Like so many others, I eagerly anticipated Andy Weir's new book, Artemis, because I was such a huge fan of The Martin. Unfortunately, this book was painful to read for me.

I found the evolution of Weir's first novel to be fascinating—if anyone is unfamiliar, he posted chapters on a website, gained a following and folks would give him feedback/correct his science. Artemis could have seriously used this form of collaborative editing.

In the musical, Urinetown, there's a song called "Too Much Exposition," which states, "nothing can kill a show like too much exposition." That applies to novels, too. The strange breaking of the fourth wall, meaning the main character was speaking directly to the reader, meant that she was over-explaining everything and, typically, it didn't lend much to the story

My biggest problem was with the main character, Jazz, and the incredibly unrealistic way that she spoke. It was the same way that Mark Watney spoke, which made perfect sense for that character. For this character—supposedly a 26-year-old woman—it was uncomfortable. It didn't feel right. It felt like a teenage boy was talking, but one that I really wouldn't want to go on a journey with. Although I'm not the type to have to love protagonists, there was nothing redeeming about Jazz's actions. She undertook this totally illegal and reckless task for money -- at no point did I think, "Oh no -- poor Jazz, I hope she survives!" Let's just say that if the book had ended before chapter 17, I might have given it a higher rating.

It is inevitable to compare Andy Weir latest novel Artemis to his previous best seller The Martian.

I loved the Martian. I read that book in one sitting. I loved Mark’s humor in the face of hopelessness, I loved how the secondary characters worked to bring him home.

I loved the setting of Artemis. I loved the idea of living on the moon. I loved how it’s commercialized, a resort for the rich.

I loved the plot, the idea of a moon heist.

I didn’t love the main character Jazz. It felt like Mark Whatney in a dress. Although she’s a woman, more specifically a woman of color, she has the thoughts and humor of a guy.

The plot of Artemis is lacking, and it’s secondary characters blend together.

Although I didn’t love the main character, the setting and plot were engaging. I am looking forward to seeing where Andy Weir’s next novel will take us.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I did get a bit lost in all the science, I also thought the female voice was just a bit off. That said, I was interested in the plot, setting and characters. I thought the book was well paced and a fun read! Thank you for the advance copy.

Confession: I never read The Martian.

I’m not really sure why. It hit all my must read buttons. It just never made it to my must read pile.

And I saw the movie. My rule is always read the book first. But, if you don’t read the book first, don’t go back and read it after, especially if you liked the movie. It never works.

So, when I had a chance to read Artemis, I balked a bit – because I hadn’t read Andy Weir’s first book and I hate being a bandwagon jumper. But I read the blurb and had to dive in.

And it was SO WORTH IT!

Jazz Bashara is the type of young woman who drives the mother in me crazy, but also the type of young woman I wish I had been. Brash. Brave. Smart. Funny. I imagine her pretty, but I don’t know. I really don’t think Weir ever really went into her looks, which is nice.

But, despite her unlawful activities, Jazz has a huge streak of honesty and fairness. She’ll scoot the law as much as possible, but will not lie about it. She dabbles in half truths until confronted, and then she’ll come clean.

And she doesn’t cheat her friends.

Because of these foibles and attributes, Jazz comes off as very likable, driving the story well. Jazz is a perfect antihero, working as a criminal to save her home city from organized crime and destruction. Her brains and her guts give her what she needs to pull off her schemes.

Then there is the setting. The city of Artemis, on the moon, was just perfect. The city is any American city (although it’s not an American city) in the early 21st century. It’s been in a state of old west style frontier town, but the crime is organizing and the gangs are threatening. Artemis needs some intervention, especially after Jazz inadvertently speeds the process along in her bid to get rich quick.



Artemis reminded me a bit of the wonderful, short-lived Firefly, one of my all time favorite series. The same old-west, cyberpunk feel – and likable, flawed characters.

Weir shows off his science chops in Artemis, and he seems to know of what he speaks. Reading articles about him and his writing process show he knows what he’s talking about and researches his topics thoroughly; which all comes through on the pages. He understands the science in science fiction enough to explain it well to a non-science person like me, and he writes the fiction part well enough to satisfy my need for good fiction.

In Jazz, he deftly portrays a young woman from a Muslim background (although she’s pretty much nonreligious), especially for a non-Muslim man. He doesn’t work hard to make her hot or sexy, although her swagger seems to do that all by itself. She’s confident and self conscious at the same time, like most women I know. He doesn’t try to make her into some science fiction sexbot, which I kind of expected. She seems pretty realistic, in my opinion (and it’s the only one I’m giving right now).

I love science fiction, but it’s hard to find good science fiction that isn’t geared toward teens or young adults. Artemis is perfect, filling in the science and the fiction parts for my adult mind.

I enjoyed Artemis immensely. Lots of fun and adventure.

I absolutely adore The Martian by Andy Weir so I was super excited for this newest book of his. The worldbuilding in this is great! I really loved that part of it while I was reading it. I'm not sure I can exactly articulate why it wasn't keeping my attention. It has that same enjoyable atmosphere as The Martian and lots of interesting science. I think the biggest thing was that I wasn't enjoying the characters as much as I did Mark Watney's character. I'm hoping it was just me being not in the mood for a character like Jazz so I'm going to try it again later. Several of my really good blogging friends ended up enjoying it so my fingers are crossed that I'll be the same when I pick it up again.

A review in spanish:
https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/2017/12/artemisa-andy-weir.html

Overall, an enjoyable science fiction story, but with flaws. A criminal caper set in space, it had Firefly-esque moments and kept me guessing how it would turn out. However, the characters were not fully developed and the narration relied too much on information blurting rather than natural exposition of important details. And, I was irritated by the secondary characters judgmental and stereotypical reactions to Jazz's sex life; this seemed to be intended as a humorous theme and it did not work.

Internally Consistent, and Very Entertaining

I've been reading sci-fi for over fifty years, and have run the gamut from hard science and/or alien contact, and then through speculative fiction and on to cultural/social commentary fiction, and then to space opera, parody, dystopian nightmares and, most recently, quantum theorizing that runs anywhere from silly to bracingly thought provoking. But I've always had a special regard reserved for colonist stories, from Heinlein's early YA adventures to the latest variations on missions to Mars. Lots of those colonist books have great ideas and clever angles but it is very rare to have as deep, internally consistent, plausible and convincing a colony as the one described in this book. It is a finely crafted and well thought out world that captures the reader from page one and just keeps unfolding level by level and dome by dome.

I've read a number of reviews that fault the book for shallow character development and some questionable plotting, but I don't buy that criticism. You could say much the same, with more merit, about most of the commercial caper/suspense fiction currently out on the shelves. Here, putting aside the fact that we are on the Moon(!), we have an appealing, smartmouth, self-reliant heroine who handles a wisecrack better than most and is skilled at the telling throwaway line or slightly noirish gesture. As far as I could tell, while that might not be great literature, this is already way better than one can usually hope for. As to the caper's plot, it has enough steam and vigor to keep the action moving and to keep the characters on their toes and running around. I'm not sure what else you could ask for.

And did I mention? It all takes place on the Moon.

So, this was good sci-fi, a decent caper, and a tale loaded with interesting enough supporting characters and a winning, tough, appealing heroine. I was pleased and entertained.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Artemis by Andy Weir, is his followup novel to his mega-popular and spectacular debut, The Martian. Maintaining the ex- rocket scientist’s knowledge of physics and engineering, and how things should really work in outer space, Artemis follows the adventures (or misadventures) of Jasmine Bashara —- called Jazz by her friends —- on the only city on the Moon, which is called Artemis. Weir makes Jazz, a Saudi woman born and raised on the Moon, as the protagonist and narrator of this book. The novel starts with a quick introduction with a lot of action, in which Jazz is revealed to be a smuggler who brings in much needed items for the general population of the city at a price that is more affordable for the common city-dweller, while making a not-too-bad bit of profit for herself. There character of Jazz is interesting in that her ethnicity is not of primary importance, while her gender as a young woman in her mid-twenties, and her personality as a trash-talking, fearless and highly intelligent technician and engineer takes the forefront. The book takes a mostly light-hearted point of view of the transpiring events, as Jazz is renowned throughout the city as a humorous but troublesome individual.

Having established the character of Jazz and some of her friends and others who she is involved with in Artemis, the novel quickly moves into the main event that takes place in the story —- a wealthy businessman commissions Jazz to pull off a dangerous and risky assignment to sabotage the Moon’s only aluminum factory, so that Mr. Landvik can buy it up for a song and establish himself as the sole producer of not only aluminum, but its vital byproduct of oxygen. Jazz’s motivation is to make enough money to basically take more control of her life, and to allow herself the opportunity to do things she only dreamed of doing as a successful, but not overly wealthy or powerful black market smuggler.

While jazz is technically brilliant and quick-thinking, the assignment that started off as very risky but fairly straightforward soon collapses into a disaster with growing implications. One of those is that the aluminum plant is actually owned by a South American crime cartel as a way to maintain a foothold on the in and outgoing shipments of supplies to the Moon, and Jazz soon finds herself on a hit list with a very dangerous assassin taking a number of opportunities to eliminate the threat posed by Jazz. This element, along with the real-world issues one would face on the Moon to perform the stunts required of Jazz and her friends who assist her in these escapades, brings a lot of tension and suspense into the transactions. Although Jazz is first presented as a brilliant but self-centered individual, through the action and suspense is revealed by the end of the book to be a quirky, yet loyal and principled young woman who truly cares for the well-being of her widowed father and friends and acquaintances in Artemis. An entertaining and breezy read, I would give this science fiction thriller 3 out of 4 stars.

First things first, I considered Weir's second book as good as "The Martian."

I've read some reviews where people complained about characterization problems, but this didn't stop me from enjoying the book and considering the heroine refreshingly funny in her tomboy flawed way.
As a Brazilian, I also found a couple of details in the ARC I would have pointed out as not so really Brazilian, so I wonder if these details were later changed in the final version of the book.

In any case, I couldn't put this book down or stop laughing. So it's one of my favorites this year.

In a similar take on space to his first book, Andy Weir imagines life as a culture and colony on the moon. The moon has it's own economy and that's where there is potential for crime. This is a stand alone book from The Martian, which many readers might not expect given his first book was so popular. The book was an interesting read, although the author attempts to write from the standpoint of a teenage girl, with all the hormones and exploring your identity that that entails, and I wouldn't say that is a strong skill of Mr. Weir.

3.5/5 stars!

Jasmine Bashara is pretty much a female Mark Watney. I liked her, but she quickly got on my nerves. Luckily, the author kept things moving and I didn't have a lot of time to focus on her personality.

Jazz has been living on the moon with her father since she was 6. She's a trouble maker, she likes sex and she can weld the heck out of anything. Her relationship with her father is rather strained as he is a devout Muslim and she's a smuggler. It's expensive to live in Artemis, the moon's only city, so Jazz is always looking for opportunities to make more money. She's offered a chance to pull in the haul of a lifetime and she takes it, even though it's extremely dangerous. Will she be successful? You'll have to read this and see.

I loved the world building and the city of Artemis. I loved how the author created the economy of it as well as how different races from earth took over certain industries in the city. I didn't even mind how much I learned about welding. In fact, I liked that Jazz had a job that here on earth, would mostly be filled by men.

What I didn't like were her constant quips and smart-ass remarks. In The Martian, I didn't mind them as much, (as I said Jazz and Mark Watney have the same sense of humor), because Watney was alone on Mars and was attempting to keep the dark away. Jazz, who has a photographic memory, by the way, didn't need this humor to get by and as such, I found it annoying at times. There were some portions where the dialogue was clunky and also, how does the daughter of a Muslim grow up to love sex, drinking and smuggling? To me, there wasn't enough information there to explain those things. That bothered me, not enough to stop me from reading, but enough to prevent me from giving Artemis all the stars.

Overall, I enjoyed this science fiction/action novel. I especially liked the character of the moon's mayor and I wouldn't mind reading more stories taking place in Artemis. I just wouldn't mind less of the quips and maybe just a little less welding.

Recommended, especially for fans of science fiction and Mark Watney!

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*

This was not the review I was hoping to write. I haven't read or watched The Martian but friends all over have recommended it to me, so I was expecting Artemis to be similarly mind-blowing. Needless to say, it was not.

Quite frankly, I had so many issues, I struggled to figure out where to start. I suppose I'll talk about the good before the bad. The one redeeming feature was the amount of research that clearly went into the science and economics of Artemis, both book and city. Weir spends time to detail the science behind how this city on the Moon, Artemis, was built and maintained. We learn what kinds of manpower and resources are needed, the general design of the complex, and most interestingly, the politics and economics of funding Artemis. Everything is described in layman's terms and super easy to understand. I also learned way more about the art of welding than I'd expected. That is, however, about where the good ends.

I disliked pretty much everything else about this book. Not in a horrendously bad way, but many things were grating or felt mediocre. Firstly, the characters. The main character, Jazz, is supposed to be a 26-year-old Saudia Arabian woman who's lived on the moon since childhood. Her father moved to Artemis early on as a welder, bringing his daughter with him. So why is it, then, that her internal monologue sounds like it's coming from a college frat boy? Artemis is narrated from her perspective, adding commentary as events happen. Having to read it was easily the most painful part of this book. It's clear Weir intended for her to seem somewhat immature and rebellious, but he went way overboard. If she hadn't mentioned her age, I would have thought she was a teenager. The most frustrating part was that she seemed to have a compulsive urge add some sort of sex joke at least every two pages. Just. No. If the blowjob jokes had been even cut to half, this book would have been much more enjoyable.

Jazz aside, the supporting cast didn't fare much better. To me, they all felt flat and uninteresting, some to the point of being out of character. Richest guy on the moon who's probably a shady businessman? Greets Jazz like an old friend instead of the delivery woman she is and treats her just as casually. Hong Kong businessman visiting for a couple days? Emails sound like a businessman, IRL speech sounds like a distressed American teenager. Brazilian woman in her 60s? "Hold a moment. I don't explain myself to you. You explain yourself to me!" Yeah. Frankly, most of the dialog felt just as cringey and cliche. It was almost as though I was reading someone's attempt tried to emulate people talking to each other, but instead fell straight bottom of the uncanny valley of dialog.

I didn't care much for the plot either. The first half of Artemis is portrayed as a heist, but the execution felt mediocre. Jazz's goal is to destroy a couple mining robots OUTSIDE of Artemis for various nefarious reasons. The premise sounds interesting. However, I refuse to believe the prep work for such an important project ON THE MOON would take only two days. Firstly, she spends less than an hour examining a dummy robot for weak points, plays 20 questions with the guy that bought it (not the engineer), and already has a way to destroy it? What? That's an insult to the engineers who designed these bots. Then, she successfully designs a circuit board, something she's never done before, based on a couple web tutorials, gets it fabricated in one day, and it works on the first try? Ha. As if. Gather the rest of the materials was clever, I'll grant, but the set-up and planning needed should have taken far longer.

In the second half, the stakes are raised and Jazz has to learn to cooperate with people. What was frustrating, however, that utter lack of tension. Anywhere. Jazz is constantly making (sex) jokes. If she's teaming up with other people, they're bantering regardless of location or activity. There was only one time, at the very end, where I actually thought something bad could happen.

Overall, this book was a struggle to get through. It was never to a point that I considering DNFing, but it wasn't great either. I would give this book 2 stars, but the awesome science warranted an extra star. I give this book 3 stars.

I really enjoyed this science fiction adventure. The book was well written. The characters and plot were intriguing. The plot was well paced. The book was an entertaining read.

Jazz Bashara has lived her whole life on the moon in the city of Artemis. A brilliant, independent young woman who has little tolerance for rules, and wants to do more than just survive, Jazz long ago turned to less than legal ways of making extra income. However, she is good at what she does, and she does have some moral rules about what kinds of jobs she’ll do.
When the right opportunity presents itself via a very rich, regular customer, for a big payout (with lots of risk), she takes it on and does her best. Unfortunately, things go awry, and she barely escapes with her life. To make things worse, her employer has been murdered and it’s certain that she will be the prime suspect. Jazz has to figure out who killed him and clear herself. Can she solve the murder before the real perp takes her out or law enforcement catches up with her?

Clearly, this is not The Martian. Completely different kind of story. What they do have in common:

 Written by Andy Weir
 Takes place in space (well, away from Earth at least)
 Very detailed and technical bits throughout

The characters were interesting. I kind of had a love/hate relationship with Jazz. Her choices frustrated me. Her attitude frustrated me. But her moral compass wasn’t that far gone, and she was wicked smart and dedicated as all get out. But the constant jabs and sarcasm left me feeling like her emotional growth had been severely stifled. Her attitude seemed more suited to a testy teenager than the woman she actually is.

The relationship that Jazz ends up in isn’t really properly developed. There was no chemistry. The words told me where things were going, but I just didn’t feel it/see it. And frankly, I didn’t see the point. The story wasn’t improved by their relationship becoming romantic, especially since it was on the ending note.

I’m not gonna lie. I preferred The Martian. It was stellar. This is pretty good. Not something I’m going to run around town screaming about. But, it was a good story. The mystery itself was well thought out. I love that current concerns were worked into the story (an interesting lesson about the cycle of economies!). And, as you’d expect from Andy Weir, lots of technical stuff. Those who loved The Martian will appreciate that about this story. Those who found all those details burdensome will hopefully appreciate the story itself.

However. It very much felt like this book was written to continue to appeal to the original sci fi fanbase, while making his work more accessible to readers of more popular genres (mystery, thriller, etc.). I’m not sure it worked entirely. While I understand that topping The Martian is a near impossible feat, changing tactics to gain wider appeal is tricky. I’ll read the next thing by Andy Weir because I think he’s a wonderful writer overall, but I hope it’s more The Martian than Artemis.

Crown Publishing and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Artemis. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

With the commercial success of his debut novel The Martian, it seems that author Andy Weir has written Artemis with an eye towards a similar future. I could easily see the adaptation of this book into a movie, with its strong, capable heroine, exciting action sequences, and a thrilling plot that races along at a breakneck pace.

Jasmine Bashara is a native of Artemis, the lunar colony that has become a tourist destination for some of the richest people from Earth. With an eye towards a better future than her present reality, Jasmine's hustling ended up placing her in hot water. When a job goes horribly wrong, will Jazz be able to turn things around for the good of herself and her city?

If the current rating system would allow, I would give Artemis three and one half stars. The overall feeling of the book is great, but, as readers delve deeper into Jazz's world and her motivations, there are some aspects to the plot that do not make a whole lot of sense. Artemis is definitely entertaining, with a strong and well developed main character. The book is geared toward bringing science fiction to the masses, so diehard fans of the genre may not be interested. I look forward to reading more by author Andy Weir in the future, as his ability to craft an interesting, but not technologically heavy, science fiction novel has my interest piqued.

Confession: I have yet to read Andy Weir's The Martian. I know what you're thinking, "How could he have missed reading that one?!" I honestly don't know. I loved the film adaptation of the book, and the kindle version has languished on my kindle for over a year. For some reason I just never got around to reading it. My negligence aside, The Martian became such a critical and commercial success that author Andy Weir has released a sophomore novel Artemis. I'm pleased to report that this novel hasn't sat dormant on my kindle. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I doubt you'll be able to ignore it either.

Artemis sees Weir tackling a story that takes place a little bit closer to home than his previous novel, closer to home than Mars at least. In this novel, man has conquered space and made their home on the Moon. Artemis, as the lunar colony has been named, plays host to a variety of tourists, wealthy industrialists, and the people who work for them. Jasmine Bashara, Jazz has lived most of her 20+ years on the moon. Her father is a well-regarded welder who longs for Jazz to follow in his professional footsteps, but Jazz has other plans. Her job as a porter who ships the various goods that make the city run pays only a meager salary. To earn more slugs (the currency of the moon), Jazz has turned to smuggling in contraband for some of Artemis's wealthier citizens.

A local businessman who regularly uses Jazz's smuggling services has called her in for a chat. He has a grand scheme to take over the monopolized aluminum smelting industry on the moon. The plan hinges upon someone sabotaging automated harvesters that scour the moon's surface. Jazz has the capability to both space walk and weld, skills that are paramount in successfully completing the job. In exchange for her services, Jazz would receive one million slugs, enough money to live comfortably and realize her dreams of her own business. But things will not be easy, especially in space!

I thoroughly enjoyed Artemis. The Martian was essentially an escape thriller that happened to take place on Mars. In Artemis, Andy Weir sets a fast-paced heist thriller on the moon. I'm no scientist, so I can't speak to the scientific plausibility of Weir's imagined colony. Still, Weir's consistency in quasi-scientific logic goes a long way in making this out-of-this-world fiction set in an authentic reality. Jazz is unapologetically crass at times, but operates with an unflinching moral compass that makes her instantly engaging. The supporting cast of space-dwelling misfits are equally attractive. I still haven't read The Martian, but if Artemis is any indication of the quality of entertainment that Andy Weir can concoct, I certainly won't put off reading it much longer.

I wanted to read this book because of the idea of a city in the moon, the author explains with simple language how could it be created, a lot similar on how he explained everything in The Martian, but I thought that this time the character personality was too exaggerated. She had too much regret about what she did in her past but not a lot of remorse for being awful in her present.

Andy Weir's back with another book set in space. However, this is more of a hard sci-fi adventure story as opposed to a lost in space book. Jazz has grown up on Artemis, the lone moon colony. She has a penchant for making terrible decisions and is struggling to make ends meet as a porter. But the porter job also gives her access to smuggle contraband in. When a customer offers her a fortune in exchange for some sabotage she quickly gets in over her head. Now she has to extricate herself from the situation without getting murdered or deported.

While I like Weir's writing, he doesn't know how to write women. Jazz has the exact same personality as Mark Watney in "The Martian". She acts more like a 14 year old boy than a 26 year old woman. Jazz's negative character traits are so over the top, I don't know why anyone helps her. Her acidic tongue is just too much, not to mention how lazy and impetuous she is. That being said, I love her intelligence. Weir's biggest strength is how he's able to take complicated engineering concepts and dumb them down into laymen's terms without you even realizing it has happened and then merge them into a story. I love how he does it. Not only do you get to read an entertaining story, but you also get to learn something.