The Martian

by Andy Weir

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 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?

Source: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/234102/the-martian-by-andy-weir/9780804139038

• ISBN10: 0804139032
• ISBN13: 9780804139038
• Publish Date: 1 February 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Broadway Books
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

In a freak dust storm NASA aborted a mission on Mars. leaving behind one astronaut; the crew evacuated thinking him dead. Now Mark Watney is stuck, with the damage done to the equipment he might not have time to starve to death. He was the first person to walk on Mars and he is going to be the first to die there too.

The age of the self-published novel is upon us and every now and then we hear people talking about a book getting a publishing deal and going on to be hugely successful. Fifty Shades of Grey being the first of these, then came Wool and I believe The Martian will be the next sensation book. I can’t help but think of this book as Moon (the movie) set on Mars. You have this man verses nature, fight to survive type thriller but help is about 225 million kilometres away (that’s the average; it does depend on the time of year).

You have a few parts to this novel; firstly you have a log book telling the majority of Mark Watney’s story. Then you read about NASA’s rush attempts to find a way to save him and finally you get a first-hand account of Watney when the epistolary style won’t work. The tension that builds in this book is key to why this novel works so well; this is edge of your seat thriller writing at its best.

What I loved the most about this novel was the humour, while this was a tense book, the little one liners thrown in really worked for me. I just liked how Mark Watney’s mind worked; it was a case of too much time on his hands. At one point in the novel he uses maritime law to work out how he can become a space pirate. Then the novel gets scientific, I’m not good at science but I did wonder how accurate this part of the book was. I’m not going to try mixing Oxygen and two parts Hydrogen to make water, it just sounds too dangerous.

For me, I loved every minute of reading The Martian, which is a little surprising; I can’t remember when the last time I truly enjoyed a Science Fiction novel. There are some that I got a lot out of but nothing this enjoyable. This book isn’t going to be released till February next year and unfortunately the self-published ebook is no longer available. Having said that, pre-order this one; I think there will be a lot of hype behind this, but don’t let that stop you from ordering first.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/12/09/book-review-the-martian/

[remo]

Descubrí a Andy Weir cuando me mandaron un enlace a El huevo, una historia muy corta y muy entretenida, que te deja pensativo. Entrando en la página del autor descubrí una novela completa, sobre un astronauta que se queda tirado en Marte, cuando todos le dan por muerto en una evacuacuón de emergencia.
Estamos ante una novela de cifi hardcore, donde la historia alterna entre los esfuerzos del astronauta por sobrevivir y los acontecimientos que suceden en la Tierra (y la NASA) tras la evacuación. La novela me ha enganchado como pocas, tiene sus altos y bajos pero está muy bien escrita y, además, adoro el humor del autor. Unas cuantas carcajadas han caído. Absolutamente recomendable.

[Años después esta novela se convertiría en el pelotazo cinematográfico del año. Bien merecido]