Andy Weir does it again! Refreshing space story with all the spacey tech talk but not so overwhelming that it's not easy to understand.

Jazz was hoping to get a fresh start when she decides to move to the moon maybe even move up the proverbial ladder. She comes from a lower caste and starts doing things highly frowned upon to get by. She thinks they are alone on the moon but are they truly? Will she get away with what she's done? I really enjoyed getting to read this book which questions what exactly do you think bad is? Will you stretch your morals?

ARC from NetGalley for a fair & honest review.

This book was everything I hoped it would be, to put it plainly. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Something like The Martian would be difficult to top. This one didn’t top it, in my opinion, but it came pretty close.

It has all the wonderful sciencey science that you’d expect, and hell, if all the science isn’t actually feasible if a city on the moon existed, then it sure sounds like it is. It sounds like it knows what it’s talking about. I have no idea how a welding torch would work in a vacuum, but I’m pretty sure it would work how this book says it’ll work. It’s got all the snark, nerdy humor, and thrills that I hoped for as well.

I started this one thinking that I could read it in short spurts between chores and work and sleep. What happened was me starting it before bed, and then reading until the wee hours, reading until my eyes hurt, and reading until I sort of regretted reading so late because work was creeping up on me… and I ended up doing it all in one huge spurt.

Jazz is a fantastic character, who I wanted to win, even despite the moral grayness in which most of the stuff she does resides. It was refreshing to have the protagonist be an Arab woman. Actually, I loved how multicultural Artemis was depicted, in general. Many cultures on Earth were depicted on the moon in different characters that we meet. My favorite was Rudy, Artemis’ policeman, a former RCMP officer, who is, sometimes (in Jazz’s eyes anyway) more or less Dudley Do-Right. And yet, he isn’t a one-sided or stereotypical character. He’s realistic. I know dudes just like this guy in real life.

There is a mystery unfolding as this book goes, and I couldn’t guess at any of it. I got blindsided several times as more and more of the plot was revealed. I’m usually a good guesser, but this one blinded me (usually with science, as it happens). It really did keep me on the metaphorical edge of my seat. It certainly kept me awake long enough to finish it despite being tired, so make of that what you will.

Definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year, so it’s pretty safe to say that this one is definitely worth your time! If you liked The Martian, or if you like science or space in general, you will very probably like Artemis.

It has been a while so I was scanning through NetGalley to see what's new and I came across a new book by Andy Weir (aka the guy that wrote The Martian aka that book I love [well I mean, one of many BUT STILL, it's up there]), Artemis. So of course I requested it and was lucky enough to get a copy in exchange for a review.

First thing first, Artemis isn't The Martian. I mean, obviously. Different plot and all. But it's not an instant favorite for me like The Martian was. That would have been incredible if he could have pulled that off again. I was excited to start this but still tried to temper my expectations knowing I could easily set them way too high. I'm glad I kept that in mind because I did enjoy this book.

So with that disclaimer, here's what the story is about. I should also point out that I did NOT read a description before starting. I was doing jumping in and trusting whatever Weir did would be entertaining.

There's a city on the moon. It's sometime in the future (somewhere around 50-100 years from now. Maybe) and there's been a functioning moon city for what seems to be about 20 years. Jazz Bashara has grown up in the city since she was 6 and works as a porter, delivering packages around the city. And maaaaaaaybe some of these packages aren't exactly legal but what city doesn't have a least a little bit of smuggling going on. And it's not like the stuff is dangerous. No drugs or weapons. Just things like cigars for an eccentric billionaire. She's got debts to pay, don't judge.

Jazz is living in tiny quarters, keeping expenses down, and committing some light crime to save up some money. So when one of her clients offers her all the money she's saving for and more, for a little bit of sabotage, well, she can't pass that up.

Things don't go as planned (do they ever? Of course not, cos if they did you'd have no book), stakes are raised, conspiracies revealed, etc. etc. And there's science. A lot of science. Space science.

Weir should be commended for the cast he's created. It's not all white dudes. There's actually very few of those. Or I mean, few compared to other media where they are, just, all the people. If the cast had been mostly white men that would have stuck out. Artemis (the name of the moon city) is a global collaboration, headquartered out of Kenya. Jazz and her father are originally from Saudi Arabia and while Jazz doesn't seem very religious anymore her father is still a practicing Muslim. There are characters from Russian, Brazil, Norway, Kenya, Ukraine, all over. The characters seem pretty evenly split between men and women. Not all of the characters are straight (and those that are gay have more personality traits than just "are gay"). So WELL DONE THERE, SIR. He ever made sure in the acknowledgements to thank people who helped him when writing a female Muslim character from Saudia Arabia, a person he most definitely is not.

And beyond that, the story is interesting. I was engaged, there was SUSPENSE and some mystery. And yeah, a lot of science explanations that sometimes worked well and sometimes felt like a little too much exposition. But I skimmed over most of those because while I like the idea of that stuff in here, in practice I do not need the details explained to me. I believe you. That's not saying I necessarily think those should be taken out. This is a thing that works for him and there's definitely an audience for it. I am just not it, but I am able to enjoy the rest of the book.

Overall though, when compared to The Martian, it's just slightly less. There's less humor (though there are funny moments), the stakes feel lower, the danger less immediate, the science explanations a bit more shoved in. It's all still there and perhaps it's unfair to compare one book to another but too bad, I'm doing it anyway.

Overall, I liked. Would recommend and probably read again, although it unfortunately does not reach the same levels as The Martian which I will love forever and sort of want to reread again right now.

I was a bit apprehensive starting Artemis. Although I had found The Martian funny, I felt like it wasn't a story aimed in my direction. While science fiction should have some "believability," I am not a reader who needs it worked out to the nth degree. I will suspend my disbelief for quite a lot, and don't need too many details on how the potatoes are grown.

However, while Artemis is still full of Weir's explanations as to how this whole Moon colony could be possible, I think the fact that his main character, Jazz, wasn't stranded alone on the Moon helped significantly. Weir excels at quick, witty dialogue a la Aaron Sorkin. Jazz's interactions with other characters over the course of her heist were enjoyable and countered the technical-description-heavy moments.

One concern throughout the story is Weir's characterization of how a woman would behave and describe herself. I wasn't too put off by some of the comments, but it was distracting and made me hyper-aware that it was a male author trying to adopt a woman's voice and failing.

I would recommend Artemis to any fans of the Transformers or lovers of hard science fiction with a wicked sense of humor.

It's really impossible not to make comparisons between Andy Weir's new novel, Artemis, and his prior blockbuster, The Martian. The protagonist here lacks the hero quality of The Martian's Watney but possesses his brilliance and humor. Jazz is the genius that could have done anything, but refused. Instead of an extreme tale of survival, there's an extreme caper gone horribly awry. The plot is even more tightly crafted and accelerates to a breakneck speed. Weir appears to be creating a whole new fiction genre, the believable and scientifically sound sci-fi thriller. It wasn't a genre I was aware that we needed; but having had a two tastes, I now need more.

Thanks to NetGalley for making an advance reading copy available for an unbiased review.

Let me start by saying that I didn’t read or see The Martian. From what I’ve heard, it was kind of literary SF.

Artemis is decidedly not literary SF.

It’s Ocean’s Eleven on the Moon. Seriously, it’s a lunar heist novel featuring a main character who acts like a teenager. (Quite honestly, for the longest time I thought she was maybe 17 years old, tops. I was shocked when I found out her actual age.) You’ve got a running condom joke and space hijinks aplenty.

Was any of this in the Martian???

The SF itself was excellent. The author put a lot of effort into his moon colony, the politics and the situations between the Earth and the Moon, and the actual science behind much of what happens.

I just hated the story (and Jazz…I hated Jazz).


I’m not sure what readers of The Martian might think. They may enjoy this more lighthearted foray into space. But for me, it was a marginal read.

If you liked The Martian, you'll almost certainly like this book as well.

I loved the lived-in lunar setting, the fast-moving plot, and the array of secondary characters who fleshed out the story.

I didn't love Jazz. I think I'm over the acerbically fun slacker who is also a genius as a character trope. It's hard not to like a character whose stream-of-consciousness is your point of view for the story, but the protagonist (and other characters' reactions to her actions) required more suspension of disbelief than I'm used to granting to the character side of a story.

That said, if you can get past the character quibbles, you get a really fun heist adventure on the moon. It's well worth a read!

(I received an e-book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

Andy Weir's follow up to The Martian is a great moon heist book featuring a new character, Jazz, a 26 porter/smuggler who lives on the first moon base, Artemis. I think my customers will enjoy this new book which not only has an exciting plot but lots of real science thrown in. I personally enjoy a good space mystery and this will appeal to my customers who love mysteries as well as a good sci-fi book.

Jazz is a young woman in her 20s making her way in the restricted economy of the community of Artemis on the moon in the near future. People either work for the Kenyan Space Center, which financed the colonization effort with domes and infrastructure, or for the industries of aluminum smelting and of tourism that bring in income to support the infrastructure. Jazz has her own porter business, transporting shipments and equipment from site to site, but soon hopes to getting better pay as a guide for EVA tours of the surface and the Armstrong landing. If she can pass her license for the guild. We start off with her experience of flunking a field test by breaking rules in creative problem solving for survival that can remind you of one Mark Watney during his solo career as “The Martian.”

Soon enough their commonality in can-do capability under pressure diverges. Along with a different gender issue, she is from a Saudi family and was raised on the moon speaking Arabic with her family. Weir’s projection of the multicultural involvement with his microcosm of a society on a moon colony gave some extra depth to his tale. Certain industries get dominated by one culture, like Jazz’s father being among the Saudi group doing welding or Vietnamese descendants mostly the ones in control of life support. The attention to realistic social details of this community was a worthy addition to the practical engineering focus that Jazz and Watney alike put to use living where only your equipment and space suit fabric keep you from the vacuum and killing cold all around you. Another plus is her likeable balance of self-deprecation and cockiness, not too far from Watney’s, but with humor is less sophomoric and not so irritatingly snarky.

The tale that unfolds for our hero has a bit of a foundation in the painful class differences within this society. On her travels for her work, Jazz experiences the luxurious apartments and lifestyles of the rich businessmen and corporate heirs and the fancy hotels for the wealthy tourists. Jazz has been on her own since becoming estranged from her father over some dangerous teen excesses that caused a fire. She is a bit oppressed living in what she calls a coffin, having to use a communal bathroom and kitchen, and eating mostly flavored Gunk, the underclass term for the locally produced algae product ithat fits their budget. To make a better nest egg for a better future, she adds delivery of contraband such as alcohol, Dominican cigars, and luxury foods from the smuggling industry to her business. The Kenyan administrator of the colony and the one policeman working for her tolerate minor smuggling. But at one point Jazz gets an offer of a lot of money for a job that does something to help one business over another. This job is a lot more dangerous in terms of criminal risk and physical challenge, but the payoff is sweet, poor people are not harmed, and the technical challenges required for success stoke her ego over her ability pull off such an audacious caper.

The true fun for the reader comes from all the creative problem solving Jazz pulls off for the job that I keep undisclosed. I’ll only hint that there is a lot of outside EVA activity, wizardry in using robots and communication systems, application of knowledge to blow things up, and stagecraft in fakery or assuming different pretended roles. But things always go wrong because of the unexpected, and she has to tap deep into that Watney talent of improvising and overcoming. Who knew that the scheme she is abetting would unmask the operations of a large -scale conspiracy tied to the future control of the colony? As the near debacle toward the end looks to fall on her shoulders, she looks desperately to find the right friends in high places. One could imagine her reappearing in a sequel to this engaging adventure.

This book was provided for review by the publisher through the Netgalley program.

Andy Weir is famous for his book/movie "The Martian" and his second book does not disappoint! The setting is Artemis, a city on the moon and the main character is a young woman who is a smuggler and a courier trying to eek out a living on the moon. Adventure unfolds as Jazz (short for Jasmine) is asked to do a different sort of job by the millionaire she smuggles Cuban cigars in for. He asks her to sabotage the mining operation that provides silicon for glass production,aluminum for construction and a by-product of oxygen that supplies the city's entire oxygen requirements all because he wants to take over the oxygen supply. She works out a plan but several calamities befall and all is not what it seems and Jazz must risk her life to save the city that is her home.
This is a fast paced rip-roaring adventure from start to the nail-biting finish ! I thoroughly enjoyed the new character and the story and look forward to more adventures from Andy Weir!!!!

I really enjoyed this. It was well thought out. I did not feel that it had the heartbeat racing storyline that The Martian did, but it was still very good. Jazz made me laugh out loud with some of the things she comes up with! When you have to stop and share a line with the rest of your family, so they know why you're laughing out loud, you know it's good.

I loved The Martian, but Andrew Weir hits a bit of a sophomore slump here. I'm glad I stuck with it, though, as it ended up a great read, but it took too long to get into it and I had to work to overcome my dislike of his protagonist, Jazz Bashara. Nevertheless, this will make for another great movie.

If you loved Weir’s humor, scientific explanations, and wonderful characters, then stop reading and just go get this book. That’s really all you need to know. But if you haven’t had any experience with Weir, then go out and also get The Martian. If you’re still not convinced, and don’t worry no offense taken - some people just need a little more, then keep reading.

I love a good book with maps, and even though Artemis takes place on the moon, Weir gives us some phenomenal detailed maps, which I love for their real quality. But after the maps, what further enchants me, is Weir’s narration style. I think this is part Weir and part the main character, Jazz, but it is witty, quick, and hilarious. There is a genuine sarcastic quality, but also a deep compassion that Jazz has.

But Weir doesn’t stop there. He makes science feel approachable to you - making the science of the moon and atmosphere come alive. Not only that, but Weir’s writing is both entertaining here, and also has a great quality. And for Weir’s plot. It is imaginative and has all the qualities of a heist-type novel here. There is underground dealings, subterfuge, and corporate secrets. Now that you’ve read more about it, are you convinced yet? Pick this book up and you will see what I mean.

Jazz Bashara, the main character in Andy Weir's new novel, ARTEMIS, is one of my favorite characters so far this year (along with Eleanor and Polly from ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE and THE BOOK OF POLLY)! She is a fully realized character, snarky and strong willed. Her inner dialogue and interactions with other characters are hilarious at times. The author does a great job of revealing what life would be like on a moon colony and I enjoyed the descriptions of how everything worked. Jazz is what I'd call an "anti-hero" in fiction, and kudos to the author, as these characters are usually male. She has no problem breaking the law, if she'll make money, but she also has standards. Her desire for a better life on Artemis causes her to make some questionable decisions, but this is what drives the plot. I found the story fascinating and entertaining - exactly what I look for in fiction. I ordered two copies for my collection, but I think the holds will be high enough to justify buying more. Well done!

No matter what Andy Weir did for his second novel, it was a forgone conclusion that he wasn’t going to duplicate the success of The Martian. The peculiar upward trajectory of that phenomenon – from a free web serial to best-selling 99 cent ebook to exponentially bigger print bestseller to award winning blockbuster film – simply cannot be repeated.
Don’t get me wrong, Artemis is going to sell a lot of books. Weir has a name now and a legion of dedicated fans who salivate over his marriage of procedural hard sci-fi and old-fashioned story tropes. It’ll sit atop the bestseller lists for a while. The movie will get made, and will probably even be a hit. With Artemis, Weir doesn’t try to regenerate the underdog survival story that resonated so deeply with The Martian’s readers and audience, instead spinning an Ocean’s Eleven-type crime caper on the moon. This decision will likely whittle his readership down considerably to those who were attracted to the detail obsessed techno-savvy, sarcastic humor and science-based suspense of his first novel, and weed out those who were primarily in it for the survival-against-all-odds emotional catharsis.
Weir does something admirable in his approach to Artemis that I think bears mentioning. In the typical golden age sci-fi narrative, ingenuity and advanced problem-solving skills were the exclusive providence of the blue-blooded American straight white cis-male. While The Martian recycled that convention, it also suggested that the world was more than just America and that heroes don’t always have to be white dudes. In Artemis, Weir makes good on that suggestion by reversing the old standard: the white guys are relegated to supporting/sidekick type roles while an international, multi-ethnic cast of characters takes center stage. His new hero is an Arab woman who basically serves the same function that Mark Whatney served in The Martian – being the author’s vehicle for overcoming obstacles using acquired scientific knowledge, reasoning skills and on-your-toes thinking.
Jazz Bashara, a Saudi-born but moon-raised woman, lives in the only city on the moon – the titular Artemis. She’s a small-time criminal who has a monopoly over Artemis’ smuggling trade, but manages to stay on the right side of the law by being ethical and keeping more unsavory criminal enterprises from muscling their way in. A too-good-to-pass-up deal comes her way involving the sabotage of some mining equipment, but when it goes south she finds herself having to hide from some very dangerous people and take an even bigger risk to set things right.
Artemis is a “take the good with the bad” kind of experience. I’m not a fan of Weir’s sense of humor – the relentlessly sarcastic tone of the novel wore down on me as it went along, and some of the lowbrow jokes border on offensive. Interpersonal relationships and conflicts are also not among Weir’s strongest attributes, and there is much more of that here than there was in his previous novel. Weir’s writing is unsteady when trying to find an emotional center for his protagonist; he will often negate a nice dramatic beat by following with a frustratingly opaque one. However, his methodical approach to plotting is still compulsively readable – like an episode of CSI in space – so when he gets down to business there is plenty of fun to be had. Overall, Artemis is an enjoyable, if low-gravity, experience.

So much fun! Laugh out loud, intellectually stimulating (could the reader anticipate problems with the engineering etc.).

I will not be recommending this to as many younger readers as The Martian - which I handsold to many tweens and teens - due to the gratuitous sexual references. But for older teens and adults, this was a treat!

Grabbed me from the first scene, which was a good thing because it slowed down quite a bit for exposition. I did feel the main character seemed to be written as younger than her age (more 18-20 than 26), but I loved Jazz and all of her flaws.

I especially liked the international flavour of the characters. Why couldn't Kenya be the driving force for a lunar colony?

Artemis will be an easy sell for the holiday season. Thank you for allowing me to read it early, and to generate interest with my colleagues and customers.

ARTEMIS by Andy Weir was an interesting read for a non-science fiction follower. My husband and many friends read THE MARTIAN and loved it so I wanted to give this author a try. I'll state up front that I did not read THE MARTIAN so I can't make any comparisons between the two and also, that I typically do not read this type of book.

With that in mind, I enjoyed this novel. In fact, I couldn't put it down once I crossed the halfway point. I found the detail appropriately extensive which occurs when the author needs you to visualize something that you have never seen or doesn't really exist. It's hard to root for a main character that is so flawed and I struggled with that through the first half of the novel but I appreciated and applauded the way the book actually ended. I expect that fans of science fiction and Andy Weir would enjoy this latest novel.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think Andy Weir is a genius, original, and funny! Jazz is a 26 year old woman that lives on the moon since she was 6. The place is called Artemis, her job: porter (with a little smuggling on the side) I think Jazz is one of my favorite characters, she is brilliant and funny like Mark Watney but, she is on the wrong side of the law! When Jazz found a way to earn money so she could afford an apartment, her entire plan goes “wrong” !Fast paced, very funny and very entertaining. I highly recommend!!

This is a heist caper with a heavy dose of science defining the parameters of the job, because it takes place on the moon.

Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara is 26, and a “porter” on Artemis, the only city on the moon. For her job, she has clearance to pick up packages at the port and deliver them, allowing her to run a lucrative smuggling business on the side. She is trying to accumulate a great deal of money - in fact, a very specific amount of “slugs” as the moon currency is called: 416,922, to be exact, though we don’t learn why until near the end of the book.

But even aside from this mysterious debt, Jazz wants most of all to be rich, though she is very smart and everyone keeps telling her she is wasting her potential. When she is offered the job of a big heist by Trond Landvik, “one of the richest richfucks in town,” for example, and she asks him why he wants *her* to do it, he says:

“‘Jazz, I’m a businessman,’ he said. ‘My whole job is exploiting underutilized resources. And you are a massively underutilized resource. I’m not judging,’ he said. ‘Just analyzing. You’re really smart and you want money. I need someone who’s really smart and I have money. Are you interested?’”

At first she is not, but when he offers her a million slugs for the job, she jumps on it.

The heist will require sabotaging the robotic harvesters at the Sanchez Aluminum plant, after which Trond will be in a position to take over the operation. The aluminum market is currently not such a big deal now that the city’s pods are finished, but the plant’s smelter outside town also produces oxygen from processing ore. They not only make rocket fuel on the side, they supply the city with all of their breathable air. They also sell the CO2 to the food farms. Yet there is something more going on that has made Trond interested in this plant; Jazz can’t figure out (yet) what it is.

Jazz has a number of friends she calls on for help with the heist (most not knowing what they are helping her with), even including her email pen pal from Earth, Kelvin Otieno. On the moon she gets help from, inter alia, the best electrical engineer in town; a specialist in space walking; her father - an expert welder; and even a robot. There will be many obstacles, not even counting the very hostile lunar environment outside the protection of the city’s aluminum walls.

What could go wrong? Well, just about everything.

Discussion: Weir said in an interview he did “tons and tons of research” for this book, and it certainly shows. He wanted to make it accurate, even though the details of the heist are only secondary to the plot. He said:

“My strength is scientific knowledge — that's what I'm good at. So that is the avenue by which I tell plausible stories. There are a million ways to make a good story, and this is just the one I've chosen.”

What this means however, is that, to me, while the parts about the science behind the caper clearly show his enthusiasm and excitement, I found the character-driven sections less convincing.

I appreciated his efforts to make the population of the moon diverse, and even to tackle the challenge of making his protagonist a female. But I didn’t find Jazz’s “wise-ass” persona all that convincing. She seemed more like a cigar-chomping, hard-drinking mobster than a girl who loves and respects her father, is interested in a long-term love relationship, and even seems sort of lonely -or would, if Weir delved into any of her feelings to a greater extent.

Evaluation: In spite of my quibbles with characterization, there is a lot to like about this new book from the talented author of “The Martian.” It’s entertaining, and undoubtedly will end up on the big screen.

I want to start by saying I was beyond excited to read this book. I absolutely loved The Martian; I could not put it down. I don't always read science fiction because I feel lost when it gets too technical. But Andy Weir seems to make science fiction accessible for all readers. This book was no different, I still felt like I understood what was going on even when it got technical.
This book is based on a future colonized moon, called Artemis. Jazz is a smuggler of contraband who is the only person who spent most of her life on the moon. She is smart, savvy, hilarious to the point of me laughing out loud at things she said. Even though her job is technically illegal, she still stands by a code of honor; no drugs, no guns. She loves Artemis and knows what's best for the community. Jazz is made an offer of 1,000,000 slugs (moon dollars) to do a job that takes a lot of risk and will take down a company. She takes the job but, of course, as stories go, everything doesn't go as planned.
This book had all the parts to equal a wonderful story but somewhere along the way this book fell flat for me. For example, I didn't understand what purpose the letters to Kelvin and Jazz served. Unless I missed something, I felt they didn't add to the storyline at all. I felt there was times I was very interested in what was happening but then 20% of the time, I was just outright bored. It seemed more YA to me then I expected, even though the main character was mid 20s. I can't pinpoint what I didn't necessarily enjoy, I was just overall disappointed.
That being said, I think this is my personal opinion and I can absolutely see how someone else could really enjoy this story but for me it was just ok.