REVIEW: The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian
by Andy Weir
Science Fiction
4/5 stars

I grabbed this book because of the movie, like many people probably did. The difference with me is that I really put my foot down about not reading this book. Even when The Martian hit theaters, even when everyone raved about how good it was, I waited until the movie came to the cheap theater in town (months after release) before I saw it. Usually, I'm adamant about reading books before seeing their movie versions, but for this one I was just as adamant I would see the movie first. To be honest, I never expected I would read this book.

Why? Partly because I heard it had a lot of swearing -one of the things I draw the line at- but also because I honestly wasn't sure I'd like the story.

I mean, it's about a guy stranded on Mars, all alone, fighting to survive. Intense? Yeah. Moving? Probably has its moments. But enjoyable? I anticipated an adrenaline-pumping film I'd watch once, maybe twice, but I couldn't see that a story like this would be entertaining enough for more than one evening, not when there weren't even conversations or aliens or anything.

Boy was I wrong.


What made this story was Mark Watney -his personality, his sarcasm, his snarky little asides, and his disparaging remarks about disco music. While the plot of the story is intense and daring, I wouldn't have cared a lick if Watney wasn't such a believable and entertaining personality. Without his jokes, crash course in 70s pop culture, and his random declarations of facts like 'I'm basically a space pirate' (with the undeniably logical explanations, to boot), I would have set this book aside a loooooong time ago.

I mention a lot that I don't like prose and narrative as much as I like dialogue -which is true- but the underlying reason for this is personality. In so many books, I find that the narrative lacks any hint of a character's personality, which is something I really connect with. Take out the personality and what have you got? A block of descriptors with no feeling, that's what. The Martian is bursting with personality, which makes it interesting and entertaining, and it's all because of Mark Watney.

And because Mark Watney was such a likable and interesting character, I found myself reading detailed descriptions of space travel technology, computer programs, NASA regulations, physics and biology. And I don't even like science! (In fact, science overload is one reason I haven't read much sci-fi in the past.) Because Mark Watney is a snarky, entertaining character, he made every one of these subjects interesting by injecting his snark into it. I still can't believe I sat through it all.

If anyone else had written this book -if Andy Weir had chosen any other personality but Mark Watney's with which to tell the story- it would not have been a quarter as interesting as it was. Kudos, Mr. Weir.

There are definite differences between book and movie, as always, but this is one of the best adaptations I've seen. The movie really nailed the core of this book and the story and Matt Damon was amazing; he was even more Mark Watney than Mark Watney in the actual book is. ("I am dipping this potato in crushed Vicodin, because no one can stop me. It has been seven days since I ran out of ketchup.") For this reason, I think I actually enjoy the movie better, but the book is definitely worth a read, because there's still a lot of stuff they couldn't fit into the film.

As a caution to my readers: There IS a lot of swearing in this book; the 'f' word especially is used frequently, by many characters across the board. For the most part, the swearing was used in specific situations or instances. I don't have as much of a problem with the use of swearing in books and movies when it's 'called for'; it's when swearing is used just for the sake of swearing that I can't stand.

REVIEW: Randoms by David Liss (Randoms #1)

Randoms
by David Liss
Simon & Schuster
Middle Grade/Sci-Fi
4/5 stars

WHEN'S THE NEXT ONE COMING?!?!

*achem*

Fair warning, dear reader; this is the beginning of a series. Believe me, you want to know that up front. Because if you were to finish this book before realizing there's going to be a sequel, you might scream and cry and wrap yourself up in your Mal Reynolds coat and curl into the fetal position while your heart breaks into a million tiny pieces, like that time when Spock sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise.

Star Trek: Wrath of Khan

Unless, of course, you're more familiar with the time Kirk did that. Then think about that one.

Star Trek: Into Darkness

And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry. Randoms will help you cultivate that inner sci-fi geek that's waiting to be born.

If you're not familiar with my reviews, you probably haven't heard of Amanda's Adventures in Science Fiction. In short, I love sci-fi shows and movies, but I have two big peeves with the way sci-fi is written that make it hard for me to find books I can actually enjoy. The Crystal Bridge by Charlie Pulsipher (5/5 stars!) started me off on this quest for good sci-fi last year and I've had some success in the genre to date.

I tell you this so you know when I say that Randoms is stark-raving brilliant and utterly fantastic, you'll realize this is coming from an incredibly picky sci-fi reader. So here goes.

Randoms is stark-raving brilliant and utterly fantastic.


12-year-old Zeke Reynolds has just discovered that Earth is not alone in the universe -and he's going to an off-planet school for a year with three other delegates to see if Earth qualifies to join the Confederation of United Planets.

So what makes this book so fantastic? A big reason is how David Liss plays this straight to the sci-fi geeks. The Confederation likes to drop hints to planets they hope to someday ally with and they've been feeding Earth details about the rest of the galaxy for decades through television shows. And Zeke -the proud son of an uber sci-fi geek- is realizing just how much his 'useless' sci-fi trivia is going to come in handy.

Sci-Fi Peeve #1: Techno-gibber-jabber-jargon of all the advanced toys and gadgets authors will insist on describing in depth with their PhD-sized sci-fi brains. I sucked at science in high school. This all goes over my head.

Liss bypasses this peeve by relating or comparing most of the technology to television shows. I think every sci-fi show from Star Trek to Stargate to Babylon 5 was dropped in here. Even with the shows I wasn't familiar with, Liss was able to relate the specific uses of the tech within the show to give me a better upfront understanding of what it was. Sort of a hands-on learning experience with geek culture. But Liss doesn't just duplicate or steal ideas from already existing shows. He breaks them down, takes a seed of the idea, and extrapolates on that for his universe to really play up the idea that the Confederation has been only been dropping hints to Earth. He also creates plenty of original technology so it doesn't feel like he's just ripping off the existing sci-fi culture. Honestly, it's a super clever idea.

Sci-Fi Peeve #2: Not enough dialogue and too much dull/jargon prose.

This was an easy solve. It's told in first person from Zeke's perspective and he's an entertaining, sarcastic, and colorful character. Even the pages of prose burst so much with his character, it's just as fun for me as reading dialogue.

I'm raving on about the brilliant sci-fi side, but the story would be nothing without the clever story line, the fantastic characters, and twists. Zeke deals with moral issues, self-confidence, and being ostracized by the other Earth delegates. What makes the story work so well, I think, is seeing what a huge sci-fi fan Zeke is and watching him geek out over every little thing. (Page 401. I am so. freaking. jealous.)
I realize I'm geeking out quite a bit too, but I want to stress that you don't have to be a complete sci-fi geek to enjoy this. I promise. If you're just a little bit of a sci-fi geek, that's fine. Only seen the new Star Trek movies? Only watched Star Wars or a few episodes of Firefly? If you have even a passing interest in sci-fi, you'll love this. The story stands on it's own and all references are explained naturally so you don't feel like you're missing the punchline.

Randoms is hilarious, clever, pulse-pounding, well-written, absolutely fantastic, and at almost 500 pages somehow still too short. I'm going to have a hard time being patient for the next one.

The only reasons this didn't get all 5 stars are for the continuous mentions of evolution (a genre staple) and because I'm not a huge fan of the 12-year-old romance. Other than that, this book was practically perfect in every way.

REVIEW: Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

Amanda's Adventures in Sci-Fi Continue.

Her mission: to boldly read what she's never read before, to seek out new characters and new civilizations, and to find science fiction that she can wholeheartedly enjoy.

Fuzzy Nation

by John Scalzi

Sci-Fi

Audiobook

4/5 stars

I picked up this book because I'm still trying to read new things. Sci-fi is a genre that I've always had trouble with, but this title caught my eye. Plus, it's narrated by Wil Wheaton. I still have this irrational idea that sci-fi is boring and goes over my head, and I'm still trying to convince myself that it's not true.  This was probably the perfect book to do that.
 
I have a hard time grasping this fear of sci-fi. When I tried to read sci-fi when I was younger, it always felt cold and distant and, well, alien. Fuzzy Nation, by comparison, is colorful, vibrant with life, and above all utterly human. The story is about a major corporation mining the minerals from an uninhabited planet and what happens when someone discovers their might be a sentient life form on the planet after all. It's almost like Scalzi took some traditional sci-fi and infused it with a dose of stark reality, including greed, lawyers, ethics, and environmentalists.

My favorite part of this story was Jack Holloway, the main character. I am all about interesting and imperfect characters, and this guy was the cream of the crop. He's kind of a jerkwad, but an amusing kind of jerkwad. He was incredibly compelling, because I had a hard time figuring him out. The more I learned about him, the more I doubted whether he was going to be a hero in the story. The whole time I was wondering what he was up to, and whether or not he would be only looking out for himself in the end, because you come to realize that he really isn't a 'good' guy, but you wonder whether he can become one. It kept me guessing. Is he an inherently good guy? Is he inherently self-interested? Also, he was hilarious and sarcastic and cheeky. 

I liked that, though it was a sci-fi novel, it didn't really feel like a sci-fi novel. The story and the situation were written with such ease that it felt so natural and realistic. It's odd, but I love how much this sci-fi turned into a courtroom drama. I wasn't expecting that, and I have a feeling it's what added to the realistic feel of the story. We have lawyers and intense legality issues today, so we'll obviously have them in the future over futuristic things. 

As a caution, there was quite a bit of swearing in this story. I'm surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did, and I've been trying to figure out why that is. I think the biggest reason is that the swearing was not there for the sake of swearing, but played into the characters and situations presented. Also the 'f' word was not used once. While there was a lot of swearing, I didn't feel that it was used explicitly. 

Overall, the story was excellent. It was interesting and thought-provoking. 

Masterful performance by Wil Wheaton. I actually forgot halfway through who was narrating it because his performance essentially became the story for me. He wasn't Wil Wheaton; he was Jack Holloway and Wheaton Aubrey and all the other characters, and that's what makes a great narration.

Check out my other adventures in sci-fi!