The Martian: A Sidekick to the Andy Weir Novel

By: Allison Clare Theveny, WeLoveNovels

Narrated by: Michael Gilboe

Length: 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Can't get enough of Andy Weir's The Martian? Dive a little deeper into his world, discover hidden treasures, and hang out with Mark Watney just a little longer with this sidekick.

Note: this is an independent companion to The Martian, meant to enhance your experience of the novel. If you have not yet bought Andy Weir's novel, make sure to purchase it before buying this unofficial Sidekick.

Mark Watney wasn't the mission commander of Ares 3, a month-long expedition to Mars. He was just the science geek, botany guru, and mechanical engineer: the lowest guy on the totem pole and the only one who didn't make it back to the ascent vehicle when the storm hit. Left for dead on the surface of a barren planet, Watney must plumb the depths of his considerable ingenuity and resourcefulness to find a way to survive - and to let the people on Earth know he's still alive.

Praised by The Wall Street Journal as "the purest example of real-science sci-fi for many years," The Martian has been on the New York Times best seller list for more than six months. It is Andy Weir's debut novel. With this sidekick, you'll:

• Learn what you might have missed on your first experience of Weir's novel
• Discover some of the book's secret gems and underlying themes
• Explore possible alternate endings and imagine ideas for a prequel
• Spend some more time with the characters you've come to know and love, delving deep into their psyches and hidden motives

©2015 WeLoveNovels (P)2015 WeLoveNovels

Too much speculation of 'what it all means'

it's a book. it's science, its geeky, its adventure, its drama, its really good. why try to analysis "what's the author's message". just enjoy the fiction story. no sidekick necessary.

What was that?

I seriously doubt the author knew what she was talking about. I do not feel that listening to this "sidekick" at all enhanced my experience with the book this is discussing nor would I recommend it. It's basically a 50 minute review of the book with the authors opinions sprinkled throughout.

Her thoughts on prequels are laughably ridiculous.

Tremendous disapppointment

I was hoping for a discussion of the scientific principles and ideas presented in The Martian. Instead, this was a completely “literary” review, basically a book report by some English major who admits that he doesn’t understand and is not even interested in the scientific discussions in the novel. Well who assigned this book to that guy? Good grief. I gave this an extra star only because it made one or two good literary points.

I suspect the reporter is just jealous that some science nerd wrote a book so good that once he self-published the finished version on the internet, the publishers came running. The whole point of this book is the science! Weir does not ask that you have an advanced physics degree, only that you have a basic science education and the ability to understand his very clear and concise explanations.

At least this book report does acknowledge the research and work that Weir put into creating a realistic scenario, with realistic problems and realistic solutions. Yes, it’s science fiction, but authors who don’t understand science can’t write good science fiction. Report authors who don’t like or understand science shouldn’t write reviews of science fiction books.

i can't fault the book too much.

the book claims to be nothing more than a sidekick. an addendum to the actual story we are interested in. but to that effect I'd have to say the author failed and succeeded. the book is a short series of quips and quotes about Andy weir's novel that doesn't really add too much. much of it is explaining the subtitle writing of weir and repackaging it like a lemon wrapped gold brick to the head. all in all it was a cursory examination of an amazing book that just made me want to read the Superior work again. so as stated before I can''t fault it on that.

Dry and academic

I was hoping for someone who had actually researched some of the topics in the book. Disappointed to realize this most closely resembles a school book report.

Not much to this.

I don't know what i was expecting, but more than this. If you was a high level summary this is certainly that. And the analysis that was done wasn't of much interest to me...which isn't to say it wasn't done. So, I'd caution against spending the time. I LOVED the book. Maybe I didn't need this little bit more.?(

Try Hard Review

the Martian is a fantastic book that deserved praise. This pretentious, try hard review at literary analysis is not worth the three bucks.

when Mark calls the NASA review boards mother's "prostitutes" that was not Weird losing a question on human life. Mark was just be funny.

Like listening to an 8th grade book report.

It's like listening to an 8th grade book report, complete with the gender nonsense all these kids have to throw in to everything they do these days.

bad it is a book report

if you like to read book reports then this is for you. since I do not this was a wast of time

waste of 2 bucks and change

Waste of time. I really don't need someone to analyze a good story for me. I can't wait for Mr. Weir to release another book.