Andy Weir's debut novel, The Martian, was one of the best science fiction novels of the past decade, so I was naturally intrigued when I heard about his new book, Artemis. On the one hand, Weir's success means that he'll likely have a much larger audience for Artemis than he initially did for The Martian, which he had to self-publish on Amazon. On the other hand, it's nearly impossible to avoid comparing Artemis to The Martian, and unfortunately that comparison does Weir's new book no favors.

Artemis takes place on a lunar colony named, appropriately enough, Artemis. The book follows Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara, a bright young woman who has become the local fixer. She smuggles in contraband, such as cigars, for the lunar residents. Jazz is a survivor, but she's just surviving. When we meet her, most of her most important relationships have turned sour. She's a character with a lot of personal baggage whose only goal now is to save enough money to buy a room with its own private shower. When presented with a "get-rich-quick" scheme by a lunar tycoon, Jazz jumps at the opportunity. However, things don't go as planned and Jazz finds herself in the middle of a criminal conspiracy at the heart of Artemis.

Like The Martian, this book features Weir's trademark science info dumps. Characters still have to "science the shit" out of their problems, although this time there's more of a focus on chemistry than on biology. However, where Mark Whatney's encyclopedic knowledge of biology and chemistry in The Martian made sense - after all, he was one of the preeminent botanists on Earth. Jazz apparently learned about chemistry from her father, a structural welder, but she comes across as just a bit too conveniently prodigal for someone who makes a living smuggling luxury goods into the colony. That said, Weir does create some fun scenarios involving science gone awry near the end of the book.

Unfortunately, Weir's trademark humor doesn't fit this story. I laughed out loud while reading The Martian, but the humor also fit the story and characters. Whatney used humor as a coping mechanism as he figured out how to get off Mars. By contrast, Weir's attempts at humor in Artemis often fell flat or jarring. Some of the sexual humor in particular just came across uncomfortably awkward. When a scientist asks Jazz if they're friends, he responds, "You're my only friend with boobs." Later in the book, Jazz's father asks if one of Jazz's male friends is a "friend with benefits." Instead of laughing, I found myself cringing. Real people don't talk like that. I hate to psychoanalyze an author, but I found myself wondering if Weir just doesn't know how to write female protagonists.

Speaking of Jazz, I never came to like or even respect her. Part of the problem is that her self-righteous attitude doesn't ring true to the story. Jazz breaks the law, betrays people she loves, and commits acts of industrial sabotage that destroy property and risk lives, but she never seems sorry for her actions. Nor does she face any consequences. Instead, she just tries to blame others. In one scene, she tries to guilt-trip a police officer who caught her in the act of committing a major crime by reminding him that he slept with her boyfriend years ago. And, remarkably, it works!

Perhaps the greatest problem with Artemis isn't that it's bad, but rather that it's generic. The corporate conspiracy plot seems like something that has appeared in dozens of other sci-fi novels about lunar colonies (indeed, it is remarkably similar to Ian McDonald's Luna novels). Perhaps the old saying is right and there's nothing truly new under the lunar sun.

Overall, this novel was a quick and even fun read, but it also never really engaged me. If you just want a sci-fi adventure with lots of science thrown in, this might fit the bill. Just don't expect another Martian.

Artemis will be published on November 14, 2017.

[NOTE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review]

This book has a lot of great world building and a fun read. The characters were not as strong as the ones in the Martian, but still enjoyable. Overall, a great book.

As expected after Andy Weir's "The Martian," this was a fun story with a likable and witty main character and lots of science, both behind the scenes and right up front in the plot.

Andy Weir's follow up to The Martian is an interesting story bogged down with too much explanation.
In Artemis, humans have colonized the moon with the titular city. Jazz is a cocky, sarcastic woman who makes her money on the black market while trying to save up for more legitimate work. Her desire for money for her own home in and a better life leads he to taking out a mission that not only become dangerous to the entire population on the moon.
Weir uses a lot of space to tell you things. Tell you the facts about the moon. The facts about welding on the moon. The facts about air suits on the moon. A lot of telling a very little showing. The story becomes bogged down in all the science details. While being factual always helps the story, everything was explained to the minutiae.
The novel never gets into deep morals or character development or even story. You keep reading because you want to see how Jazz does the impossible but the ending payout is luck and miracles.
A fun read but lacking great depth or quality, Artemis is a fun story that passes the time.

I love the idea of this book, a thriving city on the moon! Neighborhoods under domes (to hold the oxygen of course)! There are posh resort like neighborhoods with shops, boutiques, casinos, and also blue collar neighborhoods that lack all the conveniences. The city is Artemis. There are no streets or cars, just hallways.

Jazz is twenty-something and has lived in Artemis since she was 6 years old. She works as a porter, but smuggles contraband into Artemis on the side to try to get some bills paid. She is smart, clever, sarcastic, and unafraid!

Jazz gets involved in a dangerous mission and the action is intense. Life on the moon can be dangerous and Jazz is about to tangle with some very unsavory characters. Will she be able to pull off the mission?

With Artemis, Weir has taken a fairly radical departure from his first novel, the Martian, to create his own world and his own sandbox to play in.

Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara lives within the first city on the moon, Artemis. Despite enormous potential, she's a simple porter and smuggler, wanting to become wealthy, a specific number in her head whose purpose is unrevealed until the end of the novel. With her acerbic nature, she's alienated many of the people close to her, from her father to her former best friend.

It takes a job offer from a wealthy client from one of the 'good' parts of the Moon to shake things up, offering a sum of money that Jazz can't refuse, even if the job itself seems risky, the story surrounding it riddled with holes. After all, what's a little industrial espionage when it leads to be coming a millionaire? If only things could ever go that smoothly. Transitioning from a danger tinged caper to a fully fledged murder investigation with a trail of bodies that threatens to grow, Jazz must rely not only on herself, but on the people she's spent so many years pushing away to save her beloved home from the dangers of all too human politics and the dangers of living on the moon.

Let's discuss Jazz first. The Martian's protagonist was, in many respects, your typical male lead, intelligent but average in many respects, a safe face to pin a first novel to. With Jazz, Weir has taken what must be, at least for him, a fairly large leap out of his comfort zone. Not only is she a woman, but she's an immigrant from Saudi Arabia, the daughter of a devoutly Muslim man, though she's fallen away from the faith herself. She's a good, solid character, though it does seem to take some time for Weir to find her voice, with it not really 'clicking' until about halfway through the novel. There are still moments where she seems more like the platonic nerd ideal of a woman than an actual woman herself, but it's clear that Weir did, in fact, consult outside people, and even if his approach seems slightly like he still saw her as an outsider, I do like to give him points for trying.

The pacing is pretty good, enough to keep me reading. It starts to truly pick up once you hit that same, magical half-way mark, changing genres in a way that was intriguing rather than vexing. The opening few chapters are unfortunately heavy on 'show, not tell,' especially as Weir crafts the world of Artemis, trying to establish all its unique aspects by way of Jazz's own voice. A narrative framing device would have served him well- if we felt as though Jazz was addressing someone specifically, rather than simply being a standard, first-person narrator, it would have felt less exposition heavy.

Now let's get down to the science. What would a Weir book be without science? But what worked for the Martian doesn't exactly work as well for Artemis, unfortunately. It's not that the science isn't interesting- it's intensely so, but it's thrown together at strange times, often a dump of information that disrupts the flow of a story that isn't exactly as reliant on the science and physics of the situation as the Martian was. Coming from the designated scientific mouthpiece of the novel, it's okay, but there are times where it's just too much all at once, enough to make your eyes glaze over slightly, skipping ahead to jump right back into the plot. That it comes at moments that are otherwise rather swiftly paced and critical doesn't help- it just doesn't feel even.

Despite issues with pacing, exposition, and info dumps, I found Artemis to be an enjoyable read, and as we hurtled towards the end, I was looking forward to how it would all be pulled off, even if I had an inkling of how it would inevitably have to be. Somewhat of a sophomore slump for Weir, nevertheless I think he's still got enormous potential, and the book is still extremely entertaining, and by the end I found myself attached to Jazz. I do hope he continues to expand the world of Artemis, and continues to write characters that break the mold.

Andy Weir has done it again, another great sci-fi work for all readers.

Artemis is the newest novel by Andy Weir (The Martian). To say I was excited about Artemis is an understatement. The Martian was a great novel, with lots of humour, that I really enjoyed so I had high hopes for Artemis. Unfortunately, I didn't like it.

Artemis was well written, and I could tell that a lot of time and research went into the science side of the book, and overall the story wasn't that bad, but the main character, Jazz Bashara, ugh. I just found that she had zero redeeming qualities. It wasn't until the very very end of the book where you actually found out her motivations.

Aside from my dislike of Jazz, the overall story was interesting and entertaining. This is nothing like The Martian though, so do start reading this novel thinking that you are going to find a similar story.

3.5 stars.

I'm disappointed that Andy Weir's second book doesn't quite live up to The Martian. The style of narration, a sort of conversational, casual, quippy voice, worked well with the diary entries in that book, but here it seemed a little too try-hard. At times the science felt way over-explainy, just too many infodumps in the first third of the novel.

However, the plot was definitely fun and the heist - along with inevitable complications - was well put together. I won't be surprised to see this book turned into a movie, and look forward to seeing these visuals on screen. Rating rounded up for the excellent story.

I loved Andy Weir's previous book The Martian so when I found out about Artemis I immediately went to Netgalley to request it. This book follows Jasmine (Jazz) Bashara who is a porter (and also a smuggler) in Artemis the only city on the moon. Jazz is struggling to make ends meet when someone comes to her with a highly illegal task to do but with a reward too good to pass down. Jazz finds herself pulled into something way bigger and more dangerous than she thought it was.

Jazz was a bit of a mystery to me at first. I was really curious to see how she became a lowly porter. Once her past was laid out I was a bit disappointed. I think that is when I started to like Jazz less and less. She was definitely funny at times but her attitude could be a bit annoying especially since she only had herself to blame for the position she was in.

Sometimes I felt that this was a bit bogged down in too much discussion about pressure and chemicals mixing, basically in science. It is understandable that there would be some discussion about that but it got to be a bit much at times for me.

Overall I did enjoy this book and will definitely be reading more from Andy Weir.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley.

Loved this book as a second effort from Mars author Andy Weir. Great description and excellent pacing are going to make this another thrilling science fiction read and a Hollywood favorite. Highly recommended!

I received a free advance copy of this for review from NetGalley.

M-O-O-N. That spells Andy Weir’s new novel. (OK, if you haven’t read Stephen King’s The Stand that joke won’t make sense to you, but rather then think that’s a failure of my review I’m going to say that it’s your own fault for not having read The Stand. Serves you right.)

It’s the near future, and there’s a city on the moon called Artemis. Jazz Bashara is a young woman who has grown up there, and knowing the place like the back of her hand makes it easier for her to hustle a living legally by being a porter who hauls stuff around. Illegally, she makes money on the side with a smuggling business. If she could get her EVA certification she could make a lot more money by showing tourists the sights outside, but a hardware problem makes her fail the test as well as nearly killing her. So when a rich guy offers her a huge payday to perform a dangerous act of sabotage on a business rival Jazz takes the gig. Things don’t go quite as planned and soon Jazz is in danger of being deported back to Earth or murdered, and she isn’t sure which one would be worse.

Just to get this out of the way: No, it isn’t as good as The Martian. But it’s still a pretty fun read and got a lot of the stuff I liked about that one so no shame there.

Weir has built up a lot of detail about life on the moon from the nuts-and-bolts stuff science stuff as well as how the Artemis society functions. One detail I particularly liked is that the moon citizens trade in ‘slugs’ which stands for ‘soft landed grams’ which is a weight based credit system to have things shipped from Earth.

We’ve also got another likeable lead character in Jazz just as we did with Mark Watney in The Martian. Jazz is a borderline criminal, not an astronaut, but like Mark she’s got a can-do attitude mixed with a fun way of explaining all the technical stuff to the reader. She’s also got a similar smart-ass nature, and that could have gone wrong because snarky leads can turn into annoying joke machines if not done well. Yet Weir never lets it get away from him and keeps it funny.

So why not as good as his first book? While it’s great that Weir made his main character a young woman who is a lapsed Muslim he didn’t exactly do anything with those traits. Jazz could have easily been a young male of any religion so it seems like an easy nod to diversity rather than incorporating anything that might have deepened her. Also, while this one has Jazz getting into plenty of predicaments it lacks the tension that The Martian had its best. Granted, one is a survival story and one is more of a sci-fi thriller so it’s comparing apples to giraffes to some extent, but I just never felt like Jazz was in any real danger whereas I legitimately didn’t know if Watney would make it off Mars.

Still, it’s got the same kind of enthusiastic attitude of his first book, and it’s nice to read about smart people doing smart things. This isn’t great literature, but Weir has an entertaining style. He’s also great at blending science, story, and humor into a nice little sci-fi stew.

If you enjoyed The Martian, you will probably enjoy this. The author has a consistent writing style and voice. It is a completely different plot, but there's still plenty of science involved. However, I found some of the dumbed down explanations a bit repetitive. I wasn't a big fan of the main character, though she does grow on you a bit. It's easy to picture this as a movie as well, which I'm sure we can expect in a couple years.

“Artemis” by Andy Weir is set in Artemis, the only city on Earth’s moon. It is pricey to get there and expensive to live there, but rich tourists, eccentric billionaires, and a dedicated working class keep the city running. It is much like its parent Earth with businesses, neighborhoods, stores and museums.

All is not perfect in the domed bubbles that are Artemis, and this new civilization has an ugly side with covert smuggling, a black-market economy, industrial espionage, commercial sabotage, and corporate takeovers, but who would expect a murder on the moon?

Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara gives us a first person look at life on the moon. We experience the good, the bad, and the ugly of Artemis through her eyes. She is bold, courageous, exciting, and uproariously funny. She reminds us that “you can’t spell smelt without melt”, and challenges us to put ice water in a saucepan and cook it until the last ice cube melts if we don’t believe her “science.” She worries about the little details of life on the moon, faster internet, social media, celebrity gossip, and being quoted out of context. She has a deep sense of justice and moral obligation, but she also wants to be rich and to not be caught committing a major crime. We also get a glimpse of her as she becomes all that she is, through pen pal letters interspersed between chapters starting when she was nine.

The whole escapade happens over approximately one week so the action is non-stop and the drama is compelling. It is the moon, after all; any tiny misstep suit in a vacuum can result in catastrophic breach of an EVA or the collapse of the entire life-support system of Artemis. It gives a new meaning to the description “a compelling page-turner.”

I received a copy of “Artemis” from Andy Weir, Crown Publishing, and NetGalley in exchange for my impartial review. I loved this book as much as if not more than “The Martian.” This is an entertaining book, but be careful; you might just laugh out loud as you read.

This was one of the coolest books I read this year. And the best about it was the awesome, badass female character. I’ve seen/read mixed reviews and feelings about Jazz’s character but I for one higly ejoyed reading about her and the adventures she goes though.
Let me organize my thoughts:
1. Writing and plot. Of course, Andy Weir did it again. This is so easy to enjoy - funny when it needs to be funny, serious when it needs to be serious. It’s action packed. The technical stuff is is very easy to go through even for people who have no idea about all those metals, and about the physics and chemistry notions. Everything was believable and Artemis just seemed to real.
2. Characters. Jasmine was such a colourful character. Not a dull moment with her. The type of friend I’d like to have if I were living on the moon haha. Some people seemed not to like her as much as Mark Watney… Why shouldn't it be normal for a girl to swear and make fun of the situations during life’s most challenging moments? Why can’t she be boyish and open about sex and to be aware and confortable in her own body? I really did enjoyed her and the complexity of her relationship with the father, her rebelious nature and how that fit in her religion.
I can’t even compare this to The Martian. Maybe just by the fact that it was funny as hell. I’m so happy I got to read it. Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me an advanced copy of Artemis.

I enjoyed this book, not as much as The Martian but it was still an enjoyable read. It did seem to drag a little towards the end but I'd be happy if he turned this into a trilogy or even just a 2nd book to see how things turned out. I didn't particularly connect with the main character but overall it was enjoyable and well written.

So I received an ARC from Netgalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jazz Bashara lives on the moon. Jazz Bashara is a delivery woman who does some mild smuggling on the side. Got to make a living somehow, right? That's fine since Jazz Bashara is a bad-ass lunar woman on a mission to make half a million slugs, and nothing is getting in her way.

Confession time: I made it almost 10 percent of the way into this book before I realized that the main character was a woman. Which, honestly, I found kind of awesome. The focus of the book is more on the actions of the character and less about her having boobs.

So, Jazz is a petty lunar criminal from a bad part of town who gets a shot at a big job - where the reward would be life changing, but could result in her deportation from the only home she has ever known. Of course, the job doesn't go as planned (Does anything, ever?) and hijinks ensue.

The narration of the book is very similar to The Martian. Honestly if I didn't know I was reading Artemis, I would actually have thought I was reading an excerpt from Andy Weir's first book. I enjoyed the sarcastic narration and joke-cracking of the first book, so this was a plus for me, but I would loved to have seen a BIT more variation in the characterization. So this is a plus for me, but if you did not enjoy The Martian, you may want to pass on this one.

Finally I have to say I LOVE ANDY WEIR'S SCIENCE. Most of the science of heat transfer is actually really well done. It was really nice to read an explanation of latent heat done correctly in popular fiction. The fact that he takes time to explain the science (And provide examples) is a huge plus for me.

I revived a preview of this book via NetGalley for my honest review.

I absolutely adored this book! I was super excited to see that there was another Andy Weir book out and signed up for NetGalley for the express purpose of reading this book sooner rather than later and it didn't let me down.

This book had everything I liked about The Martian and cranked it up by making it more approachable. The main character was a female that lived on the moon since she moved there at six years old which can help you see yourself as the main character better as if it was about circumstance.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the first person narrative at first but grew to love it as I read on.

I absolutely love how there are random interesting facts spread throughout the book. For example that the coffee and tea are an aquired taste on the moon as water boils at 61 degrees Celsius so your drinks don't get as hot as on Earth. All the minor facts thrown out to explain the situation or just add more concept suggest the depth of all the research behind the book and make you think this could be a reality exactly the way the author describes it. Reality doesn't need to be suspended to read the book.

Overall I couldn't put the book down at all. Even with family responsibilities I only took four days to read it and didn't put it off... Other than the sadness that finishing it meant that there was no more to read.

Jazz Bashara is a smuggler. She lives in Artemis, a bubble city on the moon. Well, city is over-stating things, Artemis is a small town where everyone knows your name, not always the best thing for someone who specializes in skirting the law. Luckily, there's not really that many laws in this company town. So when someone comes to Jazz with a proposal that's slightly shady - but very profitable - she's in. Only she's in for way more than she expected, and the future of life on the moon may be at stake.

This was just a fun, rollicking read. Old-school sci-fi with a strong reference to Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Jazz is a relatable character: a smarter-than-she-realizes screwup who can't get out of her own way. If you liked all the science in the Martian, settle in, you're in for some fun, but this one is much more of a caper - think the Heinlein book crossed with a Donald Westlake. Super fun for science fiction fans.

In short, this novel was a hot mess... I hate giving bad reviews, but sometimes it can’t be avoided. If your looking for a story similar to The Martian you need to look elsewhere. First of all, I was under the impression this was an adult novel, however, the dialogue was so horribly written it read like bad YA. Next, depth in any of the characters was nonexistent and, lastly, the techno/science stuff just wasn’t worth me caring to be bored by. I’ve found that most novels that start off shaky usually find their footing around half way through... not this one. It actually got more unbearable. My recommendation is to skip this one and, hopefully, Weir will learn from its mistakes in his next novel.