Artemis

Executive Summary: The world building was far far better than the actual plot, but I still found the book enjoyable. It's not as enjoyable as [b:The Martian 18007564 The Martian Andy Weir https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413706054s/18007564.jpg 21825181] though.Audiobook: I was a bit torn on [a:Rosario Dawson 784633 Rosario Dawson https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] as a narrator. I'm not generally a fan of celebrity readers, even if they are talented actors. I felt like early on in the book she was a little bit “off” but as the book went on, I thought she did an excellent job with the narration. She added in a few voices to really give it an extra something when listening. I'd recommend the audio as a good option for this book, and I'd definitely listen to another book she narrated.Full ReviewI'll admit I bought this book without ever reading even the blurb. It was Andy Weir's new book and I loved [b:The Martian 18007564 The Martian Andy Weir https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413706054s/18007564.jpg 21825181]. Its shadow looms large here. How do you follow up on something so successful? The answer for me is a bit mixed, but mostly positive.Artemis is awesome. Though I don't mean the book. I mean the place in the book. Andy Weir did a fantastic job creating it. Almost too good of a job. I kind of made the story he set in it a bit underwhelming. I really want to visit the place (though since I have trouble riding many amusement park rides, I don't see how I'd ever actually make it to the moon; Maybe they could knock me out first?).The main character is pretty well written. She's smart, capable, and quite a bit sneaky. The supporting characters are interesting and flushed out enough to feel well developed if we were to dig a bit deeper, even though we never do. I also liked the way we get the Jazz's backstory through a series of emails with someone back on earth.So if you've got an amazing setting and a pretty well written main character, why the mixed thoughts? Well the story itself wasn't all that interesting/unique. You could have (mostly) set this book on Earth and most of the plot points wouldn't have really changed.It just felt like this awesome world building he done was mostly wasted. Of course things would have to play out differently on Earth. You couldn't have moon walks or low gravity, but the “loveable criminal with her own set of morals” has been done to death.Overall I'm glad I picked this one up, and I'll totally buy Mr. Weir's next novel without reading the blurb again. I really enjoy the way he mixes in science without making the book feel “too hard sci-fi”. I kind of want a sequel (or maybe a prequel?) to this book where we just get more awesome stuff with Artemis. It really was the star of this book.