Artemis
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: sci-fi, mystery, action
Buy from: Amazon, B&N Signed Copy
After the success of his first work: The Martian, it is not surprising that Andy goes on to produce another sci-fi space mission book. And of course, I had to request it from Netgalley, and lucky me that Australia has its own books to request *squee*
Artemis stars Jasmine, or Jazz Bashara. Yes, she’s a kickass girl living on the moon. Not only a daughter to a highly respected welder, she is also a smuggler and she does anything for slugs.
[su_spoiler title=”what is slug?”]Soft- Landed- Gram (SLG) is called slug and is the Artemisian currency. As the moon does not have its own currency, SLG is actually allowance for you to import stuff from Earth[/su_spoiler]
At first glance, I find her intriguing. I mean she has spunk and a lofty goal of getting rich. But reading on, she becomes more and more of a mystery to me. Jazz is fixated on an odd amount of money, but she also has a code. More importantly, she is very resourceful. Like his first character Mark Watney’s level of resourcefulness. Then a murder happens on the moon, and she becomes one of the suspects in so many levels.
Characters
Jazz has the spunk and a strong will to earn money or slugs as they call in on the moon. She should have been raking it in, being a daughter of a welder, and being trained by her father. But something happened and Jazz lives in slum trying to earn enough money. This situation makes up a large part of the premise and affects a lot of her decision making.
Like, a lot.
There are obvious villains, like the guy who tries to kill her, and the hidden ones. Some are not directly involved, but was ready to push her under some dangerous machinery if things go sour. I cannot say under a bus, there are no bus on the moon.
Her friends are loyal, to say the least, snarky like her and makes good reading. A lot of snarky, unhappy people on the moon.
Story
I think Andy Weir does not do multiple characters very well. He does it decently of course, but I think he would have been more successful if he made Jazz have less friends? It’s just me of course, I’m mean like that. The situation is complicated enough, and the characters struggles to shine with all the running around and a threat looming on their heads.
A lot of things done well, such as the idea of living on the moon, and how it would look like if we ever do migrate there. And a nice touch on the history of Artemis, masterfully done. If I have an author hero, it will be Andy Weir.
Verdict
I like a lot of things about Artemis, Jazz is not one of them. The story would make a great movie, hopefully it is as successful as The Martian. Another great space story, featuring a person facing great adversity, and coming out stronger.
Special thanks to Netgalley for this ARC, because now I can boast that I have read something cool for the year.
Artemis is coming out in Nov! Andy Weir has done it again! Share on XCopyright © 2017 Ailyn Writes. All Rights Reserved.
I still need to read The Martian but I did see the movie. Oh I do think I need to try this one.
oh.. the movie is pretty close to the book. I prefer the book can feel the emotions and fear better =d Matt Damon did a good job but i’m just a reader
This is the first review for Artemis that I have seen. I am glad you enjoyed it even if it had a few issues. Great review!
ah,it is good despite “issues” I loved it
I skimmed since I will be listening to this. It will be interesting to see if the audio enhances those friends.
hopefully, would be interesting right?