Mario the lone bookwolf's Reviews > The Martian

McGivering ones´ way through the space Robinsonade with full focus on fun, celebrating science, nerdism, and the extra trope vitamins fight against time, poopy DIY, and rescue mission

The love for science
The authors´ affinity for science drops from every page and is combined with definitively very fine plotted, interwoven tech plot arcs, making protagonist(s), story, and world one astonishing unit. Weir said in an interview that what he enjoys most about being a writer is doing very detailed research about all the hard science he shovels into each chapter, which results in even many gags, accidents, and almost catastrophes being based on wrong calculations, forgotten physics, or just sheer bad luck. Fusing theory and practice, cold math, and real results, makes the complex technical and physical details much more understandable, especially when it includes unwanted slapstick stunts with a touch of black comedy because it's nearly fatal.

Immense concentration of greatness in a very small space, I hope it won´t explode
I can´t believe how short this thing is, it´s so densely packed with all that makes sci-fi great, one sometimes finds in books or even parts of series combined to not close that quality with lengths and stuff. But Weir even puts in some, seemingly, essential human needs such as social interaction, the badass protagonist Chucks away like if it was nothing. Unrealistic? Nope, it just depends on character, each introvert balancing on the thin, red line towards the autistic spectrum will fully agree while extroverted human lovers may find it unlikely that there aren´t more mental issues. As so often, it´s the subjective perspective that counts most.

Its place in the big sci fi picture
It´s doing an immense job in spreading the sci-fi genre, although people reading it might expect something completely different from it than it usually means, especially not being that accessible, funny, and easygoing. Sci-fi is often more exposition with the length of an average novel, complicated concepts interwoven with different fractions and protagonists, and sometimes a struggle to keep following the plot and understanding the science and meta political economic ideological in world constellations and real world implications and innuendos, not to speak of inside gags aimed at the target audience. I guess that´s the reason why some sci-fi prone readers don´t appreciate The Martian as much as sci-fi rookies who are still open minded and not that picky about defining the rules and possibilities of the genre.

Funny as heck while doing edutainment
As so often in funny as heck satires, the first person perspective adds the extra layer of making fun of oneself, something impossible with the more widespread third person perspective. Our protagonist doesn´t just make the reader giggle, but motivates himself with cynic pragmatism while giving the rest of humanity watching his endeavor hope with his optimism and jokes. It´s great for learning too, because a relaxed and happy mind integrates the shown science much better than one bored out by clunky hard sci-fi or school.

This isn´t your average sci-fi book and why Weirs´second novel Artemis didn´t live up to the expectations of broad parts of the audience while Project Hail Mary did.
As mentioned in the big sci-if picture department, it´s far too accessible and easy to read for that genre. That´s, I guess, the reason why people expected a second Martian and were disappointed when they got Artemis, that is more of what sci-fi readers are used to, using more of the common tropes and conventions sci-fi heads love, while others might shy away from the reduced usability by far more complex storytelling.

These groundbreaking new and old voices of sci-fi are so amazing
Just as Jemisin, Chambers, Butler, Okorafor, etc. Weir is reinventing the genre in ways one could have found much earlier, but didn´t, showing the immense potential of the best genre to rule them all, especially when made science fantasy or social sci-fi. Hard sci-fi, cyberpunk, and dystopic subgenres maybe not so much, because these exhausting and depressing subgenres just can´t get so many readers motivated to consume them and will never have the same impact as the funny, optimistic, utopic genres, especially some space opera series by Banks and Hamilton who find the perfect balance between world and characters, and even often cross that border and unite them to one, amazing overkill.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
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