An astronaut is left for dead on Mars with a habitat built for a month and has to science his way through everything.
Funny, fast and endlessly clever, with the best problem solving in modern science fiction, held back by thin side characters and some long science explanations. Four and a half out of five.
Every guide comes as a video and a full written article. Pick the one you need: the review is spoiler-free, the ending explained is not.
Is The Martian by Andy Weir worth reading? A spoiler-free review: Mark Watney's voice, the problem solving, the flat side characters, the info dumps and my score.
How real is the science in The Martian? Potatoes in Martian soil, water from rocket fuel, the dust storm, radiation, RTGs, Pathfinder and ion engines, checked against NASA and other sources.
The Martian ending explained: Pathfinder, the Hab blowout, the Rich Purnell Maneuver, the MAV launch and the rescue on Hermes. Full spoilers.
Loved The Martian? Six spoiler-free books to read next: Project Hail Mary, Red Mars, Seveneves, Lost Moon, Packing for Mars and Robinson Crusoe.
The Martian book vs the 2015 film: the cut dust storm and rover crash, the Pathfinder loss, Johanssen's survivor plan and the sugar bomb rescue, with a kept, cut and changed table. Full spoilers.
The Martian is Andy Weir’s debut novel, first posted online chapter by chapter and published in print by Crown in 2014. Astronaut and botanist Mark Watney is left behind on Mars after a storm forces his crew to evacuate, with a habitat designed to last about a month, and has to work out how to stay alive. It runs to about one hundred thousand words in twenty-six chapters, mostly told as his log entries.
Below you’ll find a spoiler-free review, the ending explained with full spoilers, a science fact check of the potatoes, the water and the radiation, and six books to read next. It contains frequent strong language.
Mark Watney is the botanist and mechanical engineer on Ares Three, the third crewed mission to Mars. He is also the lowest ranked member of the crew, which will matter more than he expected. The mission is meant to last thirty-one days on the surface.
On the sixth day, a violent storm forces the crew to abort. In the chaos, Mark is struck by debris and left behind, and his crewmates, with every reason to believe he is dead, leave without him. He wakes up alone, injured, with no way to call anyone, in a habitat built to last about a month.
Mark Watney is the botanist and mechanical engineer on Ares Three, the third crewed mission to Mars. He is also the lowest ranked member of the crew, which will matter more than he expected. The mission is meant to last thirty-one days on the surface.
Funny, fast and endlessly clever, with the best problem solving in modern science fiction, held back by thin side characters and some long science explanations. Four and a half out of five. Read it if: you like survival stories and smart humor; you want sci-fi that is really about solving problems; you liked project hail mary or apollo 13. Skip it if: you want deep character drama; you want lyrical prose; constant strong language bothers you. Review: The Martian →
Our ending explained covers the final chapters in full, with spoilers. The Martian ending explained: Pathfinder, the Hab blowout, the Rich Purnell Maneuver, the MAV launch and the rescue on Hermes. Full spoilers. Ending explained: The Martian →
The Martian book vs the 2015 film: the cut dust storm and rover crash, the Pathfinder loss, Johanssen's survivor plan and the sugar bomb rescue, with a kept, cut and changed table. Full spoilers. Book vs movie: The Martian →
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger, Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Books like it: The Martian →
No. It is a novel. Many of its ideas are based on real science and real NASA missions, such as Pathfinder, but Mark Watney and his rescue are fiction.
About one hundred thousand words in twenty-six chapters, most of it told as Mark Watney's log entries.
No. Andy Weir's later novels, Artemis (2017) and Project Hail Mary (2021), are separate stories, not sequels.
It has frequent strong language, so it is best for older teens and adults. That age range is the reviewer's opinion, not an official rating.
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