Thank you to NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. Here is my review:

I LOVE Jazz!! She is my favorite lead character in any book so far this year. She is feisty, independent, profane, has NO respect for herself or anyone else, but always gets the job done and saves the day!!

This book is set on the moon, in a colony called Artemis. Jazz moved there with her father when she was a young child, so she is, for all intents, a native of the moon. She knows Artemis and all its secrets like the back of her hand. She easily navigates from the poorest sectors to the richest, and knows inhabitants of both, and all in between. She is CONSTANTLY in trouble, on the verge of homelessness, and broke, but she is very resourceful and finds inventive ways to make money.

Read it - you will like it!!

My review is so late for this book. I LOVED this book. I especially loved it because it had all the science geekery of The Martian with a better main character and a plot. Waiting for the movie already. Jazz Bashara is great! This was fun.

Andy Weir's follow up to The Martian, Artemis is full of his trademark flippant humour, non-stop action and interesting, at times confusing, science.
Jazz Bashara is tough, smart, snarky and beautiful. She has grown up on Artemis, the only city on the moon. She has a penchant for making terrible decisions and is struggling to make ends meet as a porter. However, the porter job gives her access to smuggle in contraband.
Jazz is given the opportunity to commit the perfect crime with a payout too lucrative to turn down. Pulling off the impossible is just the onset of her problems when she learns that she has stepped right into the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis. Her only chance of survival lies in a plan even riskier than the first.
A fun and entertaining read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

"Artemis" eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Andy Weir (http://www.andyweirauthor.com). Mr. Weir has published two novels.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains quite a bit of Mature Language. The story is set in the near future. Earth has established a colony on the Moon where about 2000 people are currently living. The primary character of the story is 20 something Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara.

Bashara has been a rebel most of her short life. She has shown brilliant potential, but has always bucked authority. She makes a living, barely, by being a porter, delivering packages within Artemis, the Moon colony. She has been training to be licensed for EV work, but still hasn't accomplished that. She has established a successful smuggling operation.

One of her clients is the billionaire Trond Landvik. He offers Bashara the opportunity to make some money. A LOT of money. Of course it is going to take Bashara a lot farther over the line of law than she has gone before. Her well laid plans go astray and she soon finds herself on the run for her life. Then things kind of go down hill from there.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 7 hours I spent reading this 322 page science fiction thriller. I like the way Weir writes. He mixes a lot of science into his plots. Too few "science" fiction authors do that these days. I also think that he has developed a very interesting character in Bashara. I would not be surprised to see this transformed for the big screen as was his first novel, "The Martian". The chosen cover art is OK. I give this novel a 5 out of 5.

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This was an incredibly incredulous story. It just kept going a notch up on the ridiculous ladder till I could take it no more.

I didn't finish reading this book because I just couldn't buy into the female main character - didn't seem to be a women's voice or perspective.

Given my deep and abiding love of <i>The Martian</i>; given my nerdy geeky longing for space – the poster I'm looking at right now says "Someday I would like to stand on the moon, look through a quarter of a million miles of space and say, 'There certainly is a beautiful earth out tonight.' -- Lieutenant Colonel William Rankin" – and I mean it, I really, really mean it … Given all that, it was inevitable that I'd instantly request <I>Artemis</i>, wait anxiously for approval, and hope like heck it was great. I'd seen reviews saying that it wasn't in the same league as the first book. But that didn't really matter. I wanted it.

Well, and those reviews - they were right. <i>The Martian</i> was, for me, almost perfect. <I>Artemis</i> had some wonderful things, but on the whole it fell short for me. The depiction of society on the moon was terrific. Weir did a tremendous job of world-building to make something that was utterly familiar and utterly alien at the same time. He was on one of my favorite podcasts <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2017/11/28/economy/make-me-smart-kai-and-molly/andy-weir-loves-geek-out-about-space-economics">(Make Me Smart, with Molly Wood and Kai Ryssdal)</a> talking about the economics of living in space or on the moon, and the man has it all thought out.

It's only after having finished the book that I'm a little wistful about the fact that, while there was a bit of "OMG" in the book – Jazz is reminded a few times of how truly awesome, in every sense of the word, it is to live on the moon, and the ability to look up and out and see Earth out there … still, I think what I missed in this book is that nerdy geeky rapture I wanted. Artemis has been there for a while. Jazz grew up there. She has never known anything else, and everyone around her has been there long enough that the novelty has, apparently, sadly, worn off.

And I think that's a shame. I mean … it's <I>the moon</i>. You can step outside and if the rotation is right look up and see the only place humans had previously ever lived, the classic blue marble. (<i>Lene looked up to Trond like he put the Earth in the sky.</i>) And that's <i>magical</i>. I wonder if that's why I'm not more of a science fiction fan in general – I love a lot of the trappings of the genre, but hardly ever read in it. The awe just seems to be so often missing.

And that's not what the book is about. The book is about lunar economics and a heist and science and … economics … About murder and the black market and eking out a living and frittering away potential.

Honestly, I think that last part, and the whole heist storyline, are what kept me from loving this book. Jazz is hardly unrealistic in her insistence on letting all the very skills and intelligence she's got get blunted and rusty while she scrapes by doing jobs almost anyone could do, or doing illegal jobs… but I found the end of it intensely frustrating. Given my life and situation and desires, and given her possibilities, I wanted to give her a swift kick for her perverse insistence on not doing anything with her abilities, for continuing to live hand to mouth when she had another option sitting waiting for her. If her father had hated her or abused her (which he very much did not: "Very few people get a chance to quantify how much their father loves them. But I did." – One of my favorite bits) … if she had a fear of open flame, or claustrophobia, or something … if there was some even half-baked reason for it, I'd have had a much easier time accepting it. As it is, she just made me angry. Again, this is not unrealistic. But I don't read fiction to watch people make the same kinds of mistakes I have.

Mainly, though, it was the adventure at the climax that made me a little tired and … not bored, exactly, but kind of patiently-waiting-for-the-conclusion. On the one hand it reminded me of a movie from the sixties – a madcap farce, a caper, something that should have starred Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. On the other hand, it was deadly serious – people could have died, lots of them (probably would have died, to be honest – children don't have the tolerance of adults is all I'm going to say).

I appreciated the plotting; I appreciated the writing; I appreciated the depth of world-building (literal and literary). I enjoyed the humor where it came in ("like all good plans, it required a crazy Ukrainian guy") and marked the change in tone; but the whole thing was not what I signed up for.

Still, it was overall very enjoyable. And Jazz (and therefore Weir) is a nerd. The reference to the first Lord of the Rings film was lovely.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review. "I thank," I said with a smile. "I thank many. Moon is much excitement!"

I went into The Martian with very low expectations, I think I read it for a challenge, choose a book from a 'best of 2014' list or something. I was very surprised by how much I absolutely adored it and then proceeded to shout my love of it for like, 2 years. So when I saw this on Netgalley, I was so so excited, but I ignored it for several months because I was so afraid it wouldn't compare to The Martian. In all honesty, Andy Weir probably should have pulled a JK Rowling and published this under another name because everyone will compare, and I'm sorry, it just pales in comparison to The Martian and Mark Watney. Which is a bummer, obviously. I liked the overall story and I was definitely interested, I just would have liked more from the characters and their relationships (specifically Rudy and Jazz). I also kept forgetting that Jazz was a woman because, sorry if this sounds sexist, she really came across as a man. I'm sure there are women out there that talk and think like Jazz, it just really screamed 'man writing as a woman' to me, and some men shouldn't do that. Goes both ways, I've read books by women that should not write a man's POV. Anyway. I was definitely disappointed by this one in comparison to The Martian, but on its own, it was an enjoyable read that passed the time just fine, I don't regret reading it. I will re-read The Martian one day but I doubt I'd re-read this. I will still keep an eye out for more from this author.

It's refreshing to read a true SF novel. Lately, unless you are reading a book featuring Star Wars or Star Trek, the focus seems to be on fantasy or dystopia. We won't touch on vampires and werewolves, although if that is your pleasure you are in luck.

Artemis by Andy Weir, however, is about life in a man-made city on the moon. The author has created a realistic world with scientific explanations which seem realistic to my untrained mind. Jazz Bashara, the main character, is a true antihero, who at twenty eight is still acting like a rebellious teenager doing a little smuggling, along with her day job as a porter, to pay for her meager lifestyle. She manages though dreams of something better - a bigger bed, her own bathroom, better food choices - all beyond her financial means. Then the deal of a lifetime falls into her lap, a way to make some real money and maybe repair the broken relationship with her dad. This one requires quite a bit of planning and luckily she has a natural ability to pick up information on the fly along with some innate skills perfected at her father's knee as well as the general knowledge necessary to nullify the safeguards surrounding the moon's life support systems (without getting herself killed). Yet the relatively "simple" task of sabotage becomes a deadly game placing those she holds near and dear in danger. Time to call in all her favors, even if it means swallowing her pride and overriding her principles.

Add in a stoic father who wants what's best for his only daughter, a former best friend who has the same taste in men, a geeky coworker willing to lend a hand, a security officer just looking for a reason to deport her back to earth, a childhood pen pal from Kenya who has some helpful connections, and a client who inadvertently bites off more than he can chew.

While I enjoyed the basic concept and liked the mystery tour Weir took us on, there was a bit too much technical detail for my taste. I like a bit of science to make it all seem doable, but my focus is always on the fiction. However, the action will translate into a great movie, since this novel has just as much big screen potential as The Martian. Creating a female main character seemed to be a bit of a challenge for Weir and she came off a little too juvenile at times, though her glib, wise cracking attitude along with all those smarts were a refreshing change of pace which lead to some clever, if somewhat cliched, dialogue.

I'm ready to purchase my ticket.

Four stars and a thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the film The Martian based off of Andy Weir's other novel, so I was really excited to give this one a try. Unfortunately, I don't think that Artemis and I clicked very well. I didn't really connect with or like Jazz very much, and the writing just didn't work for me as a reader. I was sad that I didn't enjoy this as much, but I can definitely see where other readers would fly through this and love it!

This thriller wasn’t dystopian or too far into the future for me to feel like it couldn’t have been happening right now. Artemis is a colony on the moon, but it’s still new enough to be compared to a Disney resort for most people that still reside on Earth. This story begins with a Han Solo-esque woman working a heist gone wrong before turning into a total page turner full of assasins, organized crime, business conspiracies, and crazy MacGyver-in-space style solutions.

Though this book is a bit less of an 'edge of your seat' read than Weir's first book, The Martian, it' has thrills and uncertainty. The main character, Jasmine Bashara, is an unconventional Arab woman living on the moon. 'Jazz' works at unconventional jobs--being a porter, welding and smuggling, and, has not embraced her father's religion. She gets involved in a get-rich-quick scheme with a local speculator, putting her and the entire Moon settlement in danger. The engineering problems, like in The Martian, are intriguing and science prevails.

It's a little tough to figure out the audience for this one. It isn't quite appropriate for a YA audience but not riveting enough to be a solid sci-fi adult read.

I enjoyed the book but did feel there were a lot similar reference from main character to his previous main character which was frustrating to read. I do enjoy the science/sci-fi experience.

Rating: DNF @ Pg. 78

I wanted to like this book for two primary reasons. The first was that the narrator of the book is Rosario Dawson, one of my favorite actors currently working. The second reason was that the plot sounded really cool. A heist of sorts on the moon? Neat! 

However, the tone of the book and that of the writer led to me putting it down around page 78.

Why? The narrator, Jazz, was nice enough as a character until the author slid in lines that made her talk down to the readers. I felt condescended to more than once. There was a scene in particular when Jazz is buying clothes and mentions a niqab, then proceeding to say that the reader needn't bother continuing to pretend like that know what that is. Seriously? Yes, in fact, I did know before reading this book, but even if I hadn't, why would you phrase something in this manner?

That scene was actually really problematic for me not only because of what Jazz says to the reader, but also the comment she makes about buying a niqab and wearing it paired with a hijab: it's a great way to wear a mask without arousing suspicions. I wanted to throw the book because in the current climate, WHY THE F*** would you say that? It's incredibly insensitive and furthers the belief that religious women wearing one are underhanded or something.

Something else I noticed was that either the author or the editor was really inconsistent when talking about clothes from Kenya or Saudi Arabia. When Jazz meets the head of Artemis, the Kenyan woman is wearing a dhuku, a type of head wrapping. No explanation is put in parentheses, you just learn that in context clues. However, any time a item of Saudi clothing comes up, such as the religious head wear that Jazz's father wears, there's an explanation that details what it is. I can't see that there was a reason for this and the inconsistency was off putting.

The sheer amount of detail jam packed into Artemis is amazing. I am assuming that the author knows what they're talking about or they researched a whole lot because every other page there was an explanation of how the air filters worked or something other piece of trivia about the Artemis colony surviving on the moon. Getting to know how things work is great, but for great swaths of writing I felt like I was reading a technical manual and it was not a fun one. I could feel myself getting bored long before the horrible comments about Jazz's niqab.

I've haven't read Andy Weir's other book, The Martian, so I can't say for myself whether this is typical of his writing, but I can't recommend Artemis. I listened to the audiobook partly and even Rosario Dawson's reading couldn't save it. A unique problem there is that her accents didn't come across well; they sounded to me like she wasn't putting in the effort I'd expect to learn what these voices should really sound like.

Artemis gets a big nope from me.

I received a free ARC from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I was not a fan of this book. Reading it felt like a chore. It didn't have the laughs of The Martian. What it did have was an overload of science that really didn't add any substance to the plot line, just thickness to the book. There were portions that I just started skimmed because I got bored by the science talk. It's not that it was hard to understand, it just stopped being interesting and parts became repetitive. The plot line was interesting, but it just didn't move fast enough for me. I think it would make a movie than it did book.

It took me a while to get into this book. The MC is a young adult and spoke like one, and I had a hard time reading that. The story itself was good, and the science was pretty damn interesting. It's clear Weir really did a shit ton of research for this one. Even though I didn't LOVE this one, I'm giving it 5 stars because it's definitely the right book for a lot of people.

In his second sci-fi novel, Andy Weir, the author of "The Martian," tried to do a 180 turn and write something different. His novel "Artemis" was only partly successful.

"Artemis" takes place on the sole human settlement on the moon, where everyone has a specific task, laws are mostly guidelines, the population is just a few thousand people, and everybody knows and (mostly) adores our protagonist, Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara.

Jazz is a 26-year-old full-time porter, part-time smuggler, whose family left Saudi Arabia when she was a kid, and who ends up getting in the world of trouble as the novel begins. It's unclear what Weir was going for with this character: she has the mentality of a 16-year-old and the inner monologue of a teenage boy. (John Scalzi's "Zoe's Tale" came much closer to adopting the persona of a female protagonist, and he said that it took him ages to hone in on that writing style.) It doesn't help that Jazz is Mary Sue incarnate: she can become an expert in electronics in just one day, or understand a groundbreaking PhD dissertation in chemistry after spending a few hours online.

To be fair, the science part of this science fiction novel was beautiful: Weir goes to great lengths to explain why Kenya would end up as a spacefaring superpower with its equatorial location; how to survive a fire in an oxygen-rich moon city; how and why an aluminum processing plant would prosper on the moon. The economy he describes is interesting as well: a single credit can buy you a gram of cargo shipped from the Earth.

Overall, the book is great sci-fi but with a supremely flat main character. When it inevitably becomes a movie, the screenwriters will probably do yet another 180 and give Jazz a personality transplant. Until then, however, I don't recommend picking up "Artemis" until and unless you finish everything else on your "to read" list.

I give this book two out of five stars.

Full disclosure: I received an advance reader copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! There's so much to talk about, but no way to do it without giving too much away. Let's just say there's a dark side of the moon.

Also, Rosario Dawson serves as a great narrator.