Six days into the first manned mission on Mars, there is a huge dust storm, forcing most of the crew to evacuate, earlier than anticipated. Mark Watney, the crew’s botanist and mechanical engineer is impaled on an antenna and believed to have died. He wakes up alone, stranded on Mars with no way of signalling Earth that he is still alive. The next manned mission to Mars is scheduled in four years’ time, and even if he were able to send a signal to announce his miraculous survival, he doesn’t have enough supplies to last him long enough for a rescue mission to reach him. Even if he could use his botany skills to grow food enough to last him, none of the equipment he has with him is designed to last for years in the unforgiving environment of the red planet. Mark Watney, one of the first men to ever walk on Mars, is very likely to be the first man ever to die there too. He’s not going down without a fight, though? With his boundless optimism, his education and his creativity, he’s determined to survive until the next crew of space explorers arrive, when he will hopefully be able to go home at last.
I was given this book as a Cannonball gift exchange present from the lovely Beth Ellen, but first heard about it in August last year, when my friend Erica, who usually can’t stand science fiction books, read it in less than 48 hours and then rated it five stars. Since then, so many people all over the interwebs have read and reviewed it and absolutely loved it, to the point where I started getting scared of reading it at all, convinced I was going to be the first person I knew, in real life or online, who was going to think the book was just ok. So I kept putting it off, and finding excuses for why I couldn’t read it yet, until the trailers for the upcoming film starring Matt Damon started being released, and I realised that unless I wanted to get spoiled, I was going to have to just read the book already.
For more rumination of what I thought of the book (if my rating and the title of this review doesn’t clue you in), go here.
Yay!
And what’s this? A sci-fi book that Malin likes? Hmmm, I wonder if there are possibly other sci-fi books that Malin might like . . . . Hmmmm.
I knew you would love it. And I’m glad that you did. Now I’ll go read the rest of your review.
I pick this book up from the library *today* I am super excited. I might let it skip all the other library books waiting to be read…
(I’m not reading your full review until I’ve read the book though)
Oh, that’s totally fair (although I’ve tried to keep mine completely unspoilery). I’ve basically been avoiding reviews for the book for months (after checking that oh, they loved it too), and have enjoyed reading all of them now that I’ve completed my own review.
Yay! I’m so glad you loved it! I knew, as you and I are not the biggest sci fi folks out there, you would love it! I read it aloud to Mr. Beth Ellen while on a long driving trip and we literally looped for hours just so we could finish it!