Kireth
My first Andy Weir book and I see why he has appeal in the mainstream reading audience. However, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would, and it has me hesitant to read The Martian (although I loved the movie). The writing style was easy to follow and felt conversational, and I was enlightened by all the proper scientific knowledge used in the book’s events. I did not like a few racial remarks made, but I also loved the simplistic approach taken in describing humanity’s response to the impending cosmic disaster. The double-hander of present day action in deep space and flashbacks to earth’s past was fun at the start but felt unnecessary by the film’s middle - I would have loved to peek more at Earth now. I didn’t get rich descriptions of other worlds or a deep exploration of interspecies relations and moral implications - or even a necessarily worthy hero as the protagonist. What I did enjoy was the relationship at the heart of the book, the science used in the extraterrestrial set-up and interstellar travel, and the snappiness of the novel’s events. The second half, especially the last 15%, was meaningful to me. Overall a fun, light and quick hard sci-fi read. Also a very fast turnaround to a film adaptation. I will be interested to see what they keep and cut for the big screen with Ryan Gosling.
My first Andy Weir book and I see why he has appeal in the mainstream reading audience. However, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would, and it has me hesitant to read The Martian (although I loved the movie). The writing style was easy to follow and felt conversational, and I was enlightened by all the proper scientific knowledge used in the book’s events. I did not like a few racial remarks made, but I also loved the simplistic approach taken in describing humanity’s response to the impending cosmic disaster. The double-hander of present day action in deep space and flashbacks to earth’s past was fun at the start but felt unnecessary by the film’s middle - I would have loved to peek more at Earth now. I didn’t get rich descriptions of other worlds or a deep exploration of interspecies relations and moral implications - or even a necessarily worthy hero as the protagonist. What I did enjoy was the relationship at the heart of the book, the science used in the extraterrestrial set-up and interstellar travel, and the snappiness of the novel’s events. The second half, especially the last 15%, was meaningful to me. Overall a fun, light and quick hard sci-fi read. Also a very fast turnaround to a film adaptation. I will be interested to see what they keep and cut for the big screen with Ryan Gosling.