The Martian
I don't normally post lone book reviews, but I'm going to make an exception for The Martian, because it's flipping great.
The concept is pretty simple - A lone astronaut gets stranded on Mars. Everyone thinks he's dead. He's not.
It's a survival story and a gripping page-turner, but a solid piece of 'hard' sci-fi too. In real life, Chris Hadfield says the astronaut's mantra is to always think, "Okay, what's the next thing that can kill me?". In this story, Mark Watney goes through that over and over again. First of all, how can he not die? Then, will he be able to re-establish contact with Earth? Does he have any chance of surviving? He may be stranded, but he does have all the abandoned equipment from what was supposed to be a 31-day surface mission. The science is believable, the solutions he comes up with to his never-ending problems are ingenious, and for a story that plays out over nearly two years (Earth time), it remains tense throughout.
A large part of the book's success is in making Watney a really likeable guy - Most of the book is told from his perspective through his log entries. He is ingenious, resourceful, good in a crisis and brilliant at botching things in ways that no one else would be crazy enough to try. He's loyal to the crew who left him behind and puts others before himself. He has a deep understanding and a healthy respect for things that can kill him, but at the same time he's always ready to lighten the situation with humour. He's massively irreverant, has no time for authority and mouths off at every chance he gets. The review extracts on the cover mention Robinson Crusoe, Gravity and Apollo 13. Those are obvious comparisons, but I was also struck by a different one. I kept trying to think who Watney reminded me of, and about halfway through the book I realised - He's Harry Dresden in space! (if Dresden was an astronaut...)
The Martian is a short read - I read over three-quarters of it on the train to London and back last Tuesday, then finished it off on Saturday. I definitely recommend it, though I'm not sure about whether to catch the film adaptation or not. The trailer looks pretty uninspiring.
On an unrelated note - I've now broken up for the summer hols. I'm not back in work until September! Woohoo!
The concept is pretty simple - A lone astronaut gets stranded on Mars. Everyone thinks he's dead. He's not.
It's a survival story and a gripping page-turner, but a solid piece of 'hard' sci-fi too. In real life, Chris Hadfield says the astronaut's mantra is to always think, "Okay, what's the next thing that can kill me?". In this story, Mark Watney goes through that over and over again. First of all, how can he not die? Then, will he be able to re-establish contact with Earth? Does he have any chance of surviving? He may be stranded, but he does have all the abandoned equipment from what was supposed to be a 31-day surface mission. The science is believable, the solutions he comes up with to his never-ending problems are ingenious, and for a story that plays out over nearly two years (Earth time), it remains tense throughout.
A large part of the book's success is in making Watney a really likeable guy - Most of the book is told from his perspective through his log entries. He is ingenious, resourceful, good in a crisis and brilliant at botching things in ways that no one else would be crazy enough to try. He's loyal to the crew who left him behind and puts others before himself. He has a deep understanding and a healthy respect for things that can kill him, but at the same time he's always ready to lighten the situation with humour. He's massively irreverant, has no time for authority and mouths off at every chance he gets. The review extracts on the cover mention Robinson Crusoe, Gravity and Apollo 13. Those are obvious comparisons, but I was also struck by a different one. I kept trying to think who Watney reminded me of, and about halfway through the book I realised - He's Harry Dresden in space! (if Dresden was an astronaut...)
The Martian is a short read - I read over three-quarters of it on the train to London and back last Tuesday, then finished it off on Saturday. I definitely recommend it, though I'm not sure about whether to catch the film adaptation or not. The trailer looks pretty uninspiring.
On an unrelated note - I've now broken up for the summer hols. I'm not back in work until September! Woohoo!