Review: The Martian

Title: 
The Martian

Author: 
Andy Weir

★★★★☆

4.5 out of 5 stars

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him & forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded & completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—& even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—& a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

I consider this to be one of the best books I've read this year. It is smart, funny, with an original story and a lovable main character (yes, I fell in love with Mark Watney, 'cause of science). The story is told in such a way that it makes a serious/stressful situation feel lighter when injected with the perfect amount of humor: 

Teddy swiveled his chair and looked out the window to the sky beyond. Night was edging in. “What must it be like?” he pondered. “He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.”

LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.

This book I enjoyed from the start and was rooting for Watney to succeed until the very end. Highly recommend.

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Review: The Raven Boys

Title: 
The Raven Boys

Author: 
Maggie Stiefvater

★★★★☆

4 out of 5 stars

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

WOW. Here I thought that maybe I was getting too old for young adult after so many low rated books but, this one

Blue is a non--so-gifted (by comparison) young girl, member of a clairvoyant family, all of them strong, talented, independent women that make a living out of their gift; one day she finds herself involved with 4 pretentious students from a local private school that are in the search for an ancient welsh king's resting place.

The Raven Boys has different narrators, each voice different and unique, I found every character interesting in its own way. All the supporting characters have a purpose and are easy to remember. There are a lot of clues scattered around and even though I saw one of the big twists coming, it didn't make me like this book less. The four boys are all so different it made me wonder if they would actually be friends in real life at first, but then, the way the author delivers the story, made me feel fond of their non so conventional relationship.

The romance isn't as important as you would think, yet. There's going to be a love triangle, it is more than obvious, but it isn't insta-love, so it is not going to be shallow. The story itself is a little slow at the beginning but it picks up towards the middle, and part of me likes that because many things I thought needed to explained, are getting explained.

The ending wasn't as satisfying as the rest of the book, not because of what happens, but because I needed more; while I felt the plot was wonderful, complex and magical, the resolution was a little bit too convenient for the sake of the sequel, meaning, not much happens.

 Highly recommend. 

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