Roughly one week ago, Astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on Mars.

Now he is sure he will be the first to die there.

When a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his fellow astronauts to leave the planet, and him, behind; Mark wakes to find himself completely alone. With damaged equipment, Mark has no way to signal that he is alive. He is stranded on an alien planet with faulty equipment and dwindling supplies. Even if he could get a message out, rescue would be years away.

Yet Mark isn’t willing to just lay down and die. He’s a survivor and he plans to stay that way. Using the equipment he has as well as his engineering and botany skills, he comes up with a plan. Not only to contact NASA but to keep himself alive until they can get him.

But they did not name Mars after the God of War for nothing, for all too soon Mark realizes he’s going to have to fight to survive.

A brief note: This review is for the BOOK. I have yet to see the movie, but I do plan to. Especially now after reading the book!

I don’t think there is a man or woman alive who didn’t entertain dreams of travelling in space. I know as a young girl I wanted to be an astronaut and often dreamed of going up in a spaceship. And while many of us look at space travel through rose colored glasses, for all the things that go well, there are just as many that can go wrong. And that is where books like The Martian come in.

The Martian is a story of survival in the most adverse of conditions. For Mark, this isn’t like being stuck somewhere on Earth; he is on a completely different planet. Rescue isn’t days away but years.

Told from three different perspectives, Mark’s, NASA’s, and his crew mates making their way back to Earth; I found The Martian to be a riveting tale. From the first page I found it very hard to put down. I needed to know what happened next; to Mark, to the crew. This book held my attention from the start and did not let go.

Mark’s journal entries are quite science heavy; something not all readers will enjoy. This is tempered with his dry, gallows humor and his upbeat outlook on his situation. He is determined to survive, if he doesn’t accidentally blow himself up first.

Being a long time science nerd, I loved The Martian. Readers looking for a tense, edge of your seat thrill ride will love this book as well. I was enthralled from beginning to end and cannot recommend this book enough.