The Martian

This was sort of Gravity meets Castaway. On Mars.

It was full of techno jargon that I didn't have a hope of understanding, but it didn't matter one bit. Despite the date of the events not revealed, it all sounded extremely feasible and odd as it may sound for a science fiction novel, refreshingly realistic. No lasers, teleporters or androids here.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and was gripped from beginning to end. My only complaints are that despite the fact that the protagonist was alone and distant in a deadly nightmare scenario lasting for months, he never seemed to lose his sanity and despair over the sheer weight of it all, constantly quipping and joking like he was a character written by Joss Whedon. Though I guess NASA would pick ‘the best of the best' to be able to cope with anything on these missions.

Just small nitpicks really, it was a great read and I aim to seek out more of the writer's work.