This Giveaway Hop from Stuck in Books is one of my favourites, and allows me to showcase one of the books I read this year that I had to be dragged away from if I couldn’t finish it in one sitting.

There are four contenders:

The Martian by Andy Weir

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle

The Last Pilot by Benjamin Johncock

And since I reviewed the others in the summer (click the titles for the reviews) today’s review is The Martian.  After that is the Giveaway and the hop list!

20555443The Martian by Andy Weir

The Blurb

The bestseller behind the major film from Ridley Scott, starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain.

I’m stranded on Mars.

I have no way to communicate with Earth.

I’m in a Habitat designed to last 31 days.

If the Oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, I’ll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death.

So yeah. I’m screwed.

My Review

Wow!  This is a truly gripping adventure.  If it wasn’t enough to be on a mission to Mars that goes horribly wrong, things keep going wrong every time it looks like he’s sorting himself out.  And eventually we get to see what’s happening back home, with some strange decisions being made ‘to protect the mission’ and later ‘to minimise collateral damage’ and other equally obnoxious double-speak – my interpretation, I don’t think the author used those words.

I particularly enjoyed the emotional development that went on with numerous characters in this show, not just the Martian himself.  In some ways the Martian reminded me of my brother and some friends – that same aura of calm under pressure and ability to dang well sort something out that works!  I wonder whether the author really meant for the mission controllers to have so little faith in the strenuous selection tests they’d put the astronauts through.  In that, I think it echoed the Apollo 13 film – people concerned over their own piece of the mission and not giving the astronauts credit for resourcefulness.

There were plenty of twists and turns, many unexpected, although at one stage I did get fed up with the thwarting of every positive step.  Relentless bad luck can pall.  However, I liked the style of the diary, and the cuts back to Earth, and eventually back to the rest of the crew, and I really enjoyed the science element of the fiction!

I haven’t seen the film, but the book is terrific, and I’ve given it five stars everywhere.

My Summary: Brilliant – best book I’ve read this year!

The Rafflecopter

The PRIZE is one copy of one of the books above, in ebook or paperback form, anywhere in the world, provided Book Depository delivers to you free of charge..

Entries close at midnight (pm) on 21st October 2016.

Raffle valid only in countries where this type of draw is legal.  You must be 18 or over to take part.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And here is the list to Go Hopping!!

Don’t miss my Guest Post on The Story Reading Ape on Sunday 9th. See it here!

Book Review and Giveaway Hop | Stuck in a Good Book
Tagged on:                             

37 thoughts on “Book Review and Giveaway Hop | Stuck in a Good Book

  • 8 October, 2016 at 6:05 am
    Permalink

    The plot and the characters keep me interested. I love strong characters the best.

    Judy Cox

  • 8 October, 2016 at 7:02 am
    Permalink

    An interesting story, yes some things can repeat themselves but if the author knows how to tell their story in a solid, consistent way then I’m sold.

  • 8 October, 2016 at 8:43 am
    Permalink

    Sometimes a movie can act as a great companion to the book. I have watched THE MARTIAN, but have not read the book yet.

  • 8 October, 2016 at 11:18 am
    Permalink

    Connection between the characters!

    Betul E.

  • 8 October, 2016 at 11:31 am
    Permalink

    Well-developed characters, a plot that flows smoothly, with some action, suspense or plot twists.

  • 8 October, 2016 at 11:48 am
    Permalink

    When book is made into film, I like to watch the movie first, and then read the book if I liked the movie.

    And the book that I’ll get stuck into has to have a good writing style, then the plot or characters have to be interesting. But writing style is what’s most important in my case.

  • 8 October, 2016 at 8:23 pm
    Permalink

    I do like when books are made into movies, though I prefer when they stick to the plot of the book rather than doing their own thing.

  • 8 October, 2016 at 9:02 pm
    Permalink

    the writing

  • 8 October, 2016 at 11:18 pm
    Permalink

    I’m pretty forgiving in determining what makes a good book, but once I find misspellings and grammatical errors in self published works, I get very annoyed to the point of no longer reading if the problems persist.

  • 9 October, 2016 at 12:48 am
    Permalink

    Great picks! I’ve only read The Martian and I loved it so much that I also listened to the audiobook. 😀

    • 9 October, 2016 at 12:48 am
      Permalink

      And I watched the movie!

  • 9 October, 2016 at 4:44 am
    Permalink

    I always like first to read the book first,than to watch the movie 🙂
    Thank you for the awesome giveaway!

  • 9 October, 2016 at 6:36 am
    Permalink

    I didn’t even realize there WAS a book! I must read that.

  • 9 October, 2016 at 6:39 am
    Permalink

    One of my all time favorite books is Pride and Prejudice. And of course it has been made in to several movies BUT there is only one or two that I think does the book justice.

  • 9 October, 2016 at 11:36 am
    Permalink

    Plot and characters are the major ones for me. Back and forth quick repartee is usually the cherry on top! I think it can be very hard to adapt a book to film. What seems to go fast in print can drag on the screen and vice versa. A lot of success is due to the scripting and quality of acting.

  • 9 October, 2016 at 11:38 am
    Permalink

    I do like book to movie adaptations, especially for those books I don’t plan on reading.

  • 9 October, 2016 at 2:36 pm
    Permalink

    What keeps me into a good book is the plot. The romance. I don’t like a book thats just hooking up, it makes me lose interest. I love angst as well.

  • 10 October, 2016 at 6:38 pm
    Permalink

    I’m always happy when a book I like is made into a movie, but it’s too easy to mess up the adaptation. Books are usually better.

  • 10 October, 2016 at 6:41 pm
    Permalink

    I have to be completely immersed in the book. I love books that make me feel what the characters are feeling.

  • 11 October, 2016 at 10:06 am
    Permalink

    The plot and the writing style keeps me interested.

  • 12 October, 2016 at 1:20 pm
    Permalink

    writing style,plot,amazing quotes,cliffhangers

  • 12 October, 2016 at 4:44 pm
    Permalink

    It has to be written well. I hate grammar mistakes. The story has to be full of angst and list. I don’t like watching TV. I read books and I do not watch movies.

  • 13 October, 2016 at 4:34 am
    Permalink

    I haven’t watched a book turned into a move that actually impressed me. The book is ALWAYS better.

  • 14 October, 2016 at 1:03 pm
    Permalink

    The plot and the characters.

  • 15 October, 2016 at 2:54 pm
    Permalink

    I always try not to watch the movie before reading the book first. Most of the time the movie adaptation does not live up to the book.

  • 17 October, 2016 at 9:09 pm
    Permalink

    It is usually the characters that draw me into a book. I have to like them to care about reading the story.

  • 18 October, 2016 at 4:59 am
    Permalink

    The author’s style, the story, the suspense, the characters.
    Those are the things that hook me into books most of the time.

  • 19 October, 2016 at 11:43 pm
    Permalink

    What keeps me stuck in a book is when there is plenty of action and twists. I love that feeling when I just have to keep reading because I HAVE to know what is going to happen next.

  • 20 October, 2016 at 6:30 pm
    Permalink

    I definitely preferred the book version of THE MARTIAN (though Donald Glover’s cameo was fun).

  • 20 October, 2016 at 8:58 pm
    Permalink

    I like it when books are turned into movies

  • 20 October, 2016 at 9:18 pm
    Permalink

    I actually love it when my favorite books are made into movies but I’m always scared of how they’re gonna do it. More often than not, movies don’t do justice to the books, unfortunately.

  • 21 October, 2016 at 2:33 am
    Permalink

    i like movies from books provided they actually follow the book

  • 21 October, 2016 at 10:58 am
    Permalink

    Thank you all for your comments. I’ve been interested in all your opinions, but thought you might get bored if I just replied ‘interesting’ or ‘thanks’ the whole time!

  • 21 October, 2016 at 4:53 pm
    Permalink

    Reading by the fireplace is my favourite place to curl up and get stuck in a good book.

Comments are closed.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox

Join other followers: