Book Review: Artemis by Andy Weir

Rating:  ★★★★★

Date Read: September 14, 2017 – September 17, 2017

Release Date: November 14, 2017

First Thoughts: I was very excited to receive this ARC as it was my first one from NetGalley! I had been itching to read a good sci-fi and this definitely did not disappoint!

Synopsis:

Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.

(Image and Synopsis from GoodReads)

First off I have not yet read “The Martian” or any of Weir’s other novels so I cannot compare Artemis to them. However, I feel that it lives up to the hype that Weir now has.

Jazz is an engaging main character and I definitely enjoyed her voice in this story. The best way I can describe her is a sarcastic little shit. Which I mean as a compliment. She is a porter but has a side hustle as a smuggler, which is a nice touch.  Jazz is the epitome of a genius but is so lazy. It reminds me of someone I know *side eyes my best friend*. She also messes up a lot, but always tries to make good on her mistakes. As shown with her actions in the climax, she will do anything to protect the innocent. There is quite a bit of diversity in this book, which was nice to see people from all walks of life live together.

The main plot of the story involves Jazz pulling off an interesting scheme for a lot of money.  It kind of reminds me of Six of Crows, especially towards the end of the book, only make it on the moon. The pacing is exciting and the writing was humorous. I was not bored at all; I just wanted to keep reading. I did not see any of the plot twists coming except for the first one, which I consider very good.

As for Artemis, it is now on my ever-growing fictional bucket list of places to visit. And though Artemis is small, around 2,000 citizens not including the hordes of tourists, it has a lot going for it. Speaking of tourists, I now want to go to the moon and run around in one of those hamster balls! Weir does a great job at the world building. He includes little details about life on Artemis, like slow internet and how there are no cars, that it feels like a fully fleshed out city.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this novel and I recommend it to fans of science fiction, heists, and anyone who wants to read something entertaining with a cup of science on the side.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for sending me a copy to review. This in no way affected my review.

Favorite Quotes

Disclaimer: These are from an ARC and therefore they might change slightly from the final print. So for the time being just enjoy these quotes until I can check them against the final copy.

“I stared daggers at [him]. He didn’t notice. Damn, I wasted a perfectly good bitchy glare.” – 12

“Paper?” He held the schematics like they were a urine sample. “You wrote them on paper?” – 49 

“But no idiot proofing can overcome a determined idiot.” – 59

” “Shit! Damn! Crap! Ass! Son of a bitch!” It’s important to vary your profanities. If you use the same one too often it loses strength. ” – 100 

 

“On a scale from one to ‘invade Russia in winter,’ how stupid is this plan?” -178