Artemis

Artemis is often frowned upon as the worst Andy Weir book, but I don't think that is fair. This is just a fun and fast paced book, perfect for new readers to sci fi or to get out of a reading slump.

Andy Weir writes fast-paced, engineering-oriented scifi well. This heist on a moon colony, featuring a vaguely Saudi, lapsed Muslim protagonist was a quick and light read. There's welding and problems with low-gravity/zero atmosphere and family bonding and shady business dealings. So, almost perfect.

But look, some people shouldn't be allowed to write books about women, and Andy Weir is one of those people. Also, mostly, I wanted it to be the Martian redux. And by trying to make a convoluted conspiracy plot, Weir has wandered away from what he does best: MacGyvering in Space! books.

I LOVED this book! More than I loved The Martian (and I loved that book too). I just devoured this book - finished in about 2 days -didn't want to put it down ever.

And for those who are wondering - yes, he did turn down the science a little bit and added more story, and damn it was a good one. Part action, part science, part mystery, part super snarky, smart, and strong female lead (who isn't white either!!!).

Jazz is an amazing character and I was laughing out loud at some of the one-liners in this book. Dialogue VERY well done.

The book still had science, still had explanations of how stuff would function on the moon - very easy to understand and it wasn't as heavy as the Martian was. Very cool to read about how we might just live on the moon one day.

TL:DR - Read this book! It's amazing!

After watching the Martian, I was really hoping to enjoy this book but I did not. I found the main character uninteresting and the story fell flat for me. Unlike the main character in the Martian and his plight I really did not care for the main character of this book. I found the story boring and unengadging.

I barely even remember what this was about tbh

I heavily wanted to rate it 3.5 stars, but don't have that option and I don't think it rose to the level of a 4 star book. This is a very pop sci-fi book that was a quick read. I enjoyed it, but felt like there was too many plot holes to make this a stellar book.

I struggled to get into it properly. I'll likely go back to it at some stage, but not yet

I wasn't interested in any of the characters. The world was mildly interesting, but I didn't care about the story.

I never read the Martian, but enjoyed the film, so I decided to give Weir's second novel a listen. At the sentence-level, Weir is a surprisingly bad writer. His attempt at writing a female lead was truly awful, too. Laughable, actually. Some of the funniest moments in the book come from that clumsiness. But, I still binge-listened to find out Jazz' fate! The science is fascinating. The world-building is not. (Someone never learned their “show, don't tell” lesson in grade school.) Honestly, he should probably just be writing movie concepts at this point. Or get a better editor? I recommend a woman.

TLDR: Just wait for the movie to come out.

I feel like I would have liked this book a lot more if I hadn't been comparing it to the Martian. It's got the same realism through the details, but the characters are a bit more of letdown. I found them much more annoying than the protagonist of the Martian. It also fails because of the further distance from now. The Martian felt like something that could happen in the next couple years, but this feels farther away, and therefore, less realistic.

Also, I'm probably one of the only people who read both of these books, but did anyone else notice how similar the plot is to that of Luna: New Moon?

I so enjoyed the Martian ... but this felt like the same book, with a different hero and a different set of technical challenges to be overcome by said genius and all knowing hero. I think if I'd read Artemis first, I would have like it and not the Martian ....

I absolutely ADORED Project Hail Mary, so it is a complete shock at how much I disliked Artemis. The main character was insufferable and cringe, while the plot felt compressed and drawn out at the same time. I feel bad writing such a critical review, but Project Hail Mary set such a high bar!

Oh also, Rosario Dawson as the audiobook narrator COMPLETELY took me out. What a miss.

Not as good as Project Hail Mary, but definitely enjoyable. I liked Jazz, I wish the ending had been a little more fleshed out but I had fun the whole time. Would be a very good movie!

I was initially skeptical about this book due to its numerous negative reviews. I almost gave up on reading it, but I'm glad I persevered. This book offers a refreshing departure from “The Martian” and “Project Hail Mary,” which I both adored. It's a captivating crime story set against the extraordinary backdrop of the moon base “Artemis.” While it may not be as gripping as Andy Weirs's best works, I found myself consistently eager to uncover the unfolding plot. From beginning to end, it was an engaging and enjoyable read. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys semi-realistic science fiction and space exploration.

A great nerdy heist (?) book where, as in all great heists, everything goes to hell very quickly. Artemis is no Martian, but it is still an enjoyable space book and there's plenty of entropy to contend with in this one, too.

This is a fast paced story of Jazz who lives in a moon base, the town of Artemis, population about two thousand, and she seems to be the only criminal in the place. She works as a porter doing deliveries but pays the bills by smuggling. And then she's asked to take on a high stakes sabotage job by a local businessman.

Why ask a 26 year old woman to cripple your opposition? Because she seems to be the only criminal in the place. It's surely not because of her maturity, she's got the personality of a twelve year old boy living tough on the back streets of New York - brash youthful stupidity coupled with resourcefulness. And we can add in that her father has taught her his welding skills.

Andy Weir has put together an engaging story although his main character is polarizing. He supports each decision and action Jazz takes with scientific reasoning, which we accept as true because we trust him as an author and he writes a convincing story. We see the same process in Project Hail Mary, and possibly in The Martian although I've not read that one. His writing style is smooth and easy to read and this story is at a much faster pace than Project Hail Mary.

Overall, it's a heist story, a mini Ocean's Eleven or Mission Impossible. There's a main plot, a detailed plan, a list of characters with different functions to complete in a set order, the possibility of danger at every turn that can leave a lot of people very dead, and a major payoff. Things become critical towards the end because of course they do. And just as we leave a heist movie thinking, 'That was a good time', and we go for a pizza, so we also do with Artemis.

Excellent story. Loved that the main character was a Saudi woman. Occasionally slows to explain the science or economics, but never loses the pulse thanks to a clever “countdown timer” plot twist in the last act.

It was fine

TL;DR

Average, I really liked the setting, a small city on the moon was very interesting. While reading it really gave me Bioshock vibes if you ever played that video game. Story was not as interesting, it's a simple plot that resolves around messing with the wrong people and when there's money involved it always leads to drastic measures. Thankfully the side characters were likeable, unfortunately our main protagonist is not.

My Scoring System

I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:

X - Main Story: It was kind of bland if I'm honest, apart from the location there wasn't anything super interesting. Same goes with the main plot, all about money as always.

X - Side Stories (if it applies):

✓ - Characters: Every character except our main protagonist is great, I really liked all of them.

✓ - Setting/Ambiance: This small city on the moon really gave me Bioshock vibes if you ever played that video game. I liked it, I liked how every bubble had it's own people and main purpose and how different they are from eachother.

✓ - Ending: Best part of the book, the final action sequence was really thrilling and I really enjoyed it.

Extensive Review

Great setting, not so interesting main story, good side characters all of that is nice but let's talk about the biggest problem of this book in my opinion. The main protagonist.

My eyes really hurt at the amount of times I rolled them while reading this book. I've read the reviews and saw people say how much she talks about sex but my god this is something else. The amount of sexual inuendos from our main protagonist's inner monologue is very annoying. Every single thought she has always ends with a "get your mind out of the gutter/don't get excited/it's not what you think..." at the end. She constantly gets mentioned on how she could do anything she wanted and how smart she is, while having the maturity level of a sixteen year old horny teenager. I don't believe it. She's literally risking her life doing something very dangerous like having to blow up two machines at the same time and she says "Don't take that out of context" it's so jarring and and frustrating, all you can do is roll your eyes and hope it doesn't happen again, unfotutunately, it does, a lot...

This is a personal thing but I hate unnecessary cursing, I hate how much our main protagonist curses, it's not like I just broke my leg and I yell "Fuck", she's in the middle of a conversation where the person asks her "Why not?" and her response is "Because fuck you" it's that kind of cursing where is really stupid and if you try to defend it saying that's just her personality then her personality is garbage and should be written better. Also it's very ironic considering she's muslim. This made me really dislike her and it's very frustrating because when she's focused on doing something dangerous or planning she's really smart and focused but the second her life is not in danger anymore it's back to her horny teenager personality where everthing is sexual and she curses at everything and everyone.

She's constantly making stupid decisions followed up by "it probably wasn't a good idea but we've established that I make poor life decisions". Consciously knowing you're making bad decision but not changing just because that's who you are doesn't make you funny, endearing or quirky. It makes you very stupid. Again not believeble since she's really smart and comes up with good plans on the fly when she's in danger.

It's very sad that the main problem with the book is the main protagonist but that's how I felt. Decent story with great setting, good side characters and an awful main protagonist with some sprinkles of how good she can be in certain situations before she's back to her usual self.

Weir excels at one-guy-in-space fiction. This was not that.

such a painful read. I had to trudge through caricatures to get to the end. the plot itself is interesting enough, but nothing the characters say or do is logical or at least “humanly” illogical.

A decent premise brought down by the very questionable writing of the characters and the increasingly improbable events which lead to the climax. Still thoroughly enjoyed the pace and overall writing style which is very reminiscent of his other two works, but aside from being a palette cleanser between denser works, you're much better off elsewhere in his catalog.

I read this for 372 pages, and while I don't think it's quite as bad as they make it out to be, it's also really not good.

Interesting world building, but that's about it. The plot was boring—completely unlike Weir's other two books. I appreciate diverse characters, but they need to feel “real” and genuine, and the protagonist in this novel did not.

Nice story, but not as good as the first.