I hate to do this but I have to DNF this (22%). I really can't stand this book at all. The only interesting parts are the science related things and from what I did read there is not enough to compensate for everything else. The main character is annoying and you can clearly tell it's a man trying to write a female character. All of the other characters just blend together and are not interesting. From what I've read the story is pretty boring and just difficult for me to read. I never found myself wanting to pick this up, it felt like an obligation. The writing is so novice; the first person narration gets sickening really fast. Overall this just was not for me, at all.

Such a disappointment after The Martian. The tone is the same - informal, wonky, educational - but this time around it seems like this just defines the limits of the author's skills. The plot was both simplistic and unnecessarily fussy - almost as though Weir was trying to convey harder scientific or technical concepts and thought that repeating it different ways would work (I know all I want to know about airlock technology).

I kept waiting for the book to kick in, but found that it read like someone trying to ride the wave of The Martian rather than an interesting, compelling read in and of itself.

I'm going to try to keep most of my thoughts away from The Martian comparisons in this review, because I think that's only fair.

In this novel, we follow Jazz Bashara, a smuggler who has lived in Artemis, a city on the moon, for most of her life.


THINGS I LIKED:

- The cover. It's gorgeous.

- The setting. .Life on the moon in the near future! I like that it still felt accessible and not like 1000 years away. Often, science fiction novels will be set in an environment that's so advanced that nothing is relatable. This isn't like that at all.

- The real science. It's always refreshing to see some actual science in science fiction. I think there could have been more of it and it could have been integrated better, but I still appreciate what was there.


THINGS I HAD PROBLEMS WITH:

- The main character. It's not really Jazz herself, but how she's portrayed. A big chunk of her character development is that she sleeps with a lot of guys. Which I mean...fine. Do what you want. But the book just made it a thing whenever it could. Opportunity to throw in a jab about Jazz sleeping with someone? This book takes it. And it's like...the book REALLY wants you to know that Jazz is a woman. I can't tell you how often she says things like "I'm a girl." It felt like the word "boobs" was everywhere. It needed to be toned way down.

- The writing. The book read a little like a first draft. Some of it was very stifled, like when any character tried to swear. Some of it was oversaturated, like Jazz saying "shit" every other sentence. Some of it was very formulaic. I couldn't tell you how many times I read this structure: "Statement. Why? Reason." Once you notice it, you can't un-notice it.

- The plot. How are heists on the moon boring? I'm not sure, but it took me forever to actually finish reading this book because I wanted to put it down and do something else every other page. It just didn't hold my attention...not until the 80% mark. The last 20% was pretty good, but it was kinda too little too late.

I hear often, "I don't like sci-fi," yet I also hear from these same people how much they enjoy Star Wars, Interstellar, Star Trek and other futuristic movies. So perhaps a person just doesn't like the 'robots are taking over the world and the book is full of impossible to understand physics concepts' kind of sci-fi - I get that. If that is the case, Andy Weir's (The Martian) latest is anyone and everyone's type of science fiction. Honestly, it is just that good. This time around, the main character is a Saudi Arabian woman, Jazz, who has been raised in Artemis, the community built on the moon, since she was six years old. Jazz has attitude...serious attitude, and is funny as hell. She's everything I would want a daughter to be: smart, sassy, courageous, ambitious, but does take risk-taking a bit too far. Oh, and her idea of career-building is to be the best smuggler on the Moon, but this time Jazz gets herself into some serious trouble with some very bad dudes. This book is a rock-and-roll ride from beginning to end, with twists that will surprise you and turns you never saw coming. Weir peoples his lunar community with a cast of unique characters; I suspect the movie will soon be in production, but do yourself a favor and read the book first - it's always better.

This was my second chance to read one of Andy Weir books and this was actually, my favourite. Not any longer these specific and difficult expressions about biology and ecology that we saw in The Martian. That made the read easier for me and more pleasant.

I have to underline the whole amazing world he created from nowhere. As I am a sci-fi and future world lover, I obviously loved this one. We have Artemis, this city which is set in the moon and is made up of big bubbles where people live. It's a perfect city for a perfect sci-fi book. The way the author describes this world made me feel like I was right there and made me wish I will travel to this new city.

One of my favourite things were the characters. I loved Jazz's thoughts and probably she has became one of the main characters I most liked. I also liked the other characters but I prefered more about them as they were a little bit superficial.

Other thing I have to highlight is the author's style. It was very realistic and close. I totally recommend this book to all the people who like science ficcion, loves amazing and fantastic worlds like this one and want to have an entertaining time.

Book requested via NetGalley.

I enjoyed reading this new book by Andy Weir. Set in the future at a colony on the moon, Weir uses a number of effective techniques to move the story forward, and it kept me guessing throughout. The dialogue is funny, the characters flawed, yet endearing. My only tiny complaint is that I wanted more detail on the main character's attraction to the chief of police (enforcement) on Artemis. It's hinted at in a way that is not satisfyingly tied up. Overall, the book was one I looked forward to reading and hard to put down.

The publishing history of Andy Weir's novel, The Martian, might be the craziest literary story of the 21st century. Bored with rejection letters from traditional publishers, Weir decided to post the book, chapter by chapter, on his website, free for anyone to read. The posts built a following of fans who convinced Weir to self-publish an eBook. in just a few months, that eBook sold enough copies to attract the attention of traditional publishers and Hollywood producers. The hardcover edition, published by Crown, debuted on the best seller list and, a year later, the movie adaptation starring Matt Damon took home a bunch of Golden Globe and Oscar nominations and wins.

Now a literary elite, Andy Weir has been keeping us guessing about his follow up to The Martian. He wrote some Ready Player One fan fiction and a fantastical science fiction novel called Zhek was announced and then disappeared. But now, almost eight years since the original website posts of The Martian, Andy Weir if finally back with a new novel, Artemis. And it's a doozy.

It's the near future, maybe 2070, and humanity has finally colonized the moon. Well, there's one city up there. A small city. Artemis is a series of domes that serve as a tourist destination for those who want to see the original Apollo 11 landing site. If they can afford the trip.

Like most tourist destinations, the economy of Artemis is based on the service industry. The domes are filled with restaurants and hotels. One of the best jobs to have is with the EVA Guild. Tourists will pay almost anything to get outside the domes and walk on the lunar surface. There's also a black market.

Our protagonist, Jazz Bashara spends her days as a porter, hauling deliveries all over Artemis. Her connections at the space port allow her to make some extra "slugs" selling contraband items. One day she hopes to have enough slugs to move out of her single occupancy "coffin" and into an apartment with a real bed and a private shower. It's going to take a while. Then her customer Trond Landvik, one of the richest men on the moon, offers her a deal she can't refuse. A million slugs to sabotage the Sanchez Aluminum's smelting plant so he can buy the company at a discounted price.

A million slugs is too much to turn down. But pulling off the impossible crime forces Jazz to take on the Brazilian Mafia, face her estranged father, make up with old friends, and navigate a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself.

Like The Martian, Artemis is loaded with scientific jargon that makes its setting believable. It also has a snarky lead character and a faced-paced plot that makes the pages fly by. I'm looking forward to the inevitable movie adaptation and the next book by Andy Weir

I initially requested a copy of this book because Andy Weir also wrote The Martian. Now I never read the book, but I did see the movie and thought it was great. Well once again Andy Weir created what I would refer to as a science fiction masterpiece. Seriously, keep your eyes peeled because this would make for a fantastic movie and Andy Weir has already written a book that made it in Hollywood.

With science fiction there are some things that I look for. I like things to be believable, and also well researched. Science heavy books need to be explained well. I have read plenty of books that aren’t and it leads to confusion and irritation. But there must be a balance, so the book can’t be overwhelming science heavy, as then the story will get bogged down with details and the result is boredom. Andy Weir walked this tight rope act as skillfully as Michael Crichton once did.

The characters were also developed exceptionally well, which is not always true or entirely necessary for science fiction, but is an added bonus here. Jazz was an incredibly fun character to read about, she was snarky, sarcastic and down right diabolical. Svoboda was also one of my favorites. He was a character that embodied a dorky scientist, yet with plenty of adorable quirks. I found myself wishing for more of a romance between these two.

The world of Artemis, the city on the moon, was built well. The writing was descriptive, but the map of the city was also helpful. I could picture most everything, but I also found myself referring to the map at times while reading for a more complete visualization.

I was reminded of Six of Crows while reading this. They might be completely different genres, but they both pulled off incredible schemes in imaginary worlds with casts full of very interesting characters. They both had masterminded main characters who make you feel like at times you may be rooting for the villain.

The plot was very well planned. The pacing kept me flipping pages, yet the writing never lost details necessary to understand the science. There were many twists along the way that kept you on your toes guessing what would come next. Andy Weir is a genius to have come up with this plot.

The cover kind of sucks though. It is kind of dull and doesn’t convey that this story will be exciting. I nearly passed this book up because of that. I would recommend this to fans of Michael Crichton, Six of Crows and all science fiction lovers. Andy Weir is a Science fiction genius and I really hope this becomes a movie.

It would be hard for any book to live up to Weir's The Martian but Artemis gives it a quality moon shot. The main character Jazz has lived on the moon since she was six years old and is a Saudi Arabian by birth on a satellite that is surprisingly heavily influenced by power brokers from space super power Kenya. Artemis, like the Martian, leverages science of how things might work on a moon colony to add to the story and plot lines but not to the extent as in The Martian. It was entertaining to see how a colony on the moon might play out. Again, a good bit of time is spent by the main character in a vehicle traversing the surface but this time around our main character is not only trying to survive on a lonely rock but from a host of people chasing her in this crime thriller.

See link posted below. Will post to Amazon on publication date.

I really enjoyed this book. I found Jazz Bashara to be an extremely relatable and real character. Her humor and quick wit kept me laughing throughout the book. I managed to finish this book in 3 days while working a full time job and keeping my social life active. Essentially I didn’t sleep. Andy Wier has done it again. I sincerely hope that if this one is turned into a movie as well, that the characters are not white washed as they were in The Martian. A truly fantastic book.

Andy Weir brings Jazz to the moon, and it's oh so sweet. Humor, adventure, and a great cast of characters, Weir's sophomore effort is a solid read.

Having previously read "The Martian", I was pretty excited for "Artemis". I really enjoyed the hard scif-fi aspects of Andy Weir's first book, and I was interested to see how he would apply those traits to something like living on the moon, which is seemingly more fanciful than flying to Mars. In respect to the science, it all seemed to work out. Andy Weir clearly does his research. The book itself was fast-paced and kept my interest throughout. I kept wanting to come back to the story to find out what happened next. One thing that Weir does very well is create suspenseful action scenes in which he clearly explains what the big danger is, and how the main character can fix it, which actually leads to one of the best and worst parts of this book. Weir makes life very difficult for his characters, which is good. The conflict drives the story. However, similar to "The Martian", the main character, Jazz, apparently can fix anything or immediately get to someone who can. It makes for a lot of intrigue as you wait to see how they're going to solve the puzzle... but it also seems to lower the stakes, because you know that they'll get out of the situation with some genius fix almost immediately.
Though I did really enjoy the story, Weir's characters would sometimes bring me out of it. Similar to "The Martian", Weir injects a lot of humor into the story. A lot of the humor is derived from smart-mouth comments or asides to the reader, which isn't the issue. The issue is that Weir's characters never seemed to be real people. The things they would say never seemed to click for me. There's an old story about Harrison Ford yelling at George Lucas during one of the Star Wars movies. Some scene was going badly and Ford was struggling with the lines. In frustration/jest, he yelled across the soundstage to Lucas "You can write this shit, George, but you can't say it". The characters in this book reminded me of that. They were clearly written, and didn't seem to ever become real people, no matter what depth or growth Weir tried to interject. In a lot of ways, they reminded me of characters from "Ready Player One" with their constant pop culture references and jokes, but not necessarily in a good way. For whatever reason, the characters talking would always jar me out of the story, especially at the height of the action.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and will recommend it to my friends and family.

I could not put this book down. It only took me days two to read it. The amazing thing that Andy Weir does is write science for the general audience. The main character is fun but there were times when I didn't understand what her logic was. By the time we meet her, she could have an better life but it was like she purposely made it harder. There was a certain thing I expected to be destroyed but maybe the idea of destroying it would have been sacrilege to Andy Weir.

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Andy Weir has done it again!!!

I was slightly wary beginning this novel. It is always hard to tell when an author has a blowout debut such as The Martian, if they will be able to deliver a second time or if it was a rare golden egg.
After completing Artemis, I can safely say that Andy Weir is one of the most creative and original authors of our time.

In Artemis, we are introduced to Jazz, a woman in her late twenties who grew up on a settlement on the Moon and is a smuggler to make ends meet. She is a antihero similar to Han Solo, from my perspective. The main premise of the story revolves around a lucrative job she takes that is much harder than it seems and could very well plunge The Moons' residents into peril.

Andy Weir did an outstanding job creating the settlement of Artemis. On the surface, Artemis is exactly what you would picture a town on the moon to be. But Weir delves so much deeper with his scientific research to paint a mural of society in the future. I particularly enjoyed a description of what it would be like to brew of pot of coffee on the Moon (needless to say the boiling point on the Moon is much lower than on Earth and results in a tepid cup of coffee, yuck!).

Weir has a very particular sense of sarcastic humor that sneaks up on you and catches you laughing out loud. It is very unexpected in points where the novel gets very tense and makes for great comic relief, much like The Martian for those who have read it.

I am very excited to recommend this to friends, co-workers, and avid readers alike. I cannot wait to see what Andy Weir dishes out next! Also, I discovered that film rights have been adapted from the previous directors of the new Han Solo movie, I cannot wait to see how that turns out! Thank you Netgalley for this opportunity to read this months before release and thank you Andy Weir for delivering another Sci-Fi masterpiece!

I wanted to read Artemis because I really enjoyed The Martian.. It took me a bit to get past my surprise at how different this was from my expectation, yet once I did, I could hardly put it down. The bulk of my read was in one sitting. I found the main character, Jazz, plucky and I appreciated her flaws. She was unapologetic and consistently true to her nature. She was a "criminal" with a moral code. She made bad decisions about her personal life, yet was clever enough to save her world. I'm just wondering if there might be further adventures for Jazz and Artemis....

Artemis is the story of a city on the moon. It's a place where the adventurous live and tourists flock. It turns out, it is also a place where a very rich entrepreneur, a South American cartel, and Jazz cross pathways. It does not work out too well for the wealthy businessman or the cartel, and for a while--it gets pretty dicey for Jazz and the inhabitants of Artemis.

Artemis is fast-paced. The action is constant. The characters are well-thought out. The moon remains a place of intrigue!

This review is based on an ARC through NetGalley.

It’s not easy making a life on the moon. Jazz does her best to eke out a living smuggling contraband,. She gets an offer she can’t refuse. Snarky and surprising.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the preview copy of this book.

Not a sci-fi fan, I read The Martian and loved it, so when I saw Weir's latest work coming out, I jumped at the chance to check it out.

This novel reminds me a bit of The Girl with all the Gifts. Actually it is reminiscent of just about any novel with the plucky young female protagonist, who is bright, good at heart, and flaunts the roles and rules of her society. Pippi Longstocking strikes again.

The novel is set on the moon, in the future. Jazz is basically a native, rather than a recent immigrant. She loves to do her own thing, and is good at just about anything that she puts her remarkable mind to. She has great respect for the ethics her Dad taught her, but you wouldn't know it from her chosen profession of smuggler. However, her impulsive nature has gotten her into trouble in the past, and this time, she really screws up.

Love the characters. The storyline was interesting and made me wonder what life may be like in the future... so many changes and basic human nature seems to stay pretty much the same.

A quick, fun read. I didn't like it as much as I liked The Martian, but anytime we have a bright young female role model, it's good thing.

3.5 stars. This was an intriguing sci-fi novel. Jazz Bashara has lived on a community on the moon most of her life, causing trouble and smuggling contraband to the moon. In the restricted economy, there is always dirty business, but Jazz at least has a conscious. She is offered an opportunity to move up in the world if she is able to pull off the destruction of some lunar equipment. It turns into a chase for survival, using lots of scientific specifics. She learns to depend on friends, family, heart, and her knowledge to save the city. The detailed science definitely was a bit intense, and sometimes I had to skim, but overall it was a unique and interesting book. I will probably go back and read The Martian now too. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy.