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.

A wonderfully written, captivating adventure for reader an young and old.

I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this quite a bit! The main character, Jazz, is hilarious and such a fantastic choice for a narrator. Usually first-person PoV turns me off slightly but her voice was interesting. I'd love to be friends with her; she's a rockstar of a character. She's edgy, smart, a bit shady, independent, and just about everything I love in a female lead.

I'm still new to the science fiction genre. Grappling with the logistical differences of living on the Moon were tricky for me but it didn't hinder my enjoyment much. It made me hyper-aware of every possible plot-device so it took some of the mystery out of the action but I didn't mind at all.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who:
- wants to ease into the science fiction genre
- is looking for a story with a strong female lead
- is looking for an adventure!

Jazz Bashara lives on the moon. She wasn't born there, children under a certain age aren't allowed to live on the moon because it affects their development, but she's lived there most of her life. And she owns the place! Not literally, but she knows all the nooks and crannies and is one of the top smugglers in Artemis. She can get you pretty much anything you need. Which is how she ends up getting tangled up in a job that's much bigger than anything Jazz could ever have imagined. Now, with people gunning for her on all sides, she'll have to execute a masterful crime in order to set things right and save her own skin!

I loved Jazz! She's a little different from Mark Watney, but probably just as smart. She doesn't have the discipline, that's for sure. She does know how to think her way out of a problem, though, so they have that in common.

Jazz is a troublemaker. She's been told from day one that she's gifted and smart, but she wants no part of it. She just wants to do her thing and be on her own. And she pretty much is, but not necessarily by choice, as we come to learn.

Artemis is a small community. Made up of domes named after famous astronauts. And the domes are divided, somewhat, by class. Jazz doesn't live in the worst, but she doesn't live in the best either. Her living quarters, all she can currently afford, are little more than a cubby with a bunk and a little storage space. Her dream is to save up enough to buy a place that'll allow her the privacy of her own bathroom!

Which is why she takes on a job that's highly illegal and definitely dangerous. And while Jazz is a bit reckless, she was spunky and snarky, the kind of character I most enjoy!

Artemis is fun - high stakes, lots of action, and the same super accessible hard sci fi as The Martian. I read it in one sitting, quite happily. At least until it was done and I realized I'd have to wait that much longer for another read from Andy Weir. Ah, the plight of a book junkie!

I was so excited to read this but unfortunately it fell short of my expectations. I was on board with the general idea of a colony on the moon, but the character development (or lack thereof) was a miss for me. That coupled with what seemed liked forced dialogue and banter between the characters meant that I never fully got behind the characters of Artemis. I could see this being a great book for anyone who is looking to take baby steps into science fiction though!

Great sci fi adventure. But the best part is the female protag who relies on science and brainyness to solve problems. I would have liked a bit more side characters. It was nice in The Martian when we left Mark and the story went back to NASA people trying to get him home too.

Thank you, NetGalley! This was a great read. I went in with no expectations and found a book that boasted a original plot that kept me turning the pages. My one point of annoyance is really centered on the main character, Jazz. I did not identify with Jazz on a female level. She reminded me of a stereotypical "dude", loved crude jokes, emotionally stunted most of the time, and just all around masculine in nature. She grew on me by the end of the book, however, Jazz could have been in fact a "dude" and it wouldn't have bothered me a bit. Overall, I liked this one and see a screen adaptation in the future.

I haven't read The Martian, oh I have a copy of it from when I got an ARC from NYCC, but I haven't read it yet. So I can't compare writing styles. BUT THIS. THIS. SPACE HEIST. ON THE MOON. Really. It's like Ocean's 11 only, not quite as sophisticated and less thought out by the player involved. AND to top it all off, POCs represent.

Read it in one sitting. The pace just drags you along for the ride.

I received this free from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.
This is by the author of The Martian, a book I greatly enjoyed. This book is very different from The Martian, though it does have one similarity, gritty realism. Jazz, a young woman who is desperate to make a lot of slugs (moon money) for a purpose we don't know until almost the very end. She will do anything to get this money including illegal things. Now usually I don't like or root for criminals, but I really like her, she has her own code of ethics and won't break them. She goes through a long string of bad jobs that just go from bad to worse and even though she has to hide to save her life, she never gives up. I really loved this book.

I'm very picky when it comes to science fiction, but Andy Weir never fails to captivate me with his words and the worlds they tell. Artemis was smart, brilliant and adventurous. It was a journey to read through, and what a ride it was.

A very different read from The Martian but I really enjoyed it. The plot was intriguing and I cared about the characters. Very fun book!

I was hoping to enjoy this book more than I did. I loved The Martian and was hoping for a story that had the same momentum, but this one fell short for me. The characters were fun and there were some great lines in the book, but the plot let me down. It made me laugh, though.

*I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.