Publication: February 11th 2014 by Crown (first published in 2011)
Source: Purchased
Goodreads description: 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?
I loved this book. After reading the synopsis I was immediately intrigued as I love survival stories and the science fiction aspect with the setting being on Mars made the book sound even better. Prior to starting this book I was worried that it wouldn’t live up to all the hype it had been receiving, particularly with the upcoming movie release. I had also never read an adult science fiction book before, but this book definitely did not disappoint.
The writing was fantastic and the suspenseful plot had me completely hooked. The humour also surprised me as I hadn’t been expecting a funny book at all, but it was hilarious and I enjoyed the book even more because of that. The science in this book was thoroughly researched by the author and that just added to how realistic it felt while reading.
Mark Watney was such a fantastic character. His witty and sarcastic personality definitely appealed to my sense of humour and he was so smart and resourceful. Despite his seemingly hopeless situation, he never gave up hope and his sheer determination to live was just something to admire.
This turned out to be more of an emotional rollercoaster than I had anticipated. I had gotten so attached to Mark and just wanted him to be okay, so I was elated at his achievements and was frustrated and upset at each setback that he encountered.
I will say that the one thing that I didn’t like was the very abrupt ending. I don’t particularly like sudden endings and while I didn’t want the book to be over, I would have liked an epilogue at the very least.
This book focuses very heavily on the science aspect of the story and it is full of scientific terms, explanations and calculations. I have read reviews where people found the sheer amount of science too much and a little off putting. I did not have that problem at all. In fact, it was right up my alley since I was a science nerd at school and I still am today. There were a few instances where the sheer amount of information given was a lot to take in and understand, but it would always be followed up by a brief summary and explanation.
Overall this book was such an excellent and entertaining read. I gave it a 5/5 rating and I recommend it to those who like suspenseful survival stories or those who don’t mind a lot of science in their science fiction.
My quick thoughts on the movie:
I loved it! As I was reading the book I was actually visualising in my mind how some scenes and events would be portrayed in the movie and was hoping that I wouldn’t be disappointed. But I didn’t need to worry because the movie definitely met my expectations and it was probably one of the best book to movie adaptations that I’ve seen. Of course there were parts left out and there were definitely some changes from the book (one part towards the end in particular annoyed me) but overall it was a fantastic movie. I thought that they did a great job with the casting and I loved seeing the characters and the story come to life.
