Der Astronaut

All the science and engineering of The Martian, all the tension of life threatening situations, and all of the humor - with the addition of first contact with alien life forms. No spoilers - this book is worth reading.

The main character wakes from a coma with some memory loss which recovers over time. This gives the author an excellent chance to tell two stories simultaneously - the present situation and the history of what led up to it. Our hero is just as much of a wisecracker as Watney, with less foul language (which is explained soon enough).

I started Saturday morning and finished Sunday night, with plenty of activities in between. It's an easy read, even at 476 pages. If the audio book is read by R.C. Bray (who originally read The Martian), I'll be back to reread this quite soon. Maybe on the reread I can find a small nit to pick somewhere - or maybe not.

Definitely worth reading.

I think this will be the book I recommend the most this year. It is entertaining from beginning to end. If you like sci-fi or space stories, read it. If you don't, read it anyway because you will laugh. It is very rare that I tear through a book in the span of a day, but, and I apologise for the cliché, I could not put this book down.