A mission to Mars.
A freak accident.
One man’s struggle to survive.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars’ surface, completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive. And even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, Mark won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark’s not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills—and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength–he embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive, using his botany expertise to grow food and even hatching a mad plan to contact NASA back on Earth.

As he overcomes one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next, Mark begins to let himself believe he might make it off the planet alive.

But Mars has plenty of surprises in store for him yet.

Grounded in real, present-day science from the first page to the last, yet propelled by a brilliantly ingenious plot that surprises the reader again and again, The Martian is a truly remarkable thriller: an impossible-to-put-down suspense novel that manages to read like a real-life survival tale.

I decided to read the Martian, because the movie got my attention and as those who know me know, I like to read the book before I watch the film. This book was fantastic and I don’t usually go for these kind of space odyssey books. The main character Mark Watney is such a hoot you can’t help but love him and root for him and hope that he gets out of the situation that he is in. Can you imagine how much mental strength let alone the rest that it takes in order to live and survive on Mars completely alone? No one to talk to, no human interaction at all. It is a wonder that he did not fully lose his mind. He did a little bit of course, but that is to be perfectly expected.

This book really is enjoyable. Now if you do not like a whole lot of very well explained scientific data you may not like this book. As much as I loved the book I can admit that occasionally I wanted to have a little bit of a snooze fest during these parts. However, everything else about this book was a win for me. If you have seen the movie and want more read the book. If you haven’t seen the movie still read the book because it is a truly amazing story.

My Gemstone Rating: