I really enjoyed the movie The Martian, so thought I'd give this book a go. Well, it reads like a textbook. The science based problem solving aspects of the story were intriguing and interesting, but there was just too much of it. The whole book really was filled with "how do I solve this small aspect of this larger problem". The author seemingly spent more time thinking of, describing, and solving "escape room" type problems than coming up with a more engrossing plot.
The style of writing seemed juvenile with very little actual dialog. The pacing is really off; some sections, especially the beginning of the book dragged on and on, and others just seemed rushed. The main character was rather unbelievable, the other characters were glossed over.
The saving grace of the book is the somewhat novel concepts created or used by Weir;the interesting language used by the alien character(s) and "astrophage" . The story itself is rather basic.
The biggest cop-out was setting the stage in such a way that the author didn't have to reallyresolve or describe most of the alien technology. It seemed rather contrived that the main character couldn't ever really see it in detail, and never made any attempts to do so. It just seems odd to write a story about alien contact and never have to describe most of the alien technology !
The style of writing seemed juvenile with very little actual dialog. The pacing is really off; some sections, especially the beginning of the book dragged on and on, and others just seemed rushed. The main character was rather unbelievable, the other characters were glossed over.
The saving grace of the book is the somewhat novel concepts created or used by Weir;
The biggest cop-out was setting the stage in such a way that the author didn't have to really
Compelling topic, interesting anecdotes, but subpar editing and scattered writing.
It could have been a really good book if it had gone through a few passes with a decent editor (was there an editor?). I can appreciate the dedication of the author and the effort required to write something like this, but the editing made it unnecessarily uncomfortable to get through the book. For that reason, it's 2.5 stars for me, but since there's no half stars, I'll round down to two.
It could have been a really good book if it had gone through a few passes with a decent editor (was there an editor?). I can appreciate the dedication of the author and the effort required to write something like this, but the editing made it unnecessarily uncomfortable to get through the book. For that reason, it's 2.5 stars for me, but since there's no half stars, I'll round down to two.