Ricky Church reviews Artemis by Andy Weir…
Andy Weir gained a lot of attention with his debut novel The Martian, a science fiction tale that not only became a bestseller but a big blockbuster film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. Now, Weir follows up his Martian success with Artemis. Weir’s latest is a fun and compelling sci-fi that features a great character, is well written and well paced and an intriguing plot that combines the science fiction, heist and conspiracy thriller genres together in an entertaining story.
Artemis follows Jasmine Bashara, a young woman living in Artemis, the only colony on the moon in the not too distant future. She’s one of the most intelligent people in Artemis, but works a s a low-level dock worker smuggling contraband into the colony. After she takes a job to sabotage a bunch of equipment to help a company takeover, she gets embroiled in a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself.
Much like The Martian, Weir blends actual science with his witty narrative. Jasmine (Jazz for short) has a great voice that make her easy to relate to and root for. Her sarcastic nature is pretty entertaining, but there’s also a lot of depth to her character as she explains her past mistakes and almost self-hating nature in her bid to make her life a bit better, yet knows where to draw the line and isn’t a cutthroat smuggler. Through this, Weir makes Jazz a sympathetic and compassionate character.
There’s a fair bit of world building in how the people of Artemis live and the colony run that makes it a fleshed out place. Weir does a lot to make Artemis not only feel real, but plausible, especially in how it depicts the tourism aspect and the ebbs and flows of its population and economics. What also helps Artemis in this regard is how these facts become an integral part of the story rather than just little asides, giving a good balance to building the setting and advancing the story without dragging it with non-essential facts. The middle of the book gets a bit slow, and there may be a bit too much science jargon for readers (though Martian was the same), but Weir is able to pick the story up fairly quickly and get back on track.
As I said earlier, the story is a blend of sci-fi, heist and conspiracy elements. Weir blends them together pretty well, especially the heist portion of the book. There’s a sense of Ocean‘s 11 or Mission: Impossible as Jazz puts together her big plan and the jobs are very entertaining and fun. Weir also subverts the conspiracy angle by not turning the story into an action packed shoot ’em up in space, but something much more low-key and character driven.
Weir’s writing, characters and pacing make Artemis an entertaining read and elevate it from a straight-forward sci-fi to something much more out-of-the-box. The mixture of genres is well-balanced and Jazz’s voice is one of the highlights of the book, making her an endearing and fun character. With 20th Century Fox having already picked up the rights to the book, and Phil Lord and Chris Miller adapting it to script, Andy Weir’s Artemis is another book-to-film adaptation to look forward to.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
