The Martian: A Novel

by Andy Weir

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Brilliant . . . a celebration of human ingenuity [and] the purest example of real-science sci-fi for many years . . . utterly compelling.”—The Wall Street Journal

The inspiration for the major motion picture

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?

NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE

“A hugely entertaining novel [that] reads like a rocket ship afire . . . Weir has fashioned in Mark Watney one of the most appealing, funny, and resourceful characters in recent fiction.”—Chicago Tribune

“As gripping as they come . . . You’ll be rooting for Watney the whole way, groaning at every setback and laughing at his pitchblack humor. Utterly nail-biting and memorable.”—Financial Times

• ISBN10: 0553418025
• ISBN13: 9780553418026
• Publish Date: 28 October 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Ballantine Books Inc.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553418026

Reviews

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

Goodbye, my friends, I have been killed by a book.

Tatum has been nagging me for a good year to read this book, and I didn't really have any reason to keep putting it off other than not being in the mood for it. From the summary, you can figure out that Mark Watney is stuck on Mars. And that's not a good thing. So I wasn't ready to read about someone struggling to survive because IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO END TERRIBLY. Ehem.

Anyway, I finally picked it up a couple of weeks ago because I decided that I needed some more stress in my life and oh. my. god. The Martian is the one of the most stressful books I have ever read. Much of the novel is told from Mark Watney's POV as he talks about how he's going to survive on the red planet without his crew, enough food, or equipment that's in good enough shape.

The Martian is one of those books that gives you heartburn because of the panic and anticipation that is builds up throughout. Whenever you're with Watney, you're hoping he can find a way to survive, and when you switch to other characters, you are desperate to get back to Mars so you know exactly what's going on.

I must talk about Mark Watney because he is a new favourite character of mine. He is fucking HILARIOUS; even after being stranded on Mars and left by his crew, he is cracking (mostly terrible) jokes and writing Amazon product reviews in his head. The humour makes the situation a tiny bit better, which is how I imagine it worked for Watney as well.

While Mark Watney is trying to survive, he talks you through the process, and yes, there is a LOT of maths and science involved. Don't let this put you off, though. Admittedly, I love maths and science (weirdo! you cry), so I really enjoyed experiencing Mark Watney's thought process as he figured stuff out and/or explained things. You might not, and you might want to skim read those bits, but I would advise against it because it's a mixture of science jokes and hilarity, mixed in with some calculations.

So throughout the book, I was waiting for awful things to happen. And they did happen. They kept bloody happening, and I'm pretty sure the planet was trying to kill Mark Watney. But he didn't lose hope at all. He kept. freakin'. trying to survive and he didn't give in, even when it looked absolutely hopeless. HE IS THE BESTEST.

AND THEN THE ENDING, WHICH DESERVES ALL CAPS BECAUSE THAT. ENDING. I thought I was going to have a heart attack while I was reading it. I almost didn't want to finish the book because I thought I knew how it was going to end and I was filled with complete dread. YOU CAN'T KILL MARK WATNEY, MARS/ANDY WEIR/GOD. But then the ending is the best part, because of all the stuff that I can't spoil.

If you know me at all, then you will know that I can't be dealing with people showing their humanity. It breaks me. But that's what this book is ultimately about. Sure, Mark Watney is a guy who is stuck on Mars, but really The Martian is about the human race and how people will band together to try everything they can to save one guy who happens to be in a shit situation. Because shit situations bring out the best in people. And now I'm crying again, so have a quote:

Part of it might be what I represent: progress, science, and the interplanetary future we’ve dreamed of for centuries. But really, they did it because every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. It might not seem that way sometimes, but it’s true.

 

[inlibrisveritas]

The Martian is one of those reads that progressively gets harder and harder to put down. Everytime you think you’ll get to a moment good enough to pause you are either too enraptured to notice it or something happens and stopping is no longer an option.

Our focus is on astronaut Mark Watney, a man who has been stranded on Mars by himself and must figure out a way to survive if he ever wants to have hope of being rescued. I loved Mark. He’s funny, sarcastic, and brilliant in a “I’m impressed his ideas are actually working” kind of way. Since most of this book is told in log entries we get to see the unfiltered Mark as he struggles, succeeds and fails. The secondary characters are all fantastic as well and I enjoyed the moments where the book took a break from the log entries and showed us what was happening back on Earth or in the space shuttle Hermes with his crew. There are even moments where the book takes on a sort of omnipotent view of the situation and we get a piece by piece glimpse of what is coming up, adding to the tension.

I was surprised when I read that this was Andy Weir’s first novel, and now I know I need to see more from him. It’s rare to find a science-fiction thriller like this! It’s rooted in reality and everything within it’s pages are within the realm of possibility, and every bit of the panic that it induced came from a very real place. In fact I had moments where the tension was so thick that I was starting to feel incredibly anxious and had to stop reading for a few minutes. I’m all for books with science in them and while I can’t say for sure everything in this book is scientifically accurate I do know that a good majority of it is and I really appreciate the time and detail that the author put into making sure it was as believable as possible. I also loved the fact that this book didn’t add in a ton of extra elements to the plot, it’s simply about survival. Mark is up against a lot in this book (the environment, the odds, himself, and the loneliness) and I was worried here would be some sort of odd twist thrown into the mix, but Weir kept on the path he laid out and it was utterly perfect.

If you are a science fiction fan then I have no idea what you’re waiting for! Go get a copy! If you’re just on the lookout for incredibly thrilling and tension filled books, then put it on your list! And if you’re curious about it because of the upcoming movie, then I urge you to go read it before it comes out! You never know if a movie will do the book justice but this one is definitely worth reading ahead of time.

[lindsey]

(I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Wow. Just... wow. The Martian is an incredible book. I had heard good things about it before I started reading, but I wasn't sure if it was something that I would like. When I saw that it was available for review on Blogging for Books, I decided to give it a try.

I was hooked from the very first page.

It's told mostly through logs written by Mark Watney, an astronaut who has accidentally been left for dead on Mars, with occasional chapters on Mission Control back on Earth, and the crew that abandoned him, although not intentionally. But most of the focus is on Mark, and rightly so.

With no way to contact Earth, Mark is sure he's going to die. Even if he was able to let someone know he was still alive, it would take a rescue mission years to reach him. But he doesn't give up. By using his ingenuity and engineering skills, as well as his botany expertise, he manages to survive... alone on Mars.

I really, really loved this book. I honestly can't think of a single thing that I didn't like about it. Andy Weir's writing style is wonderful, the pacing is great, the humor in the face of life and death situations is perfect. It's just a gripping and thrilling read. I was on the edge of my seat, and I would be lying if I said I didn't tear up at the end.

Mark is a really great character. He's smart, brave, and resourceful, but he's also flawed. He's human, and it's refreshing to find a character who isn't perfect. The scenarios Mark was faced with felt entirely plausible. There was enough action to keep the book from getting boring, but never so much that it became unbelievable.

I would highly recommend this to everyone, whether you're usually a fan of science fiction or not. I just can't say enough good things about it.

[boghunden]

Can't even begin to describe this adventure I've just been on!
What to do with my life now?!

[clq]

It would be an exaggeration to say that any book is perfect. But, within the boundaries of what The Martian tries to be, it gets extraordinarily close. A Mars mission doesn't go quite as planned, and an astronaut gets left behind. The astronaut is not the kind of guy who gives up easily. The book takes it from there, and does it spectacularly.

For its length, this book is packed with so much great stuff. There is drama, there is science, there are thrills (cheap and otherwise), there is emotion, there is some more science, and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The pacing is great, and the book shamelessly takes the reader through a brilliantly constructed roller coaster. It has more surprises than one would expect, and never takes itself too seriously.

A great, complex, work of literary art The Martian is not. It doesn't try very hard to make you think great thoughts or to challenge you. The setting being what it is there are plenty of alternate routes this book could have taken. It could easily have been packed with deep, existential, questions: What's the future of our planet? Of space travel? What is the point of going to space? What is the point of being in the universe at all if we don't explore it?
The Martian hardly even alludes to any of this. It goes full speed ahead in a super-powered space rover. It does take place in outer space, but not in the "we are exploring hereto unknown elements of our galaxy" kind of way, but in the "WE ARE ON MAAAAARS! WE ARE ACTUALLY ON THE ACTUAL MARS!" way.

This book is so much fun, there really isn't much more to say about it. Everyone should read it.

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

Rating increased to 4 stars after re-read.

This was chosen as Sci-Fi Book of the Month for my Goodreads book group, Dragons & Jetpacks, back in August. I went into it expecting great things – so many positive reviews from friends, such high praise – and I’m sad to say that I was pretty disappointed.

The premise is terrifying. Mark Watney is now the only person on Mars, after a freak storm that led his crewmates to believe he was dead. The Martian is Watney’s account of survival in the bleak landscape of the Red Planet, told through a series of mission logs, interspersed with third person perspective chapters from NASA. Whilst his self-deprecating sense of humour and dry wit was brilliant, especially in the face of such peril, there were so many chapters where it just felt like lists and lists of what he was doing. Understandably, there’s not actually much to do on Mars, but still…

Whilst I was gripped by the story and rooting for Mark, who was a really likable guy, at times I felt a little bored. I felt that the pace and my enjoyment of the book picked up a lot more towards the end, however, and Andy Weir managed to conjure up many moments where things could go very, very wrong, and I was on the edge of my seat hoping that Mark would be okay.

I can see why the book has such high praise. It’s a unique account and Mark is amazingly brave, considering that he is pretty much staring death right in the face at all times. But I’m sad to say that overall, it just didn’t work for me.

[adamfortuna]

The Martian started as a self published book on Amazon before eventually being picked up by a publisher, and now has a movie in the works with Matt Damon scheduled for late 2015. The easiest way to describe it is Castaway meets Apollo 13. It was a gripping story with enough realism to keep things interesting.

It was awesome and I had a hard time putting it down. Easy to read, always engaging, funny at at times, serious at others. Just when you thought everything was going right something (unexpected) went wrong. I hope this is what life on Mars really is like (sort of). Thanks to Ryan for lending me this book and recommending it.

[ibeforem]

This book was fantastic. I'm not usually one for space stuff, but this sucked me in from the very beginning. Even the parts that were calculation-heavy didn't make my eyes glaze over. This is the book that got me reading again after the birth of my child, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a good adventure and doesn't mind a lot of cuss words.

[lovelybookshelf]

Originally posted on my blog, A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall:

Believing he is dead, Mark Watney's crew leaves him behind as they are forced to make an emergency evacuation. But Watney survives, and finds he is completely alone and stranded... on Mars. The Martian details his determination to beat impossible odds and attempt to survive. Watney makes MacGyver's ingenuity seem like child's play, and Tom Hanks's situation in Castaway feel like a dream vacation.

Andy Weir knows how to write for the layperson and gives his main character a wonderfully quirky sense of humor (Watney calls his habitat "Little HAB on the Prairie" hahaha). Scientific and technical details are never tedious. There was not one moment I felt bogged down; in fact, I was completely absorbed, flipping page after page, devouring the story on the edge of my seat. I felt like I was reading a movie!

Once in a while, the humor and informal tone got a bit too silly, reminding me of Red Dwarf (which admittedly, is awesome in its own way). But you know, I can live with that, because The Martian is exactly how I like my sci-fi: plenty of science, technically satisfying without being stodgy, entertaining, and not without humor.

Loved this one. I can't wait to read more by Andy Weir.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.