of humor. It works well. You can’t resist hoping for Watney’s survival against all odds. Tweens that have already heard the f-word and can handle the language with some maturity will love this book. A survival story for the science geeks. Those who aspire to write will also love the author’s insipirational notes at the end.
Shrawan
This book was fantastic! A thrilling survival story with a hearty dose of humor. The main character Mark was such a smartass and I LOVED IT. The voice and the premise hooked me in right away and kept me thoroughly engaged the whole time. My only real issues were that some of the minor characters didn’t really stand out as much as they could’ve, and some of the science heavy bits were a little hard to follow and felt info-dumpy at times. But the human aspect–the heart of the story–was totally on point, and for the most part I just had a great time reading this!Overall, this book was exciting and fun and oh man, am I excited for the movie! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes survival stories or funny thrillers or sci-fi with an emphasis on the sci!
Kaushal
I have never wanted so badly for the characters in a book to be real. I want to meet them all the way I want to meet the president, or Taylor Swift.This story is perfectly told. It is perfectly paced, it is brilliantly written, it is beautifully crafted.Andy Weir does this incredible thing where he make the reader feel the isolation that Mark Wagner feels, and he does it so subtly, we don’t even realize that he’s doing it until it’s done.The Martian completely captivated me. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next, and I never wanted it to end.