I have not read The Martian, but I enjoyed the movie very much and so I thought I'd give this book a shot. It's very good. Heavy on the science, of course, but also emotional in some unexpected ways. I would not have guessed that by the end of the book I would care about Rocky's fate that much, but Weir does an admirable job of creating sympathy for the most unlikely of characters.

Although the story did veer into "preachy" territory a time or two, it was still very good and one that I became invested in. So good job Mr. Weir in walking that line.