The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Incredible hard science fiction reads more like science fact. I don’t know when I’ve read a tale more rooted in good science. Of course, I’m no expert, so if the author were cutting some corners I might never know about it, but the meticulously detailed descriptions of the issues involved lead me to suspect that this is truly as well researched as it appears. (My own reading has confirmed the same.)
The Martian is the debut novel from author Andy Weir, who initially published the story in serialized form on his own website for free in 2011, before self-publishing a Kindle version. The experiment was successful enough that Crown purchased the print rights and released a hardcover version of The Martian in 2014. The book appeared on virtually every “best of 2014” list and rightfully so. When I read it at the time, I devoured it, despite the length of the text and the dense technical detail of the narrative.
The story is easily told: it’s Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Well, not exactly – that actually was an Adam West film in the Sixties. But it broadly explains the setup; the lead character, astronaut Mark Watney, is stranded on Mars after he is presumed dead in an accident during his team’s mission. The crew is forced to make an emergency evacuation and are unable to recover his body. The good news is that Watney was actually not killed during the accident. The bad news? He’s alone on Mars, with not enough supplies to survive and no hope of rescue. But he’s smart and stubborn…
The Martian is just so well written. Obviously the majority of the tale is from Watney’s perspective, and his humor, determination and intelligence make for a fantastic read. Weir, possibly because he is so damn smart himself, wrote extremely detailed and technical passages, presuming that his audience will be able to keep up. There’s no hand-holding or blatant over-explaining. At the same time, the journal-like observations of an isolated individual necessarily create their own exposition, so keeping up isn’t really a problem. That’s rather clever…
Watney is not abandoned in the narrative, however, as there are frequent interludes with both the team in space and back on Earth. All of the characters are very well-written and would make for interesting stories by themselves.
Soon after the novel found a new audience with the print publication, The Martian was optioned for a feature film from Ridley Scott, starring Matt Damon as Watney. The early buzz is positive and the trailers look great. But do yourself a favor and spend some time with the book first. The incredible tale of survival is truly original, even having many spiritual predecessors. It is an electric narrative that is very hard to put down. Weir has created a masterpiece, being both a detailed hard science fiction story and a gripping human thriller with interesting characters. Well done and highly recommended…
