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leventmolla's reviews
1640 reviews
The Legend of the Firewalker by Steve Bevil
2.0
Young Adult Fantasy novel which turned out to be very disappointing. Lots of filler material with little value, certainly not in the league of better YA Fantasy books.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part D. From Elizabeth to James I. by David Hume
3.0
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part E. From Charles I. to Cromwell by David Hume
3.0
The Martian by Andy Weir
4.0
I did not know what to expect when I started this book. It started slowly, with a narrative that used a plain language but had a lot of commonality with the Golden Age stories which utilised accurate science facts at a time when deviations from the scientific formula was not popular.
Mark Watney is one of the younger astronauts in the Ares 3 mission to Mars. He has Mechanical Engineering and Botanics as part of his skill set and is the least likely member of the crew to have an adventure in Mars. However a freak accident results in him getting impaled by an antenna and carried away in a storm. Thinking him dead, his crew mates have to abort the mission and use their launcher to get back to Hermes, the main ship in orbit and start the voyage home.
However Mark is not dead, he recovers from the accident and takes refuge in the abandoned Mars habitat. He has no communication, only food enough for less than a year and has no hope for rescue. However, being an engineer, he will do his best to prolong his presence in Mars and will think of a way to get back to Earth. He would find a way to raise crops, use some ingenious mechanisms to travel on Mars and even think of a way to communicate back to Earth to make them realise he is actually alive.
The book is in the form of a series of terse logs that Watney records. From time to time the narrative goes back to the NASA team at Earth or the Ares 3 team in the Hermes. However this form really suits the story very well.
Andy Weir is telling a quite remarkable story and a very exciting account of a realistic voyage to Mars. The book has many cinematic qualities and I am looking forward to the movie adaptation starring Matt Damon due October 2015.
Mark Watney is one of the younger astronauts in the Ares 3 mission to Mars. He has Mechanical Engineering and Botanics as part of his skill set and is the least likely member of the crew to have an adventure in Mars. However a freak accident results in him getting impaled by an antenna and carried away in a storm. Thinking him dead, his crew mates have to abort the mission and use their launcher to get back to Hermes, the main ship in orbit and start the voyage home.
However Mark is not dead, he recovers from the accident and takes refuge in the abandoned Mars habitat. He has no communication, only food enough for less than a year and has no hope for rescue. However, being an engineer, he will do his best to prolong his presence in Mars and will think of a way to get back to Earth. He would find a way to raise crops, use some ingenious mechanisms to travel on Mars and even think of a way to communicate back to Earth to make them realise he is actually alive.
The book is in the form of a series of terse logs that Watney records. From time to time the narrative goes back to the NASA team at Earth or the Ares 3 team in the Hermes. However this form really suits the story very well.
Andy Weir is telling a quite remarkable story and a very exciting account of a realistic voyage to Mars. The book has many cinematic qualities and I am looking forward to the movie adaptation starring Matt Damon due October 2015.