Review
An e-copy of the book has been provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House International, in exchange for an honest review.
“Besides, if I had a nickel for every time I wanted to smack a kid’s parents for not teaching them even the most basic things… well… I’d have enough nickels to put in a sock and smack those parents with it.”
Ryland Grace woke up in a ship with no recollection of who he is, let alone that his mission is to save humanity and the world from its peril.
The structure of the novel is highly interesting. It’s a fascinating choice to start the story with a narrator that has no idea where he is and what he has to do—it provides a strong connection with the main character as he, like the reader, is clueless. Moreover, I enjoyed Andy Weir’s writing style. I find it meticulous yet it does not diminish accessibility.
On the other hand, the pacing of the story is equally interesting. It’s intriguing how the placement of informative texts and entertaining moments transitions with one another. The first 15% of my reading journey with this book was highly curious—having no idea of what everything is all about I wanted to know more. After that, you are thrown with factual knowledge and it slowly becomes dragging as it shifts into a more information heavy chapter. With that in mind, you get the gist of how the story flows.
“He curls the claws of one hand into a ball and presses it against the xenonite. “Fist me!” I push my knuckles against the xenonite. “It’s ‘fist-bump,’ but yeah.”
I find the characters of this book extremely interesting. Aside from Ryland Grace, there will be other characters (duh!) that will be introduced. I liked a lot of them. Their dedication is something I truly commend and I aspire to have that strong commitment for the sacrifices they make in order to achieve a great cause. Additionally, Grace meets a friend that will make your reading this book exceedingly enjoyable. He is similarly hilarious and I adored every bit of getting to know them.
Overall, I think this book is a strong read—with fantastic writing style, relatively quick pacing, and delightful characters. Furthermore, the research Andy Weir put upon this book is just amazing. I am aware that there are brilliant minds behind this and not only him alone, but still, WOW! One thing’s for sure about Weir, though, he can definitely write funny characters regardless of their hopeless situation.
About the Author
ANDY WEIR built a career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, THE MARTIAN, allowed him to live out his dream of writing fulltime. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects such as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail. He lives in California. Andy’s next book, ARTEMIS, is available now.
