First things first, I've got to thank NetGalley and Crown for providing an ARC of Artemis. I was pretty excited about this one when I saw it announced and I'm grateful for the opportunity to have gotten my hands on it early. Now, about not getting around to finishing it until one day before publication? Well, it's just a bit of an uneven book.

When first hearing that Andy Weir was releasing his 2nd novel featuring a heist story on the moon...I mean, that's chock full of potential right there. Unfortunately, Artemis falls well short of The Martian in most every way. I'm not sure if it's a sophomore slump, or Weir rushed this out, or if The Martian will prove to be the height of his form; but Atemis feels hollow by comparison. There is a good deal of humor, but much of it feels forced. There is a good bit of sciencey science, but none of it is nearly as impressive as what Weir presented in The Martian. There is a good bit of action, but I never felt any sense of danger or worry for the protagonist.

Speaking of the protagonist, what to make of Jazz Bashara? It took a good third of the novel for me to start rooting for her, she's just such an unlikable smart ass for so much of the novel. Really, regardless of the situation, it's never toned down. Stuck out on the moon surface? Snarky comment. At the bar? Snarky comment. Life or death face-off with the baddie? Snarky comment. I felt Weir went too far there, and Jazz suffers from it.

Was Artemis all bad? No, not at all. When you zoom out at take a simple look at what it is, it's a perfectly readable piece of popcorn science fiction. It took awhile for the pace to pickup and the popcorn to start to fluff but, once it finally did, I enjoyed the ride. I just expected so much more from Weir after his brilliant debut. A fun little book, but I can't shake the feeling it could have been so much more.

The Martian still ranks as one of my very favorite science fiction books of all time. Andy Weir managed to make space travel interesting, dramatic, and goddamn funny. We were able to actually imagine Mars exploration as a possible...albeit supremely dangerous...event, instead of something super futuristic and campy. It was brilliant.

For better and worse, this is The Martian on the moon. Weir kicks things off with a dramatic failure of an EVA suit--which is pretty dang familiar to the introduction to the first book. However, instead of Mark Watney getting left alone on a planet, Jazz is simply pulled into the airlock of her own moon city:  Artemis.

Weir "diversified" this time by making his main character a Muslim Saudi woman. We also see a couple of gay characters, a Jew, a black Kenyan mayor (also a woman). Lots of diversity....though I kind of purse my lips at it a bit, especially when it comes to Jazz. She's SO similar to Mark Watney that it's scary--she just has a different face. The jokes are exactly the same--the same snark, which I loved in The Martian, but here it just felt...wrong. She was both cocky AND self-depreciating, it was strange. Also, there was this moment:

"Okay, you can stop pretending you know what a niqab is. It’s a traditional Islamic headwear that covers the lower face."

Which was a slightly awkward explanation, but ok...until she goes on to explain to say that wearing a niqab is a great way to wear a mask without being obvious about it.

What?

THE CLOTHES THAT PEOPLE OF COLOR WEAR ARE NOT COSTUMES.

It just felt very problematic to me. The rest of the diversity provided also felt a little flat. Like it was there for show, but not really developed upon?**

Because of this, I didn't like it near as much as I loved The Martian. It felt much like the same book to me, and so, yes, it was a really good story, but I think Weir tried to veer a little too far from his own lane...while on the exact same trip. It felt a little tired. I know I'm always saying we need more diversity in books, but if you're going to do it, you need to be able to do it well...and this just wasn't that.

Going into this fresh from rereading The Martian, I was ready for another Mark Watney-esque protagonist, loveable in their snark and brimming with science.

But while Watney was a smart asshole, Jazz (our 26 year old, female protagonist) was an asshole about being smart. Several times in the narrative, she casually "brushes up" on advanced chemistry in an hour, or impresses people with her quick understanding of complicated topics while coyly commenting on how easy it is for her. Paraphrasing here, but conversations like: "You did this all in an afternoon?!", "Yeah, is that impressive or something?", "Of course! You could be a master _____ if you put your mind to it." happen three or four times in the book. So often, Jazz scoffs at the many people telling her she could be a great this or that, if only she'd stop being a lowly, smuggling Porter and commit her great mind to something. It makes her abrasive in a way that isn't nerd-roguish like Watney, but overly arrogant.

Weir also struggles to depict Jazz in a way that isn't clearly "male author writing a female character". Jazz, looking in a mirror, makes comments about her appearance like "Yeah, I *am* sexy" or "I wish it wasn't so easy to make myself look _______".

*SPOILERS*
Plot-wise, the story is so-so. I have never been to a city on the moon, but I like to imagine they have CCTV-like cameras, especially near airlocks and doors, which would have to be dealt with when pulling off the "heist" of the book. Instead, one character simply says "this isn't a police state, we don't have cameras there" and that's that - Jazz's plotting is now free from the most obvious hurdle an Earth-bound caper would have to deal with. In another instance, she breaks into a high-tech room in the city with, wait for it, a normal screwdriver just busting the lock, and no alarms or sirens go off, and security is not alerted that a room with an electronic lock was busted into.

While the rest of the science (that actually has to do with space or physics) is fun and accessible, and the "heist" is exciting and great, the writing style leaves a lot to be desired in terms of character and dialogue.

I had fun, but this wasn't the Martian.

The first 60 pages of this were fairly tedious. There didn't seem to be anything interesting happening, even with the chaos of a fire, the pace just kind of moseyed along.

Jazz never grew on me but the events did gain steam at one point and kept me interested to the end.

I was waiting for the next story from the author and I jumped right at it when it became available for reading. The book has science, a thrilling storyline and, of course, fun like in The Martian.

I read so many reviews saying this is same as The Martian and there is nothing new. I believe Andy Weir nailed it just like the other one. There is serious science (which I love to read) and it’s ‘non-earthly’. He is good at writing Sci-Fi and I would definitely read if he writes another. Moreover, for a person who hasn’t read The Martian, this will be an independent good start.

The protagonist of the story is Jasmine Bashara a.k.a Jazz, an Arab girl grew up in Artemis. Artemis is the city of moon with thousands of residents. It is an expensive tourist spot. Jazz is a delivery girl, a smuggler, who is training to be an EVA master; a girl who knows her stuff! When she was about to make a crime that’s going to pay her well, she didn’t foresee the severity and repercussions of what’s gonna follow.

Diversity of characters and a female protagonist are something I loved about the story. Andy Weir did a great job telling the story through Jazz; someone with feelings, care and who hates her teenage self.

Definitely goes to my recommended and favourites, list!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. First, I would like to mention that this book is very multicultural. I really liked that element of it. Second, I liked that the lead character was an intelligent female that knew how to do real things. Not just her make-up. With that said, Artemis is a futuristic type setting but one that doesn't seem so far off from our current future. Jazz is trying to build a better life for herself and takes on different types of jobs. She lives on the moon and the compound/bubbles/village/whatever is named Artemis. They allow visitors and they have full time residents. The wealth ranges from having nothing and sleeping in a coffin sized dorm and sharing a community shower and toilet to having anything you can dream of. Huge bed, your own kitchen, real food, nice clothing, a private bathroom and shower, etc. As Jazz is doing her business, she is summoned by one of her many customers for a business transaction. Jazz goes to see what it is and (introducing) Trond needs a little help getting control over another company. Jazz being the businesswoman that she is, asks minimal questions, accepts the large amount of money offered and goes for it. What she is asked to do is well beyond anything she normally would do and someone rubs her moral fibers wrong. Jazz doesn't get to complete the task all the way and a new obstacle is thrown into the mix, an assassin is hunting her down (they belong to the company that Trond was trying to take down). There are so many details in this book, it is impossible to really explain it all without having spoilers. To sum it up and put a pretty bow on it for all of you, a nice petite girl is smart as a whip and gets into more in a day than anyone else on the moon does in their lifetime. Jazz, with the help of her techie friend, her gay friend that stole her boyfriend and broke her heart, her reluctant father, and and EVA boss, Jazz finally gets to save the only place she knows as home by blowing a piece of it up. All in all, a good read for me. It took my about a day and a half to read the whole things.

It took me awhile to get into this book, but once the action picked up, I was quite interested in what would happen to Jazz and the city of Artemis. There were a few twists that I definitely didn't see coming and I finished the last half of the book in one night. Aside from Jazz, the supporting characters were all really good too and I could have definitely learned more about them without being bored. I especially liked Jazz's friend on earth and the role he played in the plot...so fun! Mark Watney in The Martian is still one of my favourite characters of all time, but Jazz was pretty good too and it was rewarding to read a book like this one with a female protagonist who loves science. This was a fun and unique book and I think fans of the Martian will also enjoy this one. I bet the audiobook will be great too - Weir's writing really does lend itself well to audio.

When I found out that Andy Weir was writing a heist story set on the moon, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Artemis was a highly entertaining read that definitely lived up to its description. I would like to note though that you’ll be doing yourself a great disservice if you go in expecting this to be The Martian. The same humor, wit, and excellent writing are present but Artemis is a very different book.

After struggling to make it by on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, Jazz Bashara can't turn down a lucrative offer, particularly one related to committing a perfect crime. Unfortunately, she's soon in over her head. Her survival, and possibly that of Artemis itself, become dependent on her ability to pull off a gambit bigger than anything she's tried before.

Jazz is a narrator that you'll either love or hate (which will likely determine how much you enjoy this book). She's a bit immature and I felt as if Weir struggled a bit with writing a female protagonist. However, I also loved her ingenuity and her approach to solving problems. Plus, she knew what she wanted from the world and found a way to make it happen. Yes, she is somewhat similar to Mark Watney but, ultimately, they are two different individuals who are unique due to their differing histories and ambitions. Additionally, Jazz is a very morally gray character, which I personally loved.

This was very much a heist committed using science. There were a ton of details about the planning stages. I personally loved those details but I know some readers won't. The pay-off for waiting through the build-up is absolutely worth it. Also, I loved the ending. However, I did think it was a bit weird that, except for Jazz, all of the main characters were male. I couldn't really connect with them and they all kind of felt like stereotypes.

Overall, Artemis was an entertaining read full of adventure, science, and Weir's trademark humor. If you enjoy heist stories, definitely give this one a try.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Expecting to read a survival/lifestyle story similar to The Martian, I was surprised to find this one an action/adventure/mystery/suspense novel with a female character. The world Weir creates in the compound on the moon is believable and based on existing or expected science (at least I assume so since I'm not a scientist).. His characters are also believable and entertaining. For fans of science fiction adventures that are similar in some ways to the Star Wars stories. Fun & full of suspenseful twists and turns.

Artemis by Andy Weir is a very highly recommended noir crime novel set on the moon.

Jazz Bashara has lived in Artemis, the colony/city located on the moon for twenty-years, since she was six-years-old. Currently she is working as a low-paid porter, but where she really makes her money or "slugs" is as a smuggler. It's expensive to live on the moon, so what's a girl to do? Her job as a porter barely pays for the rent on her coffin-sized sleeping space in Conrad Down 15, which she says if it were a wine "connoisseurs would describe it as 'shitty with overtones of failure and poor life decisions.'"

When wealthy businessman Trond Landvik, who Jazz knows because she smuggles in cigars for him, offers her an impossible to refuse opportunity to earn a million slugs, how could she say no? All she needs to do is figure out how to do the job without getting caught. Jazz comes up with a clever plan which almost goes right - until it doesn't. It's only after the fact that Jazz learns that there is more going on than she realized. Now she has even more complications to handle and she'll need some friends to help her.

I loved the noir feel to the novel. Setting the novel on the moon allows Weir to add some details and dangers you wouldn't find in just any noir novel. Weir adds all sorts of little details that make the story come to life, like eating Gunk, the dangers of lunar dust, and why physics dictate that coffee tastes bad on the moon.

Jazz is an irreverent, sometimes foul-mouthed, immature, resourceful, intelligent, humorous, and independent protagonist. Certainly the entire novel is set up to expect another adventure on Artemis and hopefully with Jazz. Interspersed between chapters is some of the correspondence that Jazz has had with Kelvin Otieno. They became penpals when she was nine, and are now friends. I'm hoping she and Kelvin get to meet in person too.

I didn't approach Weir's new novel looking for another The Martian. And I'm glad I read it without any unwieldy expectations. For everyone wondering, no, it's not The Martian II, but I found it a highly entertaining and fun adventure all on its own. There is some science and creative problem solving, but living in an established colony on the moon isn't quite like being stranded alone on Mars. However, the best recommendation is that I lost track of time and stayed up way-too-late to finish reading Artemis, and I can't say that about many books. Weir knows how to write an engaging, entertaining story. I enjoyed every second of it and that is worthy of five stars every time.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Crown/Archetype via Netgalley.
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By the author of The Martian, a new future thriller set on the moon. Life on the moon' only city, Artemis is not easy for many of its residents, especially Jazz. Smuggling and crime are abundant. Great new novel, I loved it!

It took a little while to get going, but I loved the world-building. I did like the main character, but feel like she lacked maturity. Which isn't a problem usually, but she seemed like she was just throwing out quips because that's what was expected. The guy from the Martian did it, so Jazz should do it too. It was a little off-putting.
And the welding! So much info on welding! I skipped paragraphs because I couldn't read it anymore.
It was still a well-written book, and I'd recommended it.

Once you get over trying to compare this book to Weir's first book, The Martian, you can give it a fair chance on its own merits, and it's really not bad at all.

Jazz is a twenty-six-year-old Saudi Arabian woman who has been living on a Moon colony since she was six. She is extremely bright but earns the bulk of her income from being a porter and smuggling in contraband goods from Earth, much to her father's disappointment--he would like her to work with him in his welding business.

Jazz is offered a great deal money to sabotage some industrial equipment but she is unaware of the deeper, hidden ramifications until the situation turns deadly. Now she must figure out a new plan to save the colony.

Jazz is a sassy character who is frequently in trouble and relies on witty sarcasm in her dealings with other people. Thinking quickly and being resourceful are her biggest assets. The book is often heavy on the science involved in her plots so the story doesn't really get moving until the last quarter of the book, which is quite tense and exciting. As I finished the story, I thought: Aha! I bet there's a plan for a series here!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an arc of this new book.

Andy Weir has done it again. This time he's given us a female MC, a smart, sassy thief on the moon. His trademark of blending technical information with high quality fiction is back in Artemis, and I actually found it more informative than "The Martian". The only thing that prevented this one from being a five star favorite is I didn't like the MC, Jazz Bashara, as much as I liked Mark Watney.

Artemis is about a young lady who gets into all kinds of trouble on the moon. No, that’s not the premise of a new animates kid’s show, it’s Andy Weir’s new book!

I want to thank NetGalley and Crown Publishing for providing me with an ebook copy of Artemis in exchange for an honest review.

Please don’t throw moon rocks at me, but I never read The Martian. That being said now, I had no idea what to expect from Andy Weir’s writing. Based on what I saw in the movie (yes, I saw the movie and didn’t read the book. Put those giant moon rocks away) I wondered if I’d end beat down by highly technical explanations of things I was just to dumb to understand.

I’m talking ‘next level’ smart stuff. I mean, most of us think we’re pretty smart people. I can work my computer pretty well. When it goes on the fritz, I know how to troubleshoot most software problems. I can even crack the thing open and replace most of the hardware parts. However, if you leave me in the middle of a forrest with some silicon and a soldering iron, I can’t make you a circuit board, let alone a computer.

But I was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn’t the case. There were some highly technical things going on in the book, but I never felt lost in it. Everything was dumbed down without it feeling like you’re being talked down to. It also helped that the man character, Jazz Bashara, would combat the super-technical mumbo jumbo with some good old fashioned cursing and maybe a dirty joke.

Speaking of Jazz, she was the real highlight of this book. Not just because she was the main character. She was just unique and fun. She was super smart, and fairly talented, but she came off as someone completely relatable despite the fact that I am neither super smart nor talented.

She was snarky, and sarcastic, and made me laugh even when I was right in the middle of worrying about her personal safety. Life on the moon is no joke, you know. There were lots of situations where she tells you that if she makes one mistake it’s near-instant death. Tense. But then she makes a comment that puts a smile on your face and for a few seconds you forget about the instant death thing, until it almost happens.

By the way, when they make this one into a movie (come on, we all know they will. Put down the moon rocks) I vote for Lindsey Morgan from The 100 to play Jazz. She’d be awesome.

The plot mixes science fiction with heist, which is a far better combination than I would have thought. It’s not complicated or convoluted and there’s no big twists to knock you on the floor, but it will pull you in, get your invested, and keep you guessing the entire time.

If you’re on the fence on this one, jump in. It’s a very fun, very easy read. You’ll find yourself breezing through it in no time.

A lovable renegade, Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara is a longtime resident of the city on the moon. Jazz gets involved in a business deal that goes south, and soon she is faced with decisions that will impact the future of the lunar home she loves. A great follow-up to Weir's smash hit debut, Artemis is another smart, action-packed thrill ride.

Amazing! You will NOT be disappointed; although you may want more! I couldn't put this down. Mr. Weir does a fantastic job making you feel like you're on the moon with the characters. They have faults and flaws that you can relate to. 6 stars if I could. 6.

Artemis, by Andy Weir is a captivating science fiction action-thriller intermixed with plenty of intrigue and humor.

Since the age of six, Jazz Bashara has lived in Artemis, which is the first and only city on the moon. She's quite intellectual and creative, and she collects unusual friendships (and sometimes enemies) along the way. Even though she works as a porter transporting items and other deliveries, Jazz is also a smuggler...struggling to survive. In order to quickly gain funds, Jazz agrees to help with a heist and her story continues to unravel from there.

This delightfully quirky and intriguing story focuses on science and science fiction, as well as action mixed with humor and a high emphasis on friendships and family. Throughout the story, I cheered and hoped Jazz would succeed with her mission, despite her mostly minor criminal activities.

Artemis is entertaining and definitely worth reading.

Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to attend a special event with the author, Andy Weir, speaking about this book and the story exceeded my high expectations. I recommend reading Artemis (and The Martian).


Note: I received this book from NetGalley, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Having read The Martian I was looking forward to Artemis. Set on the only permanent moon colony with a relatively static population. The main protagonist is Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara. She is a porter/smuggler who caters to some of the wants of the residents of the outpost. There are 5 habitable domes ranging from the impoverished Conrad lower levels to the posh upper of the Aldrin dome. She is presented with an offer to make all the money she will need in order to live a comfortable life. All she needs to do is disable the oxygen generating capacity of the aluminum plant. A tad dangerous and more than illegal. What could possibly go wrong?

Jazz is a likable character who has some rather unlikable traits. Like everyone else whose ever lived. This makes her more approachable even when she is doing things that some may feel are objectionable. All the other characters are underdeveloped but the book is about her so it is not that critical. I would say more plot driven than character driven. It revolves around her ability to overcome the obstacles that arise not about character growth.

The book itself is very readable. Andy Weir has the dialog of the impertinent, impestous Jazz done pat.

Jazz is the female version of Mark Watney of The Martian. Without going into plot details there are similarities between both books. Given that I've only read these two books of his the similarities are not a bothersome issue.

Andy Weir is adding some actual hard science to the SciFi that he is writing. This harkens back to my misspent youth reading the SciFi of the 60's -70's. Being a man of a certain age I've drifted away from this genre. More books like this and I would gladly add this genre into the mix again.

I wish to thank Andy Weir, Crown Publishing, and NetGalley for my free review copy. The opinions are mine and mine alone.