The Martian

Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
Pages: 387 (paperback)
Published: October, 2014, by Broadway Books

Summary: 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 & forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded & completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—& 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—& 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?

My Thoughts: I know I don't read a lot of science fiction books, but I'll be danged if this isn't one of the best ones I've read in years. Not only was it suspenseful and action packed, but it was downright hilarious!  So I initially picked this book up because I saw the movie trailer and was completely enthralled by what I saw. However, when I started reading, it wasn't exactly what I had expected.

I had heard mostly good reviews about this book from my fellow booksellers at work as well as other book reviewers, but I don't remember anyone saying how funny it was. And oh my stars, I was actually laughing out loud at some parts! 

Even when it wasn't all about the laughs, it was a great fast-paced, un-put-down-able, sci-fi thriller and I couldn't get enough of it. The characters and plot were great and the even science made sense (I cannot tell you how relieved this made me feel), so yeah I was a happy camper when I finished this one.

My only qualm with this novel was that sometimes the science was a little over my head.  I'm not very proficient in math or physical science, so when Watney would go on and on in detail when explaining why something broke or how he managed to fix it, I kinda sorta might have skimmed a little bit through those parts. It wasn't that much of the book where I felt this lost, but when it occasionally happened I would skim to the bottom of the page to see what was going to happen next.

That didn't take away from the book much at all, though. I feel like people of pretty much all science backgrounds can understand what's going on because Andy Weir did a good job of explaining the details and cutting the fat so you weren't inundated with a new and complicated science lesson every time you turned the page. 

So far it looks like this book is going to be on my list of top 5 favorite books I've read in 2015, and I seriously cannot wait until the movie adaptation comes out in October, like I already plan on dragging anyone willing to witness this movie with me because I gots to share the love. Let me know what you thought of The Martian in the comments below or if you plan on reading it!
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars