The Martian

Starred review from November 25, 2013
A dust storm strands astronaut Mark Watney on Mars and forces his landing crew to abandon the mission and return to Earth in Weir’s excellent first novel, an SF thriller. Watney, injured by flying debris and presumed dead, is alone on Mars with no communication and limited supplies. He is, however, the mission engineer, the fix-it guy, and with intelligence and grit he goes to work to stay alive. There are setbacks and triumphs galore as we follow Watney’s sojourn on Mars via his journal entries. Meanwhile, a desperate NASA team concocts a rescue plan on Earth. Watney’s solutions to food and life support problems are plausible, and Weir laces the technical details with enough keen wit to satisfy hard science fiction fan and general reader alike. Deftly avoiding the problem of the Robinson Crusoe tale that bogs down in repetitious behavior, Weir uses Watney’s proactive nature and determination to survive to keep the story escalating to a riveting conclusion. Agent: David Fugate, LaunchBooks Literary Agency.

nerdynerdynerd - "Hey there." declared Mark Watney to his first potato plant. This was an interesting book. I enjoyed reading it, but at the same time I was pulled onto Mars and into Mark's world. He had a lot of food-the rest of his crew aborted misson and left him there, supposedly dead. But no! He was alive, and (partially) well. (Except for the fact that a satellite slammed into him and stabbed him, but that's unimportant.) With the potatoes in his food stash, he decided to grow some. And maybe set himself on fire once. Maybe. Then, his potatoes died. Nobody likes cold temperatures on Mars. Then, Rich Purnell decides to try to help save him. NASA declines. But the rest of the Ares III crew (those rebels!) use Rich's maneuver. And Mark is saved. The rest you know.