I read this book because I liked the movie, and it was no surprise that the film followed the book plot closely but contained more detail. I appreciated the structure of using daily (sol) logs to reveal the plot instead of chapters. Very creative. This choice made for a fast read and an easy way to put the book down for the evening.
Like the movie, the story is a well-thought-out survival story of an astronaut stuck on Mars. In the movie, there was a glaring plot problem. The site only had one radio, and it broke. I thought that was lousy writing. In the book, there were three, but the special antennas were all on the same mast. I thought this was a much better concept.
I enjoyed the book with one exception. The ending was abrupt. I would have preferred ten more pages about his life and the crew’s life after the mission. It was a good read, and I recommend it to readers who like survival and science fiction stories.