Fun fact: This is exactly how the Apollo 1 crew died. Wish me luck!
The Martian
by Andy Weir
Genre: Sci-Fi
About: A crew on Mars gets hit by a mission-ending storm. As they evacuate, one of their crew members is left behind, presumed dead. But it isn't so easy to kill Mark Watney, soon to be known to the world as a disco-hating Space Pirate and Last Man on Mars. NASA, his crew and six billion people make it their mission to bring him home.
The Good
This is a really funny novel. Humour-level of This is Going to Hurt as there's a lot of heart in it as well. You root for Mark from page one. And he needs support: Mars is trying to kill him. Every problem he faces is believable, tense and very satisfying to see how he solves the crisis. The level of inventiveness is just so impressive. At one point Mark seals a breach and then explains how he could have used ice (in a very clever and somewhat complicated solution) but ended up using duck tape, because there really is nothing better than tape in a crisis.
Andy Weir balances the need for action and high stakes, with the reality of one man being alone on an inhabitable planet for a year and a half. I was really blown away by level of detail to the character and the situation. This is a hyper-realistic space mission gone wrong that's never boring, is laugh-out-loud funny, and has you fully invested the whole way through.
The Bad
We don't really get to know other characters to the same degree as Mark. Of course I wouldn't expect every character to be as well-fleshed out as our main and they are still developed characters, but I would have liked to have known his crewmates better. Lewis was a strong favourite of mine, as was Vogel, but I found myself forgetting who Beck was and I wished we'd had more scenes of pre-leaving Mark on Mars. More crew banter. I loved it when it was there, but it wasn't often enough for me.
I'm also so very grateful for every character to do the maths for me, but man, I still had to read a lot of maths.
The Somewhat Iffy
What did Mark bring with him to Mars? He watches Lewis's sitcoms, listens to her music and read Johanssen's books. Didn't he bring any entertainment of his own? And yes, that's all I have in terms of iffy-ness. Can't speak to the science: it all sounded very clever and awesome. Also thought the psychology of all the characters was really well done - I might not have gotten to know all of them as well as Mark, but I believed all of their decisions.
Overall
The movie is a great adaptation of this very funny, very clever novel. I was hooked from beginning to end, even that I knew the story from the film already. No surprises, just excellent writing.
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