No hint of the difficult second book here - fabulous from start to finish with a strong, believable female lead. This was a real caper set on the moon and I found it a great thriller and an utter page turner. Great additions of science to the narrative which were explained within the text plausibly. I liked the character progression too,

Artemis is the new book from Andy Weir that is due out 14th November 2017, I was lucky enough to be given the chance due to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK / Ebury Publishing to read an advanced copy.

Artemis follows Jazz Bashara who lives on the first and only city on the Moon. The place was built for rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire, which Jazz is not one of. She is one of the working class people who help keep Artemis running. Her job of a porter doesn't pay well so she smuggles in some contraband on the side to help pay her bills.

Jazz is a small time criminal,  who is given the chance to make a lot of money to commit the perfect crime. The perfect crime isn't easy to pull off, and she has stepped into the middle of a battle for control of Artemis, now her only chance to survive is to pull off a bigger and more complex crime than before.

The story was amazing, Artemis is a non-stop and the story went into a direction I would never of guessed. The book also parts of the story gave me the Ocean 11 feeling which I loved.

This is the first book that I have read that the description of the location where Jazz lives and it made me feel claustrophobic.  I am not normally claustrophobic in real life but I couldn't live there.

Jazz as a character is really interesting, you immediately warm to her. Jazz is funny, smart and sarcastic, she has a mouth that will get her into trouble.  In the book focus on the current storyline but we have an email conversation between Jazz and a friend back on earth called Kelvin where we find out more about Jazz past and how she ends up in this situation.

This book is a must read for the year.

I give this book 5 out of 5

The Martian has become one of my favourite books, so Artemis had a lot to live up to. Andy Weir’s combination of great story telling and accurate science/technical details is very appealing to me.
The story itself was interesting and kept a fast pace all the way through. Would thoroughly recommend (I already have infact) and will definitely read again once it is released. It’s not quite beaten the Martian for me, but maybe after a few more reads it will be onto my favourites shelf.
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Artemis is a colony/city built on the moon near to the first apollo moon landing, a tourist destination for the mega rich, and an industrial hub providing products at a premium price. Jazz has lived there from the age of 6 with her father a Saudi welder who has an established business and is well respected. Jazz and her father are rather estranged mainly due to Jazz not wishing to follow in the family business, she is obviously extremely bright but has somehow lost her way and now does exactly what she wants to make a living, using dubious methods mainly smuggling in various items for whoever will pay her well.
Although she appears to be just surviving she has dreams of a brighter future. She agrees to do a totally illegal job for a billionaire businessman after he offers her 1 million 'slugs' (moon currency) and so starts the real excitement of this book, if you're totally into the science of living on the moon then this is for you, if not don't worry this is still the book to read, it takes you on a rollercoaster of a ride, a fresh brilliant read, and Jazz...what a heroine, one of the best characters I've met in a book for a long while.
Well done Mr Weir, and thank you.
My thanks to net galley and publisher for opportunity to review this book honestly.

Being a big fan of The Martian novel and loosely following the author's meteoric rise, I was over the moon (no pun intended) getting the chance to read an advance copy of his second book. For the most part, I really enjoyed Artemis. I was happy to be back in Weir's world of sci-fi, and even more pleased with the diverse cast, especially the Saudi Arabian lead, Jasmine 'Jazz' Bashara. The city of Artemis seems like a mini Star Trek, with many ethnicities and religions represented in a brave, tolerant new world.
Unfortunately for me, sometimes Jazz as a narrator fell flat. Though it hearkens back to the casual, conversational and often sarcastic voice that made Mark Watney seem relatable and very human during his stay on Mars, this tone feels far more forced for Jazz, who seems to only speak in pithy one liners. She comes across as very one dimensional, her dialogue often hamfisted in an effort to remain clever, and she is occasionally eclipsed by other characters who seem to have a bit more depth. There is also some reliance on correspondence again, similar to the journal logs that were kept throughout The Martian, to fill in gaps and move the story along. Depending on letters for a second novel seems like lazy storytelling. It made sense for a man all alone on a planet, but in this instance, less so.
Artemis is not a bad book- far from it, I quite enjoyed it and I look forward to the next installment that the ending alludes to. I simply hope that the author can find a way to break free of the success of his debut, to make the city of Artemis as fresh and distinctive as the people who inhabit it.

I am not sure if this is a young adult book or an adult book because it seems to me anyway that it is perfectly geared towards the teenage market to get more kids into scifi.

Anyway Jasmine aka Jazz is a porter, she does odd jobs for people, takes things from one place to another and smuggles in things that people want. Oh and she lives on the Moon.

People have colonised the Moon and Jazz has lived there since she was 6. She lives in a tiny cubicle that she cant stand up in and lives under the ground. The city on the Moon is called Artemis. There are 5 golf ball shaped domes on the surface that are linked together by tunnels, they are names after famous astronauts, but most of Artemis is beneath the surface, layers upon layers of trades, shops, living quarters etc.

One of Jazz's clients offers her a deal, he will pay her a million slugs (moon currency) to sabotage something so that he can gain control of it for the better of the moon and Jazz agrees because its a lot of money and she needs it for something important. So off she goes to do the dirty deed but inadvertently puts not only her life, but the life of everyone on the moon at risk.

A really great read, i literally didn't put it down, i stayed up for hours at a time when i really should of been sleeping, and munched my way through a 150g bag of crisps, a large 190g bar of chocolate and far too much coffee because i was incapable of leaving it as i had to find out what happened.

For those of you that read the Martian and thought this was going to be similar, it isnt, in fact its better, and it would make an incredible film, but i think this would make a brilliant tv series. Maybe something for Amazon or Syfy to commission.

I was genuinely interested in the secondary characters, Dale and Tyler have an entire book of stories to tell, and even grouchy Rudy and Bob and Lene could all have their own books. The book was laugh out loud funny and i was sat there chuckling away especially over the condom issue lol

There are so many great characters that this could be the start of a series, it was too good for it to be a stand alone, there are many stories to tell, too many good characters to just let lie, so i hope that Andy writes more so on that note this should be retitled to Artemis - Moon series Book 1, he could even name the other books after the domes, Armstrong, Aldrin etc etc please write them Andy, but do Dale and Tylers book next :)

Loved it!

Just like 'The Martian', this book was unputdownable - I polished it off overnight and immediately wanted to start it all over again. Unlike Andy Weir's previous book, 'Artemis' follows a crime-solving storyline set on the moon, drawing on the staggering problem-solving and creative thinking that made 'The Martian' such a hit.

Jazz is an instantly likable main character - a witty, sarcastic genius who has no problem making friends (or enemies). I loved the support network she ends up relying on (despite her fiercely independent nature) and the fast banter between them perfectly matches the faster-than-light pace of the book.

Not a science buff, I nonetheless really enjoyed the trademark Weir doses of intense chemistry, physics, astrophysics, maths and everything else in between. They tie together the story as a whole and help to make it more believable and cohesive - it's very easy for sci-fi novels to jump to magic resolutions which can leave the reader feeling left behind and confused, but it's safe to say that's not the case with 'Artemis'.

I cannot recommend this book enough. For me, it's a great book to introduce to people who haven't read sci-fi before, and in a busy market 'Artemis' stands out as unique, fresh and insanely clever

I loved The Martian, Andy Weir's debut novel, and I totally fell in love with it's plucky protagonist, Mark Watney. When I got the opportunity to review his sophomore effort Artemis, I was beyond excited. Did it live up to me admittedly high expectations? yes and no.

Jazz Bashara is a young woman who has lived in Artemis, a city on the moon, for 20 years. Despite having a huge intellect, she lacks conventional ambition and instead works as a porter while running a small smuggling concern, supplying contraband for the Artemesian rich. Never one to refuse a good deal, Jazz accepts a very illegal contract from a Scandinavian multimillionaire to destroy a smelting company in return for a cool one million slugs (local currency). She soon gets involved with the lunar authorities and organised crime and before long the lives of everyone in Artemis are in jeopardy.

This is a light thriller which just happens to be set in space. For me, the best science fiction is character driven and the story could be transplanted from space to earth with few differences. Weir achieves this perfectly. Yes, there is a lot of science and technology in the story. Some of it I understood, most of it I just accepted. The science is never dry and the author does his best to make it accessible without patronising the reader.

One of the standout features of The Martian was the perky, indefatigable character of the protagonist and Weir pulls this off again. Jazz is likeable, a rascal rather than a rogue. However, I can't help but feel that her voice is too similar to Mark Watney's and that perhaps too much of the author's own voice is leeching into his prose.

Artemis has a cracking plot and well drawn characters with a very likeable narrator, so you'd think this would be a five star read. Alas, no. There is one major problem with this book that spoiled my enjoyment. In The Martian, a first person narration, Watney speaks to the reader via his audio journal. The fourth wall stays intact. In Artemis, however, we have another first person narrator who repeatedly crashes through that fourth wall by chatting to us as if she is telling us the story over a beer. While this was at first just mildly annoying, in the setting of a thriller it rather removes the belief that Jazz is ever in real danger as she would have to survive in order for her to tell us the story in the way she does. There is an argument that the tone of the book is light enough that we could infer that main characters are ultimately safe, but people do die and, for me, there is an imbalance in tone.

Ultimately, this is a cracking read. Will I read Weir's next book? Yes, I think I will. But I'll be hoping that it will be written in the third person or narrated by a character who is oblivious to the reader.

(My review will be published on November 14th)

Enjoyable, but I must say I didn't enjoy it quite as much as The Martian (sorry but it's hard not to compare!). This book was interesting on many levels - the heroine is a young Muslim welder/engineer/physics genius with a foul mouth, and the setting on Artemis moonbase and its population was fascinating. Now I'm sure Mr Weir knows his stuff, but the chemistry/physics parts went straight over my head most of the time, but nevertheless was interesting. I can see a sequel to this (don't want to give spoilers) as Jazz was an engaging character - although I thought her every other word being 'shit' devalued her a little.

Review of an advance digital copy from the publisher.

Artemis is the first city on the moon, and from the outside it looks like a cluster of 'shiny boobs', apparently. Jazz is an intelligent young woman who is morally...complicated. She lives in Artemis and works as a freight porter and part-time smuggler. She is always looking for ways to make some extra 'slugs', and things go from bad to worse when she signs up for a very dodgy and dangerous job for Artemis' resident billionaire.

As with The Martian there is another likeable, snarky main character and a fair bit of slightly juvenile humour. That is where the similarities end though. This book doesn't have the knicker gripping peril of The Martian and the tone is all together lighter and more fun.

Silly sci-fi nonsense, in the nicest way possible, with definite movie potential.

I really really wanted to love this. I adored the Martian and loved Andy Weirs writing....
but.... I really don't like sci fi. The Martian was a such a breakout of genre book, to so many it wasn't sci fi, and I think anyone who rarely reads that genre may well struggle stir his because this is not a breakout genre book to me.

Didn't gel with the main character, really struggled with who al, the other characters were, and unlike the Martian where I didn't understand the science but it didn't matter,.... it did matter in this. Because I was permanently confused and thus didn't really care.

Artemis is the first city on the moon. The inhabitants have left behind much of the legal red-tape associated with earth and its many countries and boundaries, but even in a group of two thousand, there’ll be a few below the level of the law. Jazz Bashara is one such. She’s a smuggler and determined to get rich. Someone presents her with a way but it doesn’t go to plan.

As with Andy Weir’s much acclaimed first novel, The Martian, a great deal of this story involves ingenious problem-solving, which I found enjoyable. I also liked the up-front feistiness of the lead character, though she did keep emphasising her female characteristics, no doubt because she was written by a man who doesn’t have those. We take them for granted! The character interplay interested me and was quite thought-provoking so even though this is largely a science fiction adventure romp, it’s not shallow by any means. Artemis was worth the wait!

I will add the review (under the name Ignite) to Amazon dot com and dot co dot uk on publication, and to my blog.

So after the phenomenon that was "The Martian" Andy Weir strikes again with this novel, Artemis, set on the moon, with a bang on brilliant main protagonist (again) - Jazz is funny, not necessarily always a "good guy" but always fascinating and full of frolic and I loved her. Unlike poor Mark Watney the hero of The Martian, Jazz has plenty of company and the genius writing of Mr Weir brings the whole cast to brilliant life, adds in his what is sure to become trademark scientific whatnot and brings us a brilliant adventure full of thrills and random odd amusing moments. Plus a whole lot of Jazz. Yes the name lends itself to that sorry!

I will of course do a full review nearer the publication date on the blog and probably by shrieking quite a bit on Twitter - but for those of you who loved The Martian don't hesitate to add this to your lists. You won't be disappointed. If you haven't read The Martian yet then add both to your lists (why not?) even if you have seen the movie the book brings so much more. If this kind of thing is not YOUR kind of thing then why not try something different. You'll get a ravishingly good story and a lot of reading joy.

Highly Recommended.