The Martian in Fantasy Buddy Reads

Apr 22, 2017 Blondish And Bookish rated it it was amazing

One of the best books I've ever read—and I read a LOT of books! It is completely and utterly gripping from the first line. You are immediately in the middle of the story, in the middle of the action, and author Andy Weir does a SUPERB job of giving you a setting and a scene with a minimum of sentences.

A freak accident causes Mark Watney's crewmates to think he had been killed, leading to him being left unconscious on Mars, while the rest of the crew leaves as scheduled. He wakes to realize that One of the best books I've ever read—and I read a LOT of books! It is completely and utterly gripping from the first line. You are immediately in the middle of the story, in the middle of the action, and author Andy Weir does a SUPERB job of giving you a setting and a scene with a minimum of sentences.

A freak accident causes Mark Watney's crewmates to think he had been killed, leading to him being left unconscious on Mars, while the rest of the crew leaves as scheduled. He wakes to realize that he is alone with no way to communicate with Earth or anyone. The bright note is that he has access to a Hab that is designed to last for 31 days, on a planet that no one is scheduled to return to for FOUR YEARS.

In his words, he realizes the only way to survive is to “science the $hit out of it.” Mark has MacGuyver-like fixing and modification abilities, the ability to think out of the box and to create new ways to use things that NASA never thought of (or even actively tried to prevent!). While obviously we don't have all the technology yet that is present in this book, all of the theories and space program information and the science and technology ALL seems to be realistic, with sound reasoning behind it. Literal rocket scientists AND NASA have gone through and claimed that it could be real.

While when reading any fiction book we have to make a leap of faith and believe that what we are being told is true for the purpose of getting lost in the story. When reading Harry Potter we have to believe that “Yer a Wizard, Harry!”, when reading Hunger Games we have to believe that the government selects tributes to fight to the death, when reading Lee Child we have to believe that Jack Reacher just wants to mind his own business and hitchhike across the country but people always interfere. When reading The Martian, it is incredibly easy to believe that it could happen because the science is so real and accurate.

Each time Mark comes with a way to rig something, or a dangerous plan to save himself, he explains it in a way that makes sense to non-science nerds. Of course, some of the time he makes mistakes because he's dealing with things that NO ONE has ever had to (neither in the world of the book nor in actual reality!). And some of those mistakes almost kill him—which makes it that much more realistic! And other things happen that are unrelated to his solutions, but just things that fail, or things that succeed beyond what he guessed.

This book was incredibly suspenseful and tension-filled. The author did a fantastic job of ratcheting up and up and UP the tenion level—I literally would have to put the book down and pace around to relieve the tension and anxiety that I felt for Mark Watney! And then Mark would deliver some of his sarcastic humor and a laugh would burst out of me. Mark is a very funny character anyway, but he deals with stress by making jokes and mocking himself. The phrase “page turner” is an understatement for this book—even when I reread it I cannot put it down!!

Aaaaaand I just reread this book AGAIN. Even though I've read it multiple times, and I've seen the movie multiple times, I still get completely caught up in the story. I mean, I KNOW what's going to happen, I know (view spoiler) but I'm still on the edge of my seat when I read this book. Every time something goes wrong I despair, and every time he solves the problem I mentally cheer!! ...more

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Jul 05, 2015 C.P. Cabaniss rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

This is an extremely fascinating book. A lot of research obviously went into this and I feel that it paid off. It's informative, entertaining, and funny. People who enjoy science and math would probably like this more than those who don't, but I think a wide range of people would like it. It's a survival story. Those are always popular.

The main things that I didn't like were the lack of characterization aside from Mark and the swearing. I'm sure those wouldn't be drawbacks to everyone, but I fo ...more

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Sep 29, 2015 Dee Dee (Dee Reads for Food) rated it really liked it

These characters are funny! The story is so gripping that up until the very last line you're left enthralled. Well done ...more

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Sep 22, 2015 Richard rated it it was amazing

Loved it! Only 3 days at a fairly slow pace via Kindle app, I'm impressed with myself. Enjoyed the style of vid blog? Not sure how else to describe it. Can't wait for the movie!
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