Saturn Run discussion

I loved both Saturn Run by John Sandford and The Martian by Andy Weir. Many people I knew struggled through the science of The Martian, and so I started describing Saturn Run as The Martian with more people and less science. Thinking back on it now, there are pages and pages of orbital dynamics in both books.

Has anyone else read both books? How would you compare them?

I've read them both, and much preferred Saturn Run:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I thought The Martian was OK+: a decent engineering-procedural, but with weak writing. Not a keeper. I haven't seen the movie.

I've read them both and thought that the were both very good. If you pinned me up against the wall and twisted my arm I'd go with The Martian only because I felt it was a tighter story and more science oriented - he needed the science to survive, whereas Saturn Run is a great first contact story with better interpersonal dynamics - makes sense, one guy on the planet. I am a big Sandford fan, and the orbital mechanics is key to the plot as is the US ship design, but they could have been flying on the Enterprise and the overall story wouldn't have suffered too much.