The Martian by Andy Weir
The Martian by
Andy Weir
Do you
like action packed, suspenseful, science fiction novels? If so then The Martian will be your dream come
true. This novel follows Mark Watney, the only man currently on Mars. He was
part of the United States Ares 3 mission. When the crew of six was forced to
evacuate Mars, Watney was hit by an antennae and pushed off course. The rest of
the crew was forced to leave him on Mars assumed dead, which makes sense
because he had an antennae poking out of his side, so they could survive. What
follows is his fight to survive. And he does put up a fight against insane odds
to make it back home to Earth.
Mark
Watney is such an easy character to root for. He was very well developed and
had a great sense of humor throughout the novel. He was imaginative and yet a
realist. Watney always kept in mind how slim his chance of survival was and yet
he fought against it. The question throughout the novel was whether or not he
would survive and he wasn’t the only one asking that question. The people at
NASA and his surviving crew members were as concerned about his life. Once it
became obvious that Watney was alive it was a round the clock battle to come up
with ways to keep him alive. This is where storytelling in this novel should be
commended. Watney’s point of view was given through written log entries which I
though was extremely successful. Weir though also included what was going on
with the surviving crew and people back at NASA which provides the reader with
a well-rounded view of what is really happening. I didn’t want to read a Mars
version of the film “Castaway” and that’s not what this is.
I only
had one real issue with The Martian:
it got repetitive. Really repetitive. I guess this is where the different point
of views became a hassle. Moments of discovery were relived in the different
points of view and that could be tiring, especially near the end of the book
when there was literally one life or death situation after another. This is
also a very math heavy novel. If you aren’t into math and dubious
equations/calculation then this might not fit for you. Beyond that though I enjoyed this novel. There
was a high level of suspense until the very end of the novel and it was
extremely unpredictable. These situations have to be. It’s space! I give this
novel 4 out of 5 stars. Great science fiction that assures I will never leave
the planet because catastrophe is waiting.
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