Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Fiction, Sci-Fi
Source: Review Copy
Rating: Liked it a Lot (4 out of 5)

Engineer and Botanist Mark Watney is stranded on Mars. His crew have left him for dead – and he almost was. A piece of luck kept him alive but not before his space suit reported no vital signs. Alone, and with no chance of rescue, he needs to use his skills, knowledge and wits to stay alive. In four years, there will be another Mars mission that will be able to take him home. He just needs to last that long…

Whether he would or not kept me turning the pages. I was sucked into this book before I knew it, despite initial reservations based on mixed reviews which left it sitting on the kindle for quite a while. I’m so glad I eventually picked it up because I really enjoyed it. It had a good pace, was well written, and – although a little too technical at times – the story was really absorbing. It also felt slightly unrealistic but I didn’t mind that at all, I just wanted to know what happened next.

I liked Mark. With no one else to talk to for the majority of the book, he speaks through journal entries, talking about what he does to survive and how he feels. The emotions he went through seemed real to me. It helped he had a sense of humour, which lightened up what could have been quite a dry book. Having one character carry the majority of the book must be a challenge for an author and I think Andy Weir did it well.

What he didn’t do so well for me was flesh out the other characters. The rest of his crew didn’t feel real enough and the NASA team were a bit hit and miss. I’d have liked to have gotten to know them a little bit better. I don’t think would have taken too much more to do that and it didn’t stop me enjoying the book overall. A compelling story and recommended read.

Emma x

p.s. Although this was a review copy, all thoughts/opinions are my own.