Let me tell you that sci-fi is not my cup of tea. I don’t like the genre and I have big prejudices toward sci-fi and I don’t know why. I mean, I know I am not a science fan, I don’t like spaceships and I don’t like the space, even. I don’t like the robots, you get the idea, don’t you? But I’ve read a couple of sci-fi books and loved them, so yeah… I can be not the biggest fan but I don’t know why I really turn my head the other way every time I heard “sci-fi”, but it’s so.

And if you’re asking why on heart I choose to read this book, you have all the rights. But I loved the first Weir’s book, it was a big surprise, but I loved it from the start to the end, so when I saw that he was writing a second book I was really, really happy! And I was even happier when NetGalley approved my request.

And I was hooked up from the first sentence. Isn’t it wonderful? I have to be honest and say that this book is not good as the first one, even if I enjoyed it a lot. In this second book we know that we are reading fiction. Ok, that’s hard to explain, but I’ll try! When we are reading a novel we know very well that what we are reading it’s not true, it’s fiction, but while we are reading we believe that all that is happening on the pages is true, we really are there with our characters, in their time or in their world, are you following me? While, in Artemis, we know that it’s just fiction. Am I making sense to you?
I hope so. And this wasn’t a great thing for me, I like when I feel that the book is “real”.

And I think that the author would have done better with a male character. I loved Jazz, I really loved her, her sassy ways, her sarcasm and all of her, but sometimes she’s a little bit too much. But… oh well! I had to say that something is off with her, because it’s true, but she’s a great main character. She’s a rebel girl, sarcastic and self-deprecating, smart, clever, who seems to rub everyone the wrong way but that manage to obtain what she wants in any case. She’s resourceful, quick and strong.

And Artemis… it’s the first and only city on the moon. I don’t want to go and live there, that’s true (but I am not a space fan, remember?), but the city is so well described, even if not with Jazz words:

<b>The city shined in the sunlight like a bunch of metallic boobs. What? I’m not a poet. They look like boobs.</b>

We have a great main character, with some secondary characters that have great potential, a great location and… a good story, fast paced and with some twists. I have to admit that, all in all, the plot it’s the weakest point of all, and that the ending is a bit rushed, but I loved it anyway. I loved the story, and it’s fast paced so you can’t be bored even for a second, and I love the happy ending, so I can’t complain.

Trying to make it short: I enjoyed it and I was hooked up from the beginning. It was really difficult for me to put it down and to do something else, it was so captivating! And the best thing is Jazz! You have to love her!

<b>“I knew what I had to do—I just didn’t like it. I’d have to blow the remaining two at the same time.
Please don’t quote that last sentence out of context.” </b>

It can't be easy to have to follow up on the amazing success on you first book if you are Andy Weir. I loved the characters in this book and the story was fantastic. I hope we see a series based on this book. Great job Andy!

Having read and loved The Martian I was excited to read Andy Weir’s new book . Jazz lives in her moon colony home Artemis . She works as a porter with a sideline of smuggling. she would like a bigger place to live other than her coffin size house which leads her to take on a very dangerous an$ illegal mission . Fun read with science, murder and revenge . Jazz is an intriguing anti hero that you wil love getting to know

I like Jazz. No, not the Jazz you listen to (although some is pretty cool), but Jazz who grew up on the colony of the moon. She's sassy and witty and super smart, while kind of being a jerk. Jazz wants to rake in the big bucks (but they aren't called bucks on the moon), by being a tour guide, but when offered an opportunity to really make lots of money by destroying some large pieces of equipment, she can't refuse. But, then it kind of all goes wonky, murder happens, and then she calls for help with her friends and favors. Lots of technical stuff again that I tended to gloss over. But reading this book made me think that the second book must be scarier than the first. People expect the same level of greatness as the first blockbuster, so there was lots of pressure on Mr. Weir. But here's how he did it- he had the same kind of setting of realistic future space, but completely different characters and plot. And they were both great. Jazz is the protagonist that shows all her faults, but you almost love her more for them. Her band of friends and followers rival that of Ocean's Eleven, and the mean guy? He is still mean. Well done, Mr. Andy Weir!

It had lots of good aspects:
The world is truly so though out
The main character: is different and intriguing
The plot: fast paced and had lots of aspects going on
It doesn't have the tone as The Martian, but I kind of liked how very different it is. There is still the aspect of space and the science though, which I really enjoy when done well.
Artemis comes out next week and I really think a lot of you would enjoy it so I wanted to talk about it.
I had some problems going into the book mainly about the nature of the main character and the tone of the book not being what I expected, which wasn't like the one in the martian.

Short Summary: Jazz Bashara is a full-time resident (and smuggler) of Artemis, the only city on the moon, but when she’s offered a sum of money that would solve all of her problems she accepts, the only problem is this job is completely out of her comfort zone and causes her more problems than she had before.

Thoughts: This story wouldn’t have been nearly as fantastic if it wasn’t narrated by Rosario Dawson who transformed this oftentimes comical heist on the moon into an actual performance.

Verdict: I loved The Martian and I loved Artemis so Andy Weir can just keep those entertaining Sci-Fi stories coming.

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

I haven't read The Martian yet, but I loved the film, so when I found out Andy Weir was coming out with a new book -- Artemis -- I requested a review copy, and here we are!

Jazz grew up in Artemis, the moon colony that has no home country. People who live there and visit there are from everywhere, and due to the restrictions on imports, Jazz runs a booming underground economy for her clients. One evening while delivering contraband to her best client, Trond, he tells her he wants to hire for her a job -- a life changing job. The only problem is that it's super illegal and could get her killed, but if she succeeds, she will be rich beyond belief and can finally live a life outside of just scraping by. When she takes it, she finds herself on the ride of her life -- or is for her life?

I was quite pleased by this novel and its caper quality. I will say that it was not the deepest piece of fiction I have ever picked up, and there were many times where it was clear that a man was writing from the attempted perspective of a young woman. I found myself rolling my eyes a couple of times at the internal comments Jazz would make at the audience, as they were very unauthentic, but I was willing to look past this for the sake of the story. After all, I wasn't in it for character development, but rather for the story.

Weir does an outstanding job of doing his homework and presenting the science thoroughly and, more importantly, interestingly. I ended up purchasing this book twice over the holidays, once for my brother and again for my brother-in-law. It's a great piece for just about anyone -- you can enjoy the story and skip past the science if it doesn't interest you or you find it tedious, or if you like the science, you can totally geek out on it and criticize it and be in awe of it and focus on that. It was what I think was the best part of this book -- it's a caper that has a story that grabs you and has a little something for everyone.

For myself, I'm not so sure after reading this book that I would be open to living on the moon. My anxiety was over the top reading about the precautions the residents had to take in order to live in a vacuum, and that's just not for me. I think that the idea of creating a colony on the moon, however, was fascinating and got me thinking long and hard about sustainable solutions for life on Earth. Would I at least want to take a once-in-a-lifetime vacation to Artemis?

Why, yes, I would. Thanks, Mr. Weir. I'm looking forward to it.

I gotta say, I’d probably give this this a 3.5 out of 5. I really wish that I could rate it higher. Like I said, I loved the Martian with all of my nerdy heart and soul. But this book really didn’t have quite the same feel of the first book. And it’s hard not to compare this book with the Martian. Basically Jazz didn’t have the quite the same draw as Mark Watney (though given Mark Watney’s innate charm which was both shown and told it’s a bit of a high bar).

Readers may flock to this new title by Andy Weir, expecting it to be as amazing as The Martian. While it does have its moments, the book does not live up to expectations. This tale is set on the moon and follows Jazz, a talented dealer of contraband. She is smart and clever in undertaking her jobs. Much of her talent derives from her father but she has been estranged from him for quite a while. When hired to sabotage a local business, she must summon all her wiles to plan the seemingly impossible task. Much like Mark from The Martian, she uses her intelligence to lay out her plan and then to handle the hurdles that she encounters in executing her attack on the target. There are higher powers here that make Jazz’ assignment even more difficult.

Weir includes a very diverse cast of characters, including Jazz who’s of Middle-Eastern descent, her penpal friend Kelvin from Africa and other assorted players. There’s even an element of organized crime. For Jazz to survive, she must be wary of others and on her guard at all times. One of her best male friends betrayed her and cost her her boyfriend and this has increased her isolation. That male friend is a welcome figure, one who breathes life into the story, adding a touch of humanity. The story is not as riveting as Weir’s other book but it is not without merit. Readers should read it for itself, minus expectations and preconceived notions.

I don't want to be disappointed, but I am. I was excited for this follow up to The Martian which I really loved. It started out well enough with the strong, sassy lead character voice. But the story just wasn't strong enough to back her, and to keep my interest. By the last few chapters of the book I found myself skimming, and still feeling like I wasn't missing much of anything. I hate to think that people might miss out on The Martian because they opted to read this first.

Building on the success of The Martian, Artemis by Andy Weir is a book you want to love. You expect science, adventure, gripping moments, and, of course, humor, just like you experienced in The Martian. Artemis does, in fact, deliver on all of those fronts (at least I’ll have to assume it does since I only made it 15% of the way through on my Kindle before I gave up), but in a way that is so ridiculously similar to Weir’s first breakout success that you might wonder if you’re reading the same book at times.

Not that this is a rehash of The Martian. The setting is different—we’re on the Moon this time instead of Mars and our main character isn’t trapped but living inside a dome that is part of a Moon base. The main character is different as well. Different gender, different ethnicity, different background, though her sarcasm and juvenile humor are so nearly identical to that of Watney’s that you have to wonder if Watney had a sex change.

What really killed this book for me was a combination of the unlikeable main character, Weir’s unsophisticated writing style (which actually worked for The Martian because it was Mark Watney telling the story), and the juvenile humor of a character that is, again, so similar to Watney that maybe it is him just in disguise? I’m kidding, of course. Jazz Bashara is most definitely not Mark Watney, though the author clearly lost sight of that fact when he was writing Artemis.

Jazz is a porter, doing odd jobs for what passes for money on the base. She’s offered the job of a lifetime (with pay to match) which I know from reading the book’s description goes bad so that Jazz finds herself mixed up in a plot for control of the very base. Not an entirely bad premise, but not one that piqued my interest enough to put up with the other factors bringing this one down.

I can’t give Artemis more than one rocket. I didn’t finish it and I see no reason for anyone else to even start it. I do thank the publisher for allowing me to read the book in exchange for a fair review. Better luck next time? I hope so, because I really did want this one to work.

Artemis was a fun novel, but nothing groundbreaking. It wasn't entirely what I was expecting. I wanted to like Jazz, but she felt just a tad bit juvenile. Weir definitely struggled with writing a female lead (versus Watney in The Martian being relatable and funny.) Overall I'd say the story was rough around the edges, and if you're expecting more of The Martian's type writing, this book isn't for you. I'll let it sit a while and listen to the audiobook next year. Maybe Roasario Dawson's voice can spin it better. ***3.5 stars***

I just finished reading Artemis and loved it. While it wasn't as good as his first book "The Martian" but that was partly because it was a different genre. In Artemis Jazz is nothing but trouble. When she was a teen she did everything wrong like most teens. Throughout the book, Jazz is trying to make more money so she can get out of her apartment which is just a space for her to sleep. The book has a mystery going through it for a short time where you are trying to find out who tries to kill her and who killed her friend. There were a few thing that drove me crazy throughout the book was Jazz constantly repeating the same thing over and over about thing not being her fault. Overall the book is one that you don't want to put down till it is over.

I loved The Martian, so when I had the opportunity to read Andy Weir’s new book, I jumped at it. And happily, Artemis didn’t disappoint. Make no mistake, this is in no way related to The Martian, aside from the fact that it’s set in a future where travel between Earth and the moon (and other planets) has become possible. Technology has progressed to the point that it’s become possible for travelers to vacation on the moon, and to live there to provide support for all the services required to service this new travel industry. At heart though, this is a heist novel, where Jazz Bashara is a young woman who has lived on the moon for most of her life - she wasn’t born there, but she doesn’t remember Earth. She has no desire to go back to Earth, and is trying to save money to upgrade her living quarters, but she’s having difficulties getting there when she receives an opportunity to make a lot of money if she can pull off this one little heist. But being a heist novel, of course complications arise.
Like The Martian, Artemis is full of details of what life on the moon could be like, but Weir manages to keep all those details from becoming mind-numbing. They explain how things work, and why Jazz’s mission is so complicated. Jazz is surrounded by interesting characters. It’s fast-paced, exciting, and kept me reading long into the night. I highly recommend this one.
Copy provided by Netgalley and Crown Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review.

I was extremely disappointed in this novel. It seemed as if Weir only wrote it to get a movie deal. The plot was questionable and the twist was disappointing. Jazz deserved a better story and we deserved a better novel.

Reading Artemis is a tricky business. You know there is no way Andy Weir's second novel can be as good as his debut efforts. Yet that does not stop you from hoping that you are wrong, buoying up your expectations only to have them dashed as you realize that you were, unfortunately, right all along.

Some of the problem is that it appears as if Mr. Weir is trying too hard to repeat his success by using a very similar formula to his novel as he did last time. Instinctively, this makes sense. People fell hard for the wise-cracking genius stranded on Mars and the supporting cast of characters on Earth helping him. As is so often the case though, what works one time does not work again. Jazz is no Mark, and the Moon is not Mars. Jazz is neither alone nor struggling to survive in a hostile environment.

You can see where Mr. Weir tries to separate his two heros. Obviously one is a girl. He cuts down on the cussing. He has made Jazz's life as unlike Mark's as possible. Yes, there are still dangers on the Moon, but half of Jazz's problems stem from trying to circumvent the safety procedures and equipment in place to prevent accidents like habitats being breached or people dying from exposure to the vacuum of space. She may be poor, but she has more than Mark ever had at her disposal. That constant threat of life-or-death danger that made Mark's story so compelling is completely missing in Jazz's story.

The other problem comes from Jazz herself. She just is not very interesting. For someone who is in her twenties, she acts like a teenager. Her method of interacting with others is to deliberately bait or mock them. The attitude she exudes to everyone is grating, and you find yourself wishing one of her enemies would catch up to her if only to teach her a lesson. Instead, she bounces from self-induced catastrophe to self-induced catastrophe with seemingly no cares for others. That her rough exterior masks a vulnerable interior is neither a surprise nor all that interesting in the grand scheme.

The science this time around is equally disappointing. Gone are the fascinating chemistry, astronomy, and botany problems. Instead, the novel reads like one long love story to engineering. This means math and physics and more math. I might use math on a daily basis because of my job, but even I draw the line at reading about it in my novels. Plus, I am no engineer. Descriptions of structures, the ways they were built, are shaped, and are kept safe is like reading a car's owner's manual. How many people can say they enjoy that?

On one hand, Artemis falls victim to the dreaded follow-up anticipation generated by the next novel after any rousing success. People are going to be disappointed no matter how low expectations they think they have because there will always be hope that it will be at least as good as that blockbuster. On the other hand, there are some very real problems within Artemis that makes it a disappointment in its own right. A lackluster plot with a mediocre and annoying main character is not going to be successful in any instance. That the two coincide within one novel makes Artemis a novel that is doubly disappointing.

I really enjoyed reading this book and it was difficult to put down. The moon town was well-realized and it was an exciting portrayal of the future of space tourism from the perspective of someone who lives and works in a tourist town of the future.

It's difficult to review this book without making mention of The Martian which felt like a more thought-out and well-plotted book. Whereas both integrate explanations of science, this one felt like it did so more clunkily; it didn't always feel like it was genuine to the character and instead has become a gimmick for the author (though it's worth noting that this is a gimmick I like). I also found some of the portrayal of the main character problematic from a feminist and a cultural point of view. As such, I don't see this getting the classroom adoption that The Martian has potential for, but it was still a very fun read and I have recommended it.

Amazing scifi thriller. Loved the female lead and the action

Jazz Bashara is a petty criminal who has grown up in Artemis, the first and only moon city. She gets drawn into the largest heist of her life and has to seek help from a whole team of friends and allies when things do go as planned.

Things I LOVED: 
- I love that Jazz is technically a citizen of Saudi Arabia and speaks Arabic. Her dad is Muslim and talks about engineering things to help him practice Islam on the moon. Just lovely little inclusion.
- Characters from various countries makes so much sense (I’m used to every character in sci-fi being from the US). There were groups from Hungary, Vietnam, China, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Ukraine, and others. It was so fun to think about how international alliances would allow for this type of travel.
- The seat of lunar power was set in Kenya, and I thought that was so perfect.
- The plot was very twisty and just when you thought something had a clear resolution, something new came to turn it on its head.
- Jazz is a strong and brilliant woman, and she’s not talked down to… much.
- Weir does this thing where he details every aspect of the science behind his tanks and oxygen systems and energy systems and overexplains everything so you believe that this could really happen. I’m not sure I like it. I think it just kind of bores me, but I appreciate that he doesn’t just completely wave away the reality. I want him to be on every sci-fi writing team, though, because he does actually ask “WHY?” And “HOW?” And it shows.

Things I didn’t like:
- Andy Weir’s casual narration styles still irks me. I can’t get over the random jokes and asides the narrators make in his book.
- Jazz’s condescension was much more tolerable than Mark Watney’s, but it was still there. I think it’s just a Weir thing.
- Allusions to Jazz’s sex life happened on like every other page, and I haven’t figured out why. I’m not sure if it was an attempt to show that Jazz is an adult female who can get what she wants, or if it was an attempt to make her desirable for the male readers since she was a female lead, or if it was just a really bizarre type of humor that I missed. I was confused, though?

By the looks of other reviews, I appear to be in the minority. I really enjoyed this book. It engages you immediately from the start, it creates a new interesting environment, and a surprisingly realistic story for a caper on the moon.

I really liked the characters with the exception fully of Jazz (and the reason I am not giving the book 5 stars). I liked how the cast of characters was diverse and strong, and flips around norms of what you would expect from typical nationalities and ethnicities.

Jazz was almost a great character but I do think there was some inner monologue that was off putting and sounded less from a female voice. But she is strong.