Oh, Andy Weir. You rocketed into our hearts with <i>The Martian</i> and now you’re doing your version of a moonbase tale? I was fully on board from the start, but by the time it was over…

Effectively, the story follows our hero on a moon base trying to move her way up in the world. Jazz is struggling to stay on the straight and narrow, but there are other options available to her. One of these options is one that ends up netting her a lot of money, but a lot of trouble in the process.

This is basically a light heist story on the moon, and considering how really robust and strong <i>The Martian</i> was, that this is the follow-up is more than a little disappointing. The book falls quite quickly from its initial heights and never quite recovers, resulting in a thriller crime tale that never truly thrills. I felt like I was going through the motions with this a lot more than I wanted to, and mostly because I believed it would eventually pay off or at least attempt to come to the place <i>The Martian</i> sits and it never got there.

Honestly, there is no reason why someone who is looking for this book shouldn’t reach for <i>The Moon is a Harsh Mistress</i> instead. There’s nothing here of exceptional note, and it just feels like a lot of filler. It’s a fine book, but it fails to meet basic expectations and isn’t going to do much for those who have read a lot of science fiction over the years.

Ever since I finished The Martian I have been excited for Andy Weir's next book and this book didn't disappoint. Taking place on the Moon in an already existing colony Artemis follows Jazz, a Saudi Arabian woman who has lived on the Moon since she was six and makes most of her income by not so legal means.

While I didn't enjoy this book as much as Weir's first I really enjoyed the sense of community that is found in this book as there is not a lone person on a planet. I also enjoyed the diversity and array of characters that are presented (though there was the stereotypical Canadian RCMP officer which I didn't really like being the one representation of Canada). I did really like the the USA wasn't the main Earth community represented and that it really felt worldwide.

Once again Weir manages to convey complex scientific ideas in a way that is easy to understand and engaging to read and that is what helps to carry this book through. I was intrigued from the very beginning to the very end and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

Superb book! As good, if not better, than the Martian

Jazz Bashara has lived on the moon since she was 6 years old. She is now in her 20s and she has created a life as a small time crook smuggling goods from earth. The lure of a big payoff compels her to take a criminal job that leads to murder and more trouble. Jazz's conscious demands that she solve the crime and fix the mess that she helped create.

The Martian is one of my favorite books, so Andy Weir had a lot to live up to in this book. What I loved so much about the Martian was his characters and Weir does create an entertaining cast of characters. I am not completely sold on Jazz. I feel like she is a little immature for her age, but maybe that is because she was raised on the moon. Weir did create an entertaining fast paced sci-fi thriller that will please his fans.

Artemis

By: Andy Weir

"Jazz Bashara is a criminal.
Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.
Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first. (GoodReads)"
 

Hey Everyone! Apologizes for the delay in typing this. We are moving in a few days and I really wanted to crank out this review before we go! I was given this book from the publishers via Netgalley for an honest review. So, you know what? I'm going to be absolutely honest with you...!
 
This was my most entertaining read of the year! I have not had as much fun while reading this as I have in a very long time. It was hilarious and intense. It has adventure, crimes, mystery, diversity.. just a little bit of everything. Absolutely loved this novel.
 
Artemis is a made town located on the moon. Our main character is Jazz. She is a very independent very vocal woman who has lived in Artemis since she was just a little girl. You could say she knows the ins and outs of the whole place. She works as a porter here which is a poor job (basically a person who makes deliveries). Using her job to her advantage she just so happens to be a smuggler of all sorts of goodies for Artemis. 
She is given the chance of a very good job. Given her personality she takes it without question. It ends  up going pretty horribly wrong and she is essentially in a fight for her life. 

I love all the science that was involved with this novel. I'm not a scientist, I was never particularly good with chemistry...BUT.. I was still able to understand everything that was happening. 

There was never a time when I was confused. Everything was described perfectly. All the way down to their EVA suits and missions. Beautifully written. The world development was absolutely phenomenal. I loved how our main focus was based on one character, but we still got those other characters to balance Jazz out. 
I am not kidding when I said this book was very entertaining. 

Artemis Releases November 14, 2017! Don't miss this one!

Until Next Time bookies,
DauntlessReading

It's tough to follow up a hugely successful debut novel, and unfortunately I found Artemis a bit disappointing. I enjoyed the action that picked up in the second half of the book as well as the secondary characters, but I don't understand why Weir decided to write from his main character Jazz's perspective. It's not that I think that white, cisgender men can't write convincing female POC characters, but it was tough to rally behind Jazz since she wasn't a convincing voice. Since the book is told primarily from her first-person point of view, it was really distracting that the voice was off and unconvincing. The choice to select an Arab woman as the main character and main voice of the story seems a bit odd and I'm not sure that it added to the story.

It also felt like the evolution of Kenya coming to colonize the moon and the governance - or lack thereof - on Artemis

I also wish Weir had built this world a bit better. You get snippets of the politics and economics on the moon, but only in degrees. The book bills itself as a near-future space thriller that involves a heist on the moon, yet it feels more political than anything else. I also found it somewhat unbelievable that living on the moon would come with as few legal and tax-related restrictions as it did.

I loved The Martian for its humor and wit, and Artemis tried to recapture elements of that. The jokes felt flat and forced, which was another distraction from the plot at hand.

Ultimately I think that fans of The Martian will enjoy this book - it has the science, an interesting and action-packed plot, and a unique setting. But I had a very hard time accepting Weir's choice to write from Jazz's perspective and I suspect that will be a concern for others.

<b>3.5 Stars</b>
With a book like this, expectations are key. As the follow up to a bestselling novel, many readers will inevitably pick up the Artemis
expecting it to be "the next Martian". These comparisons are ultimately unfair, as few books can live up to Weir's masterpiece debut. Going into the book with these impossible expectations will only leave readers disappointed.

More of a lighthearted story, this felt like a lot like reading the novelization of version of a science fiction RPG video game. So much of the story involved the main character completing small tasks (or "side-quests") in order to achieve her larger goal. Told all in first person perspective, the narrative is quite causal with a conversational tone. Weir also includes a lot of humor in his story. Some of the jokes were absolutely hilarious, while others fell a bit flat.

As expected, Weir drops some fun technical jargon into the story. These sections will appeal to science nerds without bogging down the narrative. Like in The Martian, these science moments are delivered through simplified, often humorous, explanations that are easy to understand for the average layperson. It is not necessary to have a science background in order to enjoy this story.

While lighter in tone, this book still has some substance, addressing deeper issues including poverty and social class. Weir imagines a wonderfully diverse future with a non-Westernized colonization of the moon where Kenya is a major political and economic player. As well, this novel includes elements of diversity, featuring a non-practicing Muslim protagonist of Saudi descent.

As a piece of science fiction, this book is incredibly accessible for readers who do not normally read the genre. Set in a future version of our universe, the world-building is straight forward and easy to understand. The book will likely appeal most to young adult readers, rather than people who normally read adult science fiction. This book could be considered a YA crossover intended for a mature teenage audience. The personality of main character, along with the general plot. make the book feel like a young adult novel at times. The main character is incredibly immature, which could be frustrating. She is suppose to be twenty-six, but seemed more like a teenager on the page. Her personality never quite worked for me and I ultimately found her character quite flat. Yet, in terms of mature content, the book is actually quite adult with numerous references to sex and plenty of f-bombs, which kept the book out of the young adult category.

Artemis actually has more in similarities to Ready Player One than The Martian. Both books have YA crossover appeal, featuring young main characters trying to escape their impoverish living situations. Furthermore, the story includes numerous geeky references from Star Trek to Scooby Doo, which will appeal to pop culture enthusiasts.

I would still recommend this novel to readers looking for an entertaining heist story with a young, brash protagonist.

I requested this book from Crown Publishing via Netgalley

I don't know why I waited so long to read this. It's a heist/caper story set on the moon. ON THE MOON.

What's not to love about that?

The setting was really well done. I think Weir nailed the space aspect. To be clear, I know nothing about space or what it would be like to live in a vacuum, and most of the science was over my head, but he seemed to have done his research. He covered aspects of space life I wouldn't have even imagined. The setting felt very much like a video game, and the action was intense.

At times, I found myself wishing it was a video game. I imagined all the tourists, the glowing neon, and sparkling chandeliers of Armstrong bubble contrasted with the small, dank quarters of Conrad bubble, all connected by aluminum halls and floors and it just felt right. I could envision Jazz (the MC) pounding through the halls checking her Gizmo (moon version of a smart phone) as she ran. The author has a way of writing that really puts you in the book.

Jazz took a while to grow on me, but by the end, I really was impressed. She felt authentic. She was strong and vulnerable at the same time. She was brave and bold and compassionate. It's noted that she lives life on the promiscuous side, but it never felt like slut shaming, just an accepted fact. She's morally gray and wonderfully complex.

I deducted a star because there are times when Jazz "knows" things she shouldn't necessarily know or wouldn't have deduced from the information given, but it only made me pause for a moment and didn't detract from the overall entertainment value of the book.

This is an action packed, fun read, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the sci-fi genre or heist stories. I'd tell you more about the plot but I don't want to ruin it for anything.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the opportunity to review this ARC!

Sitting on my deck, enjoying the last of the summer nights; with my kindle glowing and the harvest moon in the sky …… this was the perfect read! I loved the Martian and wanted to savor this book!
It turns out that the moon is the perfect setting for a heist! The main character is Jazz – a mid-twenties woman living on a colony on the moon. She’s funny, tough and entertaining. (I had to keep reminding myself that Jazz was a girl though; Andy Weir may have missed the boat with the voice of female main character).
I thoroughly loved the setting though! Artemis is the first “City” on the moon and takes place about 100 years into our future and moon has been colonized. Andy did a great job with the science – very believable and intriguing. One of the main industries is aluminum mining of moon rocks. The moon is no different that Earth with the class structure – the division between rich and poor. Our heroine Jazz being on the poor side. To make additional money, Jazz smuggles good in. I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t love this as much as the Martian and that is OK. This was a completely different story and I did enjoy it. I loved the rich detailed descriptions of Artemis, the adventure and the intrigue!

It's hard to follow up with such a breakout hit as The Martian, but Artemis stands on it's own admirably. Changing to a female lead with porter, Jazz, was an interesting move and added depth to the story-line.

I really enjoyed this book. I mean, I really got into it. I didn't think I would coming from Jazz's perspective, but it really worked. Some of it was kind of a stretch for me though.

2 things got me...

1. Jazz getting let go by Dale. That was a little far fetched for me.

2. Jazz sitting in a vacuum for 3 minutes and not being simultaneously fried and frozen nearly immediately. With no real damage from an absolute vacuum.

That aside, I really did enjoy the rest of the story. I started catching some of the schemes and twists earlier after the mid point in the story, but it was good overall. I really enjoyed the read.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34928122-artemis?from_search=true/

The wait is over. I just finished the newest book by the author of The Martian. Similar & different at the same time, but I LOVED it!

Jazz, the main character, is full of sass, snark, and smarts. Plus, she is a savvy businesswoman (be it legitimate or off the books). Can you tell I like her? She's not always a sympathetic character but she is well aware of many of her short-comings.

The setting on the moon where the Eagle landed is now a tourist spot for the very wealthy and the once-in-a-lifetime crowd along with being home for a small diverse population. I would visit in a heart beat. Don't miss this title!

Oh my, did I wait for this book. The Martian grabbed me from the first sentence, Artemis took a little bit longer to get underway. I did enjoy absolutely love this book by the end and will read it again soon.

The combination of science, sci fi, humor and snark is fantastic. Jazz, our heroine is a special character, smart, creative, morally flexible and relentless. Her ability to respond to immediate needs, whether, social, economic, familial and otherwise show her character to be nimble and ultimately honorable. As she attempts to navigate her future in a brave new world on the moon, she has to respond to one obstacle after another to attempt to find her place. She has some problematic issues with her dad and her customers..

Being offered an incredible opportunity to jump start her finances she agrees to a dubious and dangerous project for a wealthy businessman when things go so ver wrong. How she attempts to take care of herself and those around her, she recruits both good guys and bad guys for an audacious plan. Which of course, never goes as planned.

I loved it; Andy's Weir's unique voice and perspective, made even more interesting as he speaks as a woman makes this irresistible to me as I so enjoyed his voice in the Martian. It is clear he did his homework in many ways. There are the truly laugh-out-loud moments that are a nice counterpoint to some of the in depth physical chemistry and engineering that are essential to understanding the story and outcome.

This is a very visual book, no doubt it will be quickly made into a movie. As with the Martian, the movie will no doubt only be a shadow of the book, but I will be in the line to see it.

I almost feel badly that I read this so quickly as I am sure it requiring hours and hours researching and writing. So, I will read it again, at least a few more times.
Get it, enjoy it.

Unlike most of the general public, I became aware of Andy Weir's THE MARTIAN by listening to the audiobook back in early 2015. I was not only captivated by the story, I was mesmerized by the narration talents of R.C. Bray. Then the secret got out, the movie was released, made lots of money, and won the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form in 2016. At the end of my review of THE MARTIAN back in March of 2015 I wrote the following: "And I think I may just pick up the next Weir novel when it comes out." (And you're all probably saying "wait a minute, it's not out yet". True enough.)

Weir's new novel, ARTEMIS, takes place in a settlement of the same name on the Earth's moon. Jazz - short for Jasmine - Bashara barely makes ends meet as a porter in ARTEMIS, so she has a side job. She's a smuggler, and a pretty good one at that. She plies her trade in typical harmless items; she smuggles what she thinks will make her some money without getting her in trouble. She has repeat customers, and as a result has a pretty good gig going. And while she still doesn't make much money, she makes enough money to survive. Her goal is to qualify for and join the EVA masters - the select group of people who are certified to take tourist out on EVAs to see things like the Apollo landing sights. EVA masters are paid well, so once Jazz gets certified she figures she'll be set. So of course the novel opens with her failing her certification exam because she was wearing a faulty suit that she bought second hand. Jazz had spent most of her savings on that suit, and now she was out of money, out of a suit (at least temporarily), and not an EVA master.

So it was back to smuggling on the side. While she tries to stay out of trouble, she does have some enemies in position of authority, but some friends as well. And she's typically been able to rely on her regular customers for steady smuggling work. So, on a regular visit to one of those customers to drop off a shipment, she catches wind of a big deal about to go down. She is invited to participate in the scam for which she will be paid a handsome sum of cash. The only problem is that her part in the scheme is a very dangerous criminal act. If she pulls it off, she's rich. If she fails, she will either be deported back to Earth, or she just might die.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, yes, that was a rhetorical question, because everything goes wrong; it wouldn't be much of a story if everything went according to plan. In the process of recovering from the failure of her part in the scheme, she learns way too much about what is going on in the highest reaches of the Artemis government - and that the true reach of the situation is all the way back on Earth. So she has a choice - get deported back to Earth, or come up with an even more crazy scheme to make things right and save Artemis from criminals back on Earth.

THE MARTIAN, both the book and the movie, took everyone by surprise. It was a terrific tale of survival using wits and science, of people all over Earth - and, as it turns out, in space - working together to save one lone man who is stranded on Mars. It was fun, exciting, even educational - and everyone loved it. ARTEMIS is not THE MARTIAN, and I expect many people to be disappointed by it.

To be fair, ARTEMIS is a fun, light, summer read (never mind that it's going to be released in November of 2017; it's really a light summer read). It's entertaining, engaging, and fast paced. It's a caper tale set on the moon, and it does need the moon to succeed. And it does succeed, after a fashion. In one sense, it's much like THE MARTIAN in that there are lives in danger and that science is used to save them. Just as in THE MARTIAN, Weir gives us the science lectures we need to get through the story without drowning us in details. All that is well and good, but I'd like to see Weir branch out from that kind of storytelling and into something different, something meatier. The book's idea of a massive conspiracy led by a shady organization on Earth is surely different from the story we get in THE MARTIAN, but it's the type of story we've seen before. It's time to see something different.

I believe that the problem with any book that Andy Weir would have written after THE MARTIAN would have suffered from comparisons with that book. It's inevitable. In my mind, ARTEMIS is not a bad book, but it does suffer from coming right after the success that was THE MARTIAN. Don't get me wrong here; I want to emphasize that I enjoyed reading ARTEMIS and am glad that I did read it. But now that we've gotten through the first two books of Weir's career, it's time to see what he can really come up with.

4.5/5 I haven't read The Martian (or even considered reading it for that matter) because I thought it would be one of those books that gets bogged down in the science and loses the narrative. But when I read a summary of this book, it sounded really fun- so I gave it a go.

I have to say, what this book lacks in literary merit it makes up for in just the sheer entertainment of it all. Yes, this book has lots and lots of science- technical jargon about welding, smelting, oxygen, and all of the other things that come with living on the moon. But it's also fun, and silly, and an all around great caper. I didn't want to stop reading.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an ARC so I could review Artemis.

I'll start with the obvious: this book is not The Martian. It's more of a heist than an adventure, and though Jazz shares Watney's sarcasm and is a generally likeable character, I didn't find I was rooting for her the way I did Watney. This book got a bit technical at times, and I thought that interfered with the narrative. I enjoyed it, but didn't fall it love with it the way I did The Martian.

Let me start off by saying that I was very excited to read a new book by Andy Weir, mostly because I loved The Martian. But Jazz is nothing like Watley, so I admit to being a little discouraged as I read. Okay, now that we've cleared the air...

If you enjoy stories that are scientifically detailed and could plausibly happen in the future, then you should enjoy Artemis. As usual, Weir has done his homework and gotten the various science facts worked out. Rather than a combination Boy Scout/MacGyver (a la Watney), we have a protagonist who has made bad life decisions and lives outside the law. Jasmine Bashara is an entertaining mix of smuggler, entrepreneur, and 20-something on a quest to redeem some of her earlier mistakes. The way she goes about this redemption is what leads to the action of the story. The plot involves multi-million dollar business deals, criminal cartels, assassins, and other components of many crime caper movies. For the science geeks there are plenty of gadgets, chemistry, pressure differentials, and other principles and factoids.

I've read plenty of science fiction stories, some set on the moon (Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress comes to mind), but this book makes it seem very much like a small town. Limiting the number of inhabitants and having a single law enforcement officer gives it the feel of a frontier town in the Wild West days, which means readers who enjoy space frontier stories can enjoy it - even though it is set so close to home. There is also the fact that Jazz is a female protagonist and the administrator of Artemis is also female, so those who enjoy strong women as lead characters are also in luck.

Altogether, not as much my cup of tea as The Martian was, but still a solid Sci-Fi read and entertaining while keeping true to the science.

So disappointed. I began reading Artemis yesterday with great excitement and enthusiasm. After The Martian, I thought and hoped Andy Weir might become the Tom Clancy of the Space Genre. By 1am, I was half through and extremely disappointed, and headed to bed. I had to force myself to pick it back up the next day to finish. The language, vulgarism, and sexual content are a shock and disappointment. I still believe Weir can be a genre defining author and not just another sci-fi hack but he desperately needs to tack back toward The Martian territory where he was outstanding rather than this kind of lowest denominator drivel.

Thrilling, compelling, and extremely addictive! Andy Weir nails it with another space marvel!

3.5 stars

Fun and likable, but a far cry from The Martian. WAY far.

In some ways, I feel for Andy Weir. With The Martian, he wrote such a flawless, unique story that it was virtually impossible for his next book to measure up. Tough to fault the author for that.

It's clear he's trying to do something different here for fear of writing, effectively, The Martian on the Moon, but it ended up feeling more like he was working outside his wheelhouse.

One of the things that made The Martian so interesting and different was that there was NO backstory or subplot for the main character. It was just Mark Watney, Mars, and the problem at hand. Jazz Bashara, conversely, is basically ALL backstory. And that backstory isn't all bad, but a lot of it is trite, overwrought, and far from original.

That's the real issue with this book. It's essentially a piece of commercial fiction that follows the same plot that hundreds of books before it have used, the only difference being that this version of the "criminal with a heart of gold gets in over his/her head" trope is set on the moon.

The setting was, however, one of the pluses of the novel. Weir's moon colony was imaginative and evocative, and he deserves a lot of credit for atmosphere in that sense. And Jazz, as well as many of the other characters involved, is likable. The villain, though, is a weak one, and the plot has a lot of sap that was pleasantly absent from The Martian (read into this what you will about a man trying to write in first person as a female character.)

The science too, while easier to grasp, lacks the riveting mental puzzle feel that pervaded The Martian.

Perhaps I'm judging Weir too harshly by stacking this up against his previous book. I do wonder if I would have been less critical if this had been written by someone else.

In the end, it's a fun, well-paced story, if a step back from Weir's last offering.


*I received an ARC of this book via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review*