Artemis

If someone starts this book expecting a reprise of [b:The Martian 18007564 The Martian Andy Weir https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413706054s/18007564.jpg 21825181], they will be disappointed. Artemis ain't that. It is, however, a pretty good book in its own right. What we get is a pretty good caper story with a bit of action and some fairly interesting characters. The special twist is that it takes place on the Moon. And, as one would expect since Andy Weir wrote it, it is also a real nerdgasam.3.5 stars rounded up.

A good story, but not Andy's best one.

Andy Weir is known for his realistic science-fiction novels. This one is no exception, but I felt the science was left behind on this one.
The novel is set in Artemis, the first lunar colony, where we follow Jaz a low-rank smuggler. She imports many contraband goods, but this is not enough to cover her expenses, so the book turns into a heist story when she is presented with a life changing job. Which I thought was a great idea, but it turned the book into a science-fiction heist novel. In the other book, Mr. Wear has realized the main character has a great knowledge of science and applies it to solve the presented problem. But this time the only idea Jaz comes up with is blowing things up.

I am also not convinced about the ending of the book. In my opinion, was the last chapter a little unnecessary and I would have ended the book with the one action (if you have read the book you know what I am talking about, but just in case I will make my review spoiler free). It is true that the last chapter gives us closer to the open threads, but I would have done it differently.

The review up until now has not been as positive as my score... that lies in the fact that the story is great, but it is not a great Andy Wier novel.

All in all, it is a great book, and would recommend it to everybody, this book is clearly more compatible with the general audience than the other book that Andy Weir has written. But if you liked this book, please check the other book by Mr. Weir, you will love them.

Wow. I adored The Martian and read it within one day, raved about it to anyone who would listen and devoured that movie. I even considered listening to the audiobook after all that because I loved the book that much and I really don't enjoy audiobooks.

I wish I'd never picked Artemis up. Jazz wasn't written as a human being so much as the author's idea of a wisecracking protagonist. I could go on for a long rant about how your female characters should be noticeably female in a way that isn't the character or other characters talking about shagging her. Or how MCs who can do everything they need to do with ease isn't interesting or fun to read, especially if they over explain what they're doing while narrating. Or any other of the aspects to this book.

Basically I don't think there were any redeeming features to this book. 300 pages of absolute guff.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—

“You all right? You look kind of pale.”

I was about ready to puke. Lying to Dad transported me back to my teen years. And let me tell you: there's no one I hate more than teenage Jazz Bashara. That stupid bitch made every bad decision that a stupid bitch could make. She's responsible for where I am today.

“I'm fine. Just a little tired.”

The Martian

Artemis

raison d'être

Artemis

Lunar dust is extremely bad to breathe. It's made of teeny, tiny rocks, and there's been no weather to smooth them out. Each mote is a spiky, barbed nightmare just waiting to tear up your lungs. You're better off smoking a pack of asbestos cigarettes than breathing that shit.

The Martian

Andy Weir hit it out of the park with The Martian - leaving me to wonder if he would be a one-hit wonder. He's not. Artemis sets a tone that's different enough to feel new, but still like Weir. The setting: a future where the Moon is inhabited by 35,000 people - mostly tradesmen and service jobs who support the thriving Moon tourism industry. Like The Martian, what makes this book great is the attention to detail in the science and world building. Ever details makes sense - down to the science behind why coffee sucks in space.

4.5/5. In the spirit of full disclosure I will say that I met Andy Weir when I got this book, and he is awesome, so I was somewhat predisposed to like it. However, I would have enjoyed it anyway. It has the same snark, nerdiness, and real science in palatable form that made The Martian such a great read, but it's a totally different story. Rather than an adorably geeky scientist stranded on Mars, we have a rough-edged smuggler who has grown up on the moon and will do anything to keep from being deported to Earth. Though there are supporting characters, they don't get developed too much - the story mostly revolves around Jazz, our lovable rogue. One of my favorite parts of the book was her pen pal relationship with a boy on Earth - it provided additional glimpses into her childhood and overall character. I would have liked for the other people to have more depth as well, but perhaps we will see them again (I hope!) - there is certainly room left at the end for more Artemis. Andy Weir has written another ode to geeks that is sure to please many!

Artemis is a good second novel by [a:Andy Weir 6540057 Andy Weir https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1382592903p2/6540057.jpg]. I love the characters he comes up with. Some parts felt too planned out unlike [b:The Martian 26779335 The Martian Andy Weir https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445791565s/26779335.jpg 21825181] where each chapter feels like a reaction to the last. Exciting action, funny character interactions, and a lot of well thought out sci-fi world building.

TL;DR

Average, I really liked the setting, a small city on the moon was very interesting. While reading it really gave me Bioshock vibes if you ever played that video game. Story was not as interesting, it's a simple plot that resolves around messing with the wrong people and when there's money involved it always leads to drastic measures. Thankfully the side characters were likeable, unfortunately our main protagonist is not.

My Scoring System

I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:

X - Main Story: It was kind of bland if I'm honest, apart from the location there wasn't anything super interesting. Same goes with the main plot, all about money as always.

X - Side Stories (if it applies):

✓ - Characters: Every character except our main protagonist is great, I really liked all of them.

✓ - Setting/Ambiance: This small city on the moon really gave me Bioshock vibes if you ever played that video game. I liked it, I liked how every bubble had it's own people and main purpose and how different they are from eachother.

✓ - Ending: Best part of the book, the final action sequence was really thrilling and I really enjoyed it.

Extensive Review

Great setting, not so interesting main story, good side characters all of that is nice but let's talk about the biggest problem of this book in my opinion. The main protagonist.

My eyes really hurt at the amount of times I rolled them while reading this book. I've read the reviews and saw people say how much she talks about sex but my god this is something else. The amount of sexual inuendos from our main protagonist's inner monologue is very annoying. Every single thought she has always ends with a "get your mind out of the gutter/don't get excited/it's not what you think..." at the end. She constantly gets mentioned on how she could do anything she wanted and how smart she is, while having the maturity level of a sixteen year old horny teenager. I don't believe it. She's literally risking her life doing something very dangerous like having to blow up two machines at the same time and she says "Don't take that out of context" it's so jarring and and frustrating, all you can do is roll your eyes and hope it doesn't happen again, unfotutunately, it does, a lot...

This is a personal thing but I hate unnecessary cursing, I hate how much our main protagonist curses, it's not like I just broke my leg and I yell "Fuck", she's in the middle of a conversation where the person asks her "Why not?" and her response is "Because fuck you" it's that kind of cursing where is really stupid and if you try to defend it saying that's just her personality then her personality is garbage and should be written better. Also it's very ironic considering she's muslim. This made me really dislike her and it's very frustrating because when she's focused on doing something dangerous or planning she's really smart and focused but the second her life is not in danger anymore it's back to her horny teenager personality where everthing is sexual and she curses at everything and everyone.

She's constantly making stupid decisions followed up by "it probably wasn't a good idea but we've established that I make poor life decisions". Consciously knowing you're making bad decision but not changing just because that's who you are doesn't make you funny, endearing or quirky. It makes you very stupid. Again not believeble since she's really smart and comes up with good plans on the fly when she's in danger.

It's very sad that the main problem with the book is the main protagonist but that's how I felt. Decent story with great setting, good side characters and an awful main protagonist with some sprinkles of how good she can be in certain situations before she's back to her usual self.

This is a fast paced story of Jazz who lives in a moon base, the town of Artemis, population about two thousand, and she seems to be the only criminal in the place. She works as a porter doing deliveries but pays the bills by smuggling. And then she's asked to take on a high stakes sabotage job by a local businessman.

Why ask a 26 year old woman to cripple your opposition? Because she seems to be the only criminal in the place. It's surely not because of her maturity, she's got the personality of a twelve year old boy living tough on the back streets of New York - brash youthful stupidity coupled with resourcefulness. And we can add in that her father has taught her his welding skills.

Andy Weir has put together an engaging story although his main character is polarizing. He supports each decision and action Jazz takes with scientific reasoning, which we accept as true because we trust him as an author and he writes a convincing story. We see the same process in Project Hail Mary, and possibly in The Martian although I've not read that one. His writing style is smooth and easy to read and this story is at a much faster pace than Project Hail Mary.

Overall, it's a heist story, a mini Ocean's Eleven or Mission Impossible. There's a main plot, a detailed plan, a list of characters with different functions to complete in a set order, the possibility of danger at every turn that can leave a lot of people very dead, and a major payoff. Things become critical towards the end because of course they do. And just as we leave a heist movie thinking, 'That was a good time', and we go for a pizza, so we also do with Artemis.

6/10

An enjoyable and easy read. I enjoy the chemistry and technology lingo even though I understand none of it.

However, the dialog is very lacking in my opinion. I don't feel like every single character in the book needs to be super witty and sassy, it just feels a little bland.

Finally, the heist/sabotage scenes seem a little to convinient at times. Maybe I am just a pessimist.

Note to self: If you are looking for a sci-fi book to reread go get The Martian or Project Hail Mary instead.

4 star experience for me. I love the world building; I like how detailed the description of the scenes is; and of course, I really love the science behind every incident in the story. It is “so Andy Weir.” I kinda understand why there are a lot of negative reviews. It is basically a heist story, so people will compare it to other heist stories and to other Weir's novels.

The main character, Jazz, I like her personality, I don't really understand why a lot of people don't like her. Yes, she is arrogant and childish, but that is the main idea of her character. I think her behavior is realistic, as a girl who lives her life in a difficult environment.

Overall, i enjoyed the book, and it is a 4 star experience for me.

Listened to the audiobook read by Rosario Dawson all in one session. I really enjoyed this story. It was a original idea and the author lays out all the technical aspects and risks of a Moon colony in an understandable way. I listened at 1.5x speed. Without that speed, I could see a few slow areas in the story that a reader would have to fight through. My one complaint is around the ending. It's like author goes out of his way to force a “happy” ending.

The same clever writing and wit as The Martian. A bit overly explanatory about the science in some parts - whilst the Martian pulled this off, inserting it into the dialogue felt clunky in some parts. But the story was good, the characters were likable, and Rosario Dawson was excellent on the audiobook.

After watching the Martian, I was really hoping to enjoy this book but I did not. I found the main character uninteresting and the story fell flat for me. Unlike the main character in the Martian and his plight I really did not care for the main character of this book. I found the story boring and unengadging.

The follow-up to [b:The Martian 18007564 The Martian Andy Weir https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413706054s/18007564.jpg 21825181], which is a lot of pressure. And now that we're past it, maybe his next book can be better again? This one only paled in comparison. It has similar elements - a setup in space, lots of science, technical procedures, high stakes - but is lacking in character and story. Once I got past my first disappointments with the book, I re-adjusted and still managed to enjoy the ride, but then somewhere in the last quarter I lost that joy again due to some character choices that kept bugging me. For example, I don't quite get why forcefully stealing a legal contract from a crime syndicate wouldn't lead to even more violence in the future? It felt like no one involved in the plot fully thought this through? And everyone was just too forgiving with Jazz and all the fuckups she caused. She got to stay so she can regulate the contraband underworld, really!?There was a little segment where the leader of the station talked about economics and the station's future, which I thought would have been a great subject to put some more meat into this. 2.5 and I am only rounding this up to 3, because I found it quite charming to imagine a not-so-distant scenario of the moon as a tourism destination.

Not up to the standards of The Martian by a long shot. The storyline was pretty fun but the characters had little depth. The female protagonist wasn't that believable, I mean maybe in the future moon-ladies will have reverted back to being 90s ladettes but I really hope not. Everyone else was a one dimensional plot device, swept aside and bobbing in Jazz's wake. Disappointing.