When I started reading The Martian, it was with the expectation that it would have a more thriller-y vibe to it than the plain sci fi story it is. Not sure how I managed to have such an incorrect sense of what genre this book would be, given that it's so popular, and it's not trying to be deceptive with its premise. Anyway. I didn't love the voice of the narrator of this audio book, which was certainly a factor in my lack of enthusiastic enjoyment of this book. I found it to be surprisingly boring at first. The nitty gritty details of Mark Watney's struggle for survival on Mars were the main focus of much of the book. In spite of the abundance of less engaging technical details throughout the story, I eventually became sufficiently invested in the characters to the point where I was starting to enjoy the book. Unfortunately, from there I felt it became really predictable. One thing I like to think about when it comes to suspense novels (which, again, maybe I should not have been expecting that much suspense from this novel) is the amount the reader "trusts" the author. I really enjoy the experience of reading when I feel I can't totally trust the author. When anything might happen, it creates a purpose to the experience of reading, because you, as the reader, can't just fill in the rest of the story yourself. Eventually, I found Weir to be too trustworthy in the way the twists of the story unfolded, and I couldn't be wrapped up in the desired uncertainty. Again, maybe this just isn't the genre for me, and the narrator probably detracted from the experience, but this book just fell short of wow-ing me the way I'd expected.