I have to be completely honest and admit that this was my first true Sci-Fi read. I am a massive Fantasy reader (HUGE) yet Science Fiction is a category that has eluded me so far. And to be perfectly honest, I am not even sure why they are grouped together as they are. I adore Science Fiction in other media but The Martian has taken my cherry for Sci-Fi books. Now what is this book about?
We begin in the midst of an escape with the astronauts on Mars that have been sent from the USA (predictably). Mark Watney unfortunately gets injured during this escape and is left on Mars, with the assumption that he is dead. Little do they know… He is well and truly alive. With no way to contact Earth or his team.
This is a surprisingly hilarious read. It is written in log form by Mark and his humour is fantastic, it is the kind of humour one would see in a pub rather than in a diary from a guy trapped on Mars. Which makes it all the better. We follow him through his journey of growing potatoes with his own waste, balancing the air supply, traipsing across the Martian terrain to hijack a rover, and so on.
I really like the jumps to the events on Earth, when they are trying to figure out how to get to him, coming to terms with the fact that he has survived so long, and the rest! They really give you a bit of a rest from Mark’s narrative which is needed due to the format being a diary, so many THOUGHTS. There is also a lot of math and science involved which I admit, went a little over my head but then I’ve always been more of a humanity student.
It is a unique read in it’s attractiveness to every kind of audience (except teens and below because my goodness, the mouth on this one!) But that’t kind of what I like about it.
Overall this is a fantastic read. It has a bit of everything and is above all a great, hilarious story with a very satisfying ending (if not a little rushed). I intended to read this book before seeing the movie but haven’t seen the film yet, although I can only imagine how incredible the scenery is going to be. However… I think I’d like to keep my version of Mars and the Martian in my head for a little while longer thanks…
So a successful foray in Science Fiction… Now where to go from here?
The Martian by Andrew Weir
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