The Wednesday Review: Artemis by Andy Weir

The Book:

Book Title: Artemis

Book Author: Andy Weir

Genre: Sci-Fi (Adult?)

Publishing Date: November 14th, 2017

Publisher: Del Ray

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 Jazz’s 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 more unlikely than the first.

                     

The Review:

Artemis was an interesting read. For those who loved The Martian, I don’t know that I would go in to this one with the same expectations. I’ve seen a lot of people saying that Jazz was a female version of Mark Watney, and I’d agree to an extent, but I also feel like the comparison could stop there.

Though marketed as an adult book, I felt like it read like a young adult story. The plot line and characters not only felt underdeveloped and underwhelming, but they also felt like they would have been more at home within a young adult category. Jazz even acted much younger than her actual age throughout the book.

And, speaking of Jazz, I was unsure of my feelings for her, even long after reading Artemis. Sometimes I liked her and her carefree, smart ass attitude. Sometimes I hated how she felt like a typical “bro” male with female body parts. And, I could never really get a grasp and feel for her overall deep personality, and appearance. Her “ethnicity” also felt really wishy washy, like it was used as a marketing tool just for “diversity” within the story.

The story itself, though exciting and entertaining, was neither original, nor vivid. Though I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened, I never fully visualized the setting in my mind. And, as I said before, I felt like I was reading another generic young adult sci-fi novel, when I had been hoping for something outstanding like The Martian.

I’d rate this one right down the middle with 2.5 to 3 stars. It was entertaining enough to keep my attention, but I just wanted so much more from it. With that gorgeous cover, and the highlight of “from the bestselling author of The Martian,” I expected this to be at least a 4 star read. This one was just a superficial time passer for me.

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Darque Dreamer

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