Artemis by Andy Weir

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 . . .