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
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!
The 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.
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!
The plot and the characters keep me interested. I love strong characters the best.
Judy Cox
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.
Make sure you watch the film of The Martian. It’s great too.
Sometimes a movie can act as a great companion to the book. I have watched THE MARTIAN, but have not read the book yet.
Connection between the characters!
Betul E.
Well-developed characters, a plot that flows smoothly, with some action, suspense or plot twists.
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.
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.
the writing
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.
Great picks! I’ve only read The Martian and I loved it so much that I also listened to the audiobook. 😀
And I watched the movie!
I always like first to read the book first,than to watch the movie 🙂
Thank you for the awesome giveaway!
I didn’t even realize there WAS a book! I must read that.
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.
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.
I do like book to movie adaptations, especially for those books I don’t plan on reading.
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.
I generally think the book is better!
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.
I have to be completely immersed in the book. I love books that make me feel what the characters are feeling.
A good plot and characters keep me into a book.
The plot and the writing style keeps me interested.
writing style,plot,amazing quotes,cliffhangers
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.
I haven’t watched a book turned into a move that actually impressed me. The book is ALWAYS better.
The plot and the characters.
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.
It is usually the characters that draw me into a book. I have to like them to care about reading the story.
The author’s style, the story, the suspense, the characters.
Those are the things that hook me into books most of the time.
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.
I definitely preferred the book version of THE MARTIAN (though Donald Glover’s cameo was fun).
I like it when books are turned into movies
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.
i like movies from books provided they actually follow the book
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!
Reading by the fireplace is my favourite place to curl up and get stuck in a good book.