Artemis: A Good Book but not Andy Weir’s Best.

Posted On September 4, 2022

Hi Readers! You remember how much I loved Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir? Yes, a lot. So, naturally, I planned to read The Martian and Artemis as well. Since Artemis was a shorter book of about 300 pages, I picked it up first. I finished it in a day. It was compelling, but it was nowhere near the perfection of Project Hail Mary. The author had written this book just 4 years prior to Project Hail Mary. So, the difference in writing style really shocked me. There were a few things I enjoyed & a few I didn’t. Let’s get into it, shall we?

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

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.

~~PLOT~~

A science fiction book based on a civilization formed on the moon was the most intriguing aspect which lured me into reading Artemis. Its premise really made me curious. The lack of knowledge on moon’s environment was another fascinating aspect. I also loved how this was a combination of a thriller & science fiction.

I suppose the foundation of the story was much more amazing than the way it was finally implemented. In the first half of the book, it felt like just another mediocre thriller based in a small town where nothing bad happens. The only reason it was slightly above mediocre is because instead of a small town, it was basically the moon. This setting changed in the latter half of the book, because there were more moon-related emergencies instead of emergencies that could happen anywhere on Earth. But, here’s another downside. To understand these moon-related emergencies, there was a lot of science, which is where I got a bit lost & also bored. So, overall, it was just another mediocre read.

~~CHARACTERS~~

There are many characters on the moon who have moved from the Earth. And because of this, there was so much diversity in the characters. The female protagonist, Jazz Bashara is a twenty-seven year old woman from Saudi Arabia. We have other characters from Africa, Ukraine, Norway, Russia, India & so on. It was such a breath of fresh air.

The main character is our hero & villain. She is the one who brings everyone away from the cliff, because she herself brought them on the cliff. In that sense, she is their saviour. She is flawed, which I love in my protagonists. However, I felt like I never knew the real Jazz Bashara. Sure, she writes to her pen pal about her life. Sure, she decides to work her ass off to pay back her dad for the damages she caused. Sure, she is a smuggler with good intentions. But, all of this is something she wants to do & something in continuation of the plot. So, we never really get to know the real Jazz.

I enjoyed all the other characters as well. My favourite was Martin Svoboda, the nerdy scientist who gets excited about science stuff. I also like police officer Rudy DuBois; I felt like he was a soft fellow under all that hard exterior. I loved Dale Shapiro; why have a non-complicated BFF when you can have a gay BFF who stole your gay boyfriend? Bob, Lene, Billy, Ngugi, Trond, Kelvin were all amazing as well. I suppose in this book, quantity won over quality, but in a good way.

~~TO READ OR NOT TO READ~~

If you are yet to read both Project Hail Mary & Artemis, then I suggest you read Artemis first and then Project Hail Mary so that you would not have any disappointment. If you are looking for more science & less fiction, then go for it. If you are looking for an adventurous & thrilling story line, then read Artemis. If you liked other Andy Weir & Blake Crouch books, then I suggest you bring your bar of expectations lower while reading this book. I have rated Artemis by Andy Weir at 3.5/5 stars.

Until next time,