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oxfordcommas91's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
After reading and thoroughly enjoying Project Hail Mary, I was curious to read Weir's other work. I had somehow escaped the Martian craze back when it first came out and was made into a movie, but recently have been getting into sci-fi and felt like I should continue to dip my toe in with another of Weir's novels.
First, the audiobook is great. The fast paced, quick narration style and Wil Wheaton's narration made this a win for listening to on a long car ride. It keeps your attention and it's hard to "put down" because one chapter just flows into the next and there's constant action.
Martian and Project Hail Mary are similar in many ways, including the fact that it feels easy to confuse the two protagonists. While I don't mind when authors have a "type" it does make me wonder if Weir can only write the snarky/sarcastic, big ego, middle aged dude type. Despite that, it does work - Weir is talented and brings you right into the seat of the action every time.
This book flew by and I wish there was more of this epic adventure!
First, the audiobook is great. The fast paced, quick narration style and Wil Wheaton's narration made this a win for listening to on a long car ride. It keeps your attention and it's hard to "put down" because one chapter just flows into the next and there's constant action.
Martian and Project Hail Mary are similar in many ways, including the fact that it feels easy to confuse the two protagonists. While I don't mind when authors have a "type" it does make me wonder if Weir can only write the snarky/sarcastic, big ego, middle aged dude type. Despite that, it does work - Weir is talented and brings you right into the seat of the action every time.
This book flew by and I wish there was more of this epic adventure!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Abandonment, Confinement, and Cursing
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Excrement
Minor: Cannibalism, Death, and Drug use
sparky_lurkdragon's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement and Blood
Minor: Cannibalism
strawberrytheauthor's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book was way more interesting than I thought it would be. I seriously loved it. There is a lot of science talk that I don’t understand and it doesn’t explain it all, but it didn’t hinder the experience. I really enjoyed the sass ones of the main character, Mark Watney. He is such a punk and I love those types of characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Car accident, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Minor: Cannibalism, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Death
alicewolfe's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Cursing
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Blood
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Cannibalism
epeolatrist's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Incredible… I read this for extra credit but I was surprised by how much I loved this book. I am NOT a science person, and not particularly interested in space either, but it wasn’t too complex to understand. It was downright hilarious and an overall incredible story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Abandonment
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, and Blood
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Cannibalism
singalana's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I have seen the movie first, and I wonder whether I would have liked the book better if I hadn't. Since the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation, all the key plot points are essentially the same. And I kept imagining the main character as Matt Damon.
The book is about an astronaut named Mark Watney, who gets left behind on Mars, because everyone thinks that he's dead. Surprise, he's not, and now he has to survive.
I'm not an expert, but the science behind this book sounds plausible. It's a bit technical, but not so much that it would greatly impact my enjoyment of the book. This book is told mostly as log entries, but other types of narration are also used, and I think the narrative choice makes this a faster and easier to read.
The main character is mostly likeable, and since he narrates the story using logs, we aren't actually inside his head. On the other hand, we don't get to see his loneliness, fear and desperation that much, but it makes the tone of the book lighter.
However, I do have a few criticisms: almost all of the characters in this book banter with each other, so it would have been nice to have the characters have different voices. One character is German, and he uses stereotypical exclamations like: Ja! and Mein Gott! And there's one throwaway mention of rape I could have done without.
I've heard some reviews about Andy Weir's other book Artemis that say it's misogynistic. There are some hints of it in this book too, but not so much that it would affect the overall experience. I'm planning on reading Artemis as well, so we'll see.
Content Warnings
Minor: Medical content, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
ireadtoescape_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I really enjoyed this.
I also believe that by finishing it, I am officially a woman in STEM 🤭🤭🤭🤭
So, Andy Weir is my white man exception. Even though he has the some typical white man author tendencies such as bringing up women’s looks in contexts that absolutely do not matter ever. Also I said the characters are diverse here but it’s in the typical white man trying to mix things up way. It doesn’t feel genuine and the characters are very stereotypical. Struggled a lot with how he wrote all the women here.
So as it is with Andy. Stay for the vibes and quirky nerdy characters. Acceptable enough for me.
I was in a spiral because I just recently watched Oppenheimer for the second time and then decided to rewatch a bunch of Matt Damon movies (I currently cannot emotionally handle a Cillian Murphy obsession so I am exercising self-control 😭😭). Anyway, after rewatching The Martian for the 100th time, here we are.
I laughed. I was stressed.
I enjoyed the madness.
Could have used another few more pages to just see him back on Earth but emotions are also involved because I’m a little sad it’s finished.
Good!
I also believe that by finishing it, I am officially a woman in STEM 🤭🤭🤭🤭
So, Andy Weir is my white man exception. Even though he has the some typical white man author tendencies such as bringing up women’s looks in contexts that absolutely do not matter ever. Also I said the characters are diverse here but it’s in the typical white man trying to mix things up way. It doesn’t feel genuine and the characters are very stereotypical. Struggled a lot with how he wrote all the women here.
So as it is with Andy. Stay for the vibes and quirky nerdy characters. Acceptable enough for me.
I was in a spiral because I just recently watched Oppenheimer for the second time and then decided to rewatch a bunch of Matt Damon movies (I currently cannot emotionally handle a Cillian Murphy obsession so I am exercising self-control 😭😭). Anyway, after rewatching The Martian for the 100th time, here we are.
I laughed. I was stressed.
I enjoyed the madness.
Could have used another few more pages to just see him back on Earth but emotions are also involved because I’m a little sad it’s finished.
Good!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Confinement, and Excrement
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Cannibalism
kate_has_book_thoughts's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Minor: Excrement, Blood, Cursing, Grief, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Cannibalism
chrisljm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Ngl I was confused for about 20% of the book because of all the math, science, and engineering. My brain was working overtime to understand and imagine everything. I tried my best but I'm pretty sure I was making shit up sometimes. But nonetheless, I still appreciated the amount of science and research that went into this book and it felt incredibly realistic (but what do I know, because I will not be fact-checking at all).
Although I enjoyed Project Hail Mary much more, this was still good and I was invested in the mission to save Mark Watney as well. The humor gets kinda childish, but it still made me laugh a few times.
I will say I was curious on how Andy Weir was going to handle the narrative of Watney being the only man on Mars and trying to survive and make it back to Earth. I thought it was very much going to be a solo mission and so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that we were also going to get the pov of the crew on Earth who are also working to save Watney's life. I think this is what I enjoyed most about the book, that even though Watney is physically on his own on another planet, he's not in the fight alone because he has a whole team and crew working with him to save his life. It was very touching to see the amount of people working to save one person.
Although I enjoyed Project Hail Mary much more, this was still good and I was invested in the mission to save Mark Watney as well. The humor gets kinda childish, but it still made me laugh a few times.
I will say I was curious on how Andy Weir was going to handle the narrative of Watney being the only man on Mars and trying to survive and make it back to Earth. I thought it was very much going to be a solo mission and so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that we were also going to get the pov of the crew on Earth who are also working to save Watney's life. I think this is what I enjoyed most about the book, that even though Watney is physically on his own on another planet, he's not in the fight alone because he has a whole team and crew working with him to save his life. It was very touching to see the amount of people working to save one person.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement
Moderate: Cannibalism, Death, Blood, and Cursing
Minor: Drug use, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
atamano's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood, Cursing, and Excrement