REVIEW: Artemis by Andy Weir


That's right, yet another adventure in space brought to you by Andy Weir! This one has some interesting things going for it - a female protagonist and great diversity being among them - but there were some things I take issue with.

 CHARACTERS
So, our main character, who also narrates the novel in first person, is Jazz Bashara, a twenty-something Saudi Arabian woman who lives on the moon. She is of the first generation of people to be raised on the moon, and hardly remembers anything about Earth. She works as a porter, delivering packages to others in the city of Artemis, the only city on the moon. She also is a smuggler on the side. Now Jazz is pretty cool, as a character, but there's some things that rubbed me the wrong way. Namely, about how good she is at everything.

 It's made very clear throughout the novel that Jazz is practically a genius and could do basically anything - welding, chemical engineering, anything - if she put her mind to it. But no. She's a porter and smuggler desperate to become an EVA master as she believes this will lead her to an easy life. Despite the fact that she has many other options. She is just so freakishly good at everything (even making an electronic device to work in a vacuum. on the fly. that her expert friend said was really good. suuuuuure) that I became annoyed. Like, she's approaching "perfect character" levels, here. And then I remembered the other thing that bothered me: (almost) everyone loves her. There is a total of two characters who don't like Jazz, and one of them doesn't show up until the last 40 pages or so. Everyone else? Loves her. Even if they were previously angry at her/didn't trust her/were unsure of her, when she asks, they all rush to help her. And yet she still calls herself "an asshole" and pretends she has no friends. It's maddening!

 Let's move on. The other characters, besides their blind Jazz-love, were great! Well-rounded, believable, and likable. Can I read about them instead?

 PLOT
Now, take your favorite heist movie, add some more diversity and profanity, and set it on the moon. That's basically the plot of Artemis. It does have some differences - Jazz is sabotaging things instead of stealing - but basically, this is it. And I think it works quite well! It's simple, but the setting and characters add unique challenges, and the story is very exciting. I couldn't help but read as fast as possible to find out what happened next! So, while simple, the plot is very engaging and fun to read.

 WRITING
Andy Weir is a good writer. I stand by this. Despite what I said in the characters section, I really enjoyed Weir's writing in this novel! Jazz's voice was engaging and fun to read, and I found nothing wrong or irritating with the style. I especially loved the email exchanges between Jazz and her Earth pen-pal, Kelvin.

 RATING
4 stars! Not my favorite, but a good book regardless. I really enjoyed this one, and would totally read it again.

 RECOMMENDATION
If you liked The Martian, I'd give this a shot too! Also, if you like heist movies, crime movies, science, or sci-fi. 

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