The Martian is the perfect mix of science, space disasters, and sarcasm. Mark Watney’s humor kept even the slower moments entertaining. The science fascinated me and the tension held me captive. Nearly perfect—I’d give it 4.75 potatoes out of 5!

This book was honestly one of my favorite reads in all of 2021. There are large amounts of funny, tense, emotional, or just flat-out crazy moments packed into the book. While I don’t think I agree with some of the points made in the book by the author, it is still very entertaining and has enticed me to try to pick up a few of Andy’s other books. I would give this book another read-through.

The Martian is an incredibly fast-paced survival adventure. Set on Mars. 6 days into a 30-odd day mission, the Ares 3 crew is forced to abandon the mission, and astronaut Mark Watney is injured in the rush to get to the MAV. Injured, and with an EV suit registering both massive, sudden depressurization and no life signs, his crew is forced to leave him behind, not even attempting a body recovery. Except...

He's not dead. Close, yes, but not dead. He does a quick repair on the EV suit, and makes it back to the HAB, where he quickly figures out that he has no way to survive until the Ares 4 crew lands, and no way to talk to Earth. 

The Martian is a page-turning thriller of a sci-fi novel - with understandable technobable that's probably pretty accurate - that manages to be extremely hopeful, even when there is no hope. It's terrifying, and yet... wonderful. 

This is my first introduction to Andy Weir's books. I really like the funny and informative fiction style, though some cursing language can be toned down. Just something in mind if you're triggered by it. I loved the movie with Matt Damon, most of the movie plot followed the book but there are parts of the second half not in the movie, and part of the movie epilogue not in the book. I'm looking forward to more books by Andy Weir, this one was a sold read for 2021 :)

I love this book so much. I think it paints an unrealistically optimistic portrait of humanity, but it's a portrait that I return to over and over again, especially when I need a solid dose of hope. I can and do reread this book endlessly without ever getting tired of it.