I think I am doing the opposite of most people and
reading Andy Weir’s new novel, Artemis, before I read his first and more
popular novel, The Martian. There is a
method to my madness, I needed to read a mystery and a thriller for two
different challenges at my local library and my husband Ben said that Artemis
would fit the bill.
Jazz has lived in the moon colony, Artemis, since she
was six years old, moving there with her welder father from Saudi Arabia. She has since grown up into a woman that her
traditional Muslim father strongly disapproves of and has hidden her smarts and
talents as a low-level porter on the colony.
Jazz gets a chance to improve her status by pulling off a heist for one
of the richest men in the colony and earth.
When things go awry, Jazz finds herself on the run, trying to solve a
mystery. Will she be able to save
Artemis?
Artemis is basically a mystery/thriller set on the
moon. It was very readable and I found
myself really caught up with the action at the end wanting to see how it all
played out. What I had a problem with is
that I didn’t really care about the characters at all. They were written very one-dimensional. Jazz in particular was like an action figure
with her model looks, physicality, and superior smarts. She didn’t seem real. Also, what didn’t seem real was the last-minute
love story at the end. It felt like Jazz
was Lara Croft and her love interest was Andy Weir.
I did love how welders got a shout out in this book
with Jazz and her father’s superior welding skills called into action. My Dad is a welder and there aren’t too many
heroic welder stories out there. It’s a
great skill!!
I did like the moon setting for the book and Weir had
great science and description for how this could happen. I found it fascinating.
Favorite Quotes:
“It’s hard to run with a
hundred kilograms of gear on – even in lunar gravity. But you’d be amazed how fast you can hustle
when your life is on the line.”
“If my neighborhood were
wine, connoisseurs would describe it as ‘shitty, with overtones of failure and
poor life decisions.’”
“I pulled up next to the
workshop of Dad’s colleague Zsoka Strobl, who was apparently named during a
severe vowel famine.” - I thought that
was hilarious especially as people used to make fun of my maiden name, Arlt,
for it’s lack of vowels as well.
Overall, Artemis was a thrilling sci-fi heist/mystery,
but it lacked a bit on characterization. I would be interested in a sequel as I
liked the story line, but I would hope that the characters would be further
developed.
Book Source: I
bought this book for my husband Ben for Christmas. I can’t remember if I ordered it from Amazon
or bought it at a store while shopping . . .
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