Four star review, originally posted here on December 31st, 2025:
I’m not usually a sci-fi reader. Even for TV and movies I’m generally not much of a fan unless there’s something particularly appealing to me about it. It’s just a preference, I guess. But I did really like the movie The Martian (based on another Andy Weir book). And, most importantly, this book was recommended over and over AND OVER AGAIN by absolutely everybody and their mother on Reddit. People love the shit out of this book! It is constantly being suggested as an easy-to-read book for people who have trouble getting into books, or who are new to reading, or who are looking for something to really suck them in. It is also constantly being touted as a sci-fi book for non-sci-fi readers; a novel that is jam-packed with science but makes it digestible and even pleasant for us idiots. So… did it deliver?
Yes and no.
This book was good, and entertaining. The vibe was extremely similar to The Martian, and I’m sure the movie will be great.
But…
It’s not the messiah.
Maybe “the messiah” is a high bar to clear. Maybe those expectations are set way too high. Fair enough! But I want to put that right at the start and be very clear that this isn’t the magical masterpiece that everyone is making it out to be. And I would say that, in about 50% of situations where I see this book being recommended, I would NOT recommend it. Does that sound like a pan? It is not! Because that leaves the other 50% where I WOULD recommend it.
What is this book NOT?
1. A good beginner book. Dudes, it’s way too long and, crucially, REPETITIVE to be a beginner book. If you’re someone asking for a book that won’t bore you because most books more you, this ain’t it. Yes, the overall plot is super interesting. But also, here’s the general setup:
– fun character discovers a science problem
– fun character solves the science problem
– fun character discovers another science problem
– fun character solves this new science problem
– fun character runs into yet another science problem
– fun character solves this new science problem
Are these science problems interesting? Yes! Absolutely! And I, as a non-science-person, even found them entertaining and engaging. But do I need 800 science problems in a row? Maybe. Depends on my attention span. And if I’m asking for recommendations because I have a short attention span, this would miss the mark.
2. It’s not deep. Think fun blockbuster movie; don’t think Oscar best picture nominee. Is the science way better than a typical movie? Hell’s yeah it is! But don’t let that fool you into thinking this is high literature. It is not. These characters are all pretty 2-dimensional. Does it work in this case? Yes! Absolutely! We get the exact amount of character development that we need. But if your book club is the type that discusses the intricacies of character motivations and development, well, this will leave something to be desired.
That being said, this was still a great book! I especially loved the beginning, when we the readers join our protagonist in trying to figure out WTF is going on and how we got here. This was so expertly done. If anything, I really wish I hadn’t seen a trailer for the movie before reading this book, because it gives us a huge spoiler as to the identity of our protagonist that was very cleverly revealed in the book. Alas, this was a very, very early spoiler, so whatever. I very much enjoyed watching our protagonist stumbling through his world and meeting the other characters.
We have 2 second-tier characters who were both fantastic. I particularly enjoyed how our protagonist developed his relationships with these two characters over time. Won’t spoiler anything else there.
I do recommend the audiobook for this one. The narrator was great, of course. But they also do something very clever using sound that really helped the story come to life. I have no idea how they did this part in the written book (I’m sure it was great, whatever it was,) but in the audiobook we have sounds in place of words that then change over time. A+!
This book was really fun, and very well executed. What keeps it from being 5 stars for me? Personal preference, really. First, again, its sci-fi, so it really has to blow me away to get past that internal bias. It came close (close enough that I liked it!) but not enough for me to love it. Maybe if it was shorter. A big chop in the second half would have worked wonders for me. Also, the protagonist was just a little TOO perfect and hapless. He’s an Average Joe type who also happens to be insanely insanely brilliant. I felt like I was living out the author’s fantasy, which had me feeling kinda meh. On the other hand… No love interest!!! Thank God! Other stories where I feel like the author is living our their fantasy they tend to tack in a love interest (Dan Brown’s sexy lady partner is a GYMNAST? For fucks’ sake.)
Helga without the H 