Artemis

So after the phenomenon that was "The Martian" Andy Weir strikes again with this novel, Artemis, set on the moon, with a bang on brilliant main protagonist (again) - Jazz is funny, not necessarily always a "good guy" but always fascinating and full of frolic and I loved her. Unlike poor Mark Watney the hero of The Martian, Jazz has plenty of company and the genius writing of Mr Weir brings the whole cast to brilliant life, adds in his what is sure to become trademark scientific whatnot and brings us a brilliant adventure full of thrills and random odd amusing moments. Plus a whole lot of Jazz. Yes the name lends itself to that sorry!

I will of course do a full review nearer the publication date on the blog and probably by shrieking quite a bit on Twitter - but for those of you who loved The Martian don't hesitate to add this to your lists. You won't be disappointed. If you haven't read The Martian yet then add both to your lists (why not?) even if you have seen the movie the book brings so much more. If this kind of thing is not YOUR kind of thing then why not try something different. You'll get a ravishingly good story and a lot of reading joy.

Highly Recommended.

The long awaited follow up to The Martian delivers on the promise displayed there. It's a more traditional story but is a first rate thriller. I'm not a big science fiction reader but this had me hooked from beginning to end. It has the potential to cross over from the sci-fi readership into the mainstream

I loved this book!! I enjoyed 'The Martian' so was looking forward to reading this - I was not disappointed. Another novel set in space, Weir has created a fantastic city on the Moon, 'Artemis', where the protagonist Jazz Bashara lives and works as a delivery girl/courier and part time smuggler. The descriptions of the city, it's interior and exterior are amazing, and, as with the 'The Martian', Weir is brilliant at describing very technical/scientific things in easy to understand ways. I don't want to give too much away here and spoil the plot for new readers, but the story is brilliant and definitely written in a way that you can imagine on the big screen!

I am a HUGE fan of the author's previous book, 'The Martian' (which was made into a pretty popular film of the same name, FYI), so I was so excited to see he had written another book.

In this book, it's again fairly near future and we follow a pretty bad ass lady living on an established colony on the Moon. The main character, Jazz, is an incredibly flawed heroine- she's selfish, reckless, drinks a lot and is involved in a LOT of illegal smuggling. But you know what? I loved her for it. I think it completely added to the story and plot, as we follow her through a whirldwind ride of lunar based corporate espionage, capering around on the moon's surface and winding through the corridors of the 'bubbles' that make up the Moon city that is Artemis. I was indeed surprised to see who had 'won' the space race (won't spoil that for you), how they handle currency on the moon, and how people deal with the moons difference in gravity!

There's the usual scientific accuracy in the descriptions that you can expect, which was also to be found in his previous book The Martian. This is great as though this book could technically be science fiction, a lot of it is so based in scientific fact it feels like you can almost touch it. Really, we probably can in about 60 or 70 years. Basically, I took from this that I need to start eating more vegetables and exercising so I can live to be an old lady living on Artemis!

Those who loved The Martian will, I think, love this as well though the tone is slightly different, that's just because we have a different character narrating. It's still rollocking good nerd fun and I would definitely recommend it!

"Artemis" is the new book from critically acclaimed, formerly independent author Andy Weir. Unlike its predecessor, "The Martian", "Artemis" is set on the Moon, in the same Universe, circa seventy years after the events of "The Martian". Needless to say, Mark Watney is history by this point, but this time, in the center of our action sits someone else: Jasmine Bashara, nicknamed "Jazz".

The name of the book comes from the Greek Goddess of the Moon, Artemis, one of the most vastly venerated goddesses of ancient Greece. She who was also the Goddess of the Hunt, the Forests, the Hills and of Archery. In the book, this name designates the first lunar city, Artemis, which Jazz Bashara is a citizen of.

Since Andy Weir likes telling stories in first person, this time he's evidently narrating cross-gender, and does so surprisingly well. This is one of the best examples of cross-gender narrative done well. Usually, they're less common, and when they exist, the quality is nothing short of questionable. For "Artemis", this is not the case. One of the strong points of the book is making you believe without any doubts that this story is told by a woman. When it's not.

While being a solid piece of Science Fiction literature, "Artemis" has the downside of living in the shadow of its older sibling, "The Martian". "Artemis" is a very good book, but with "The Martian" we had the opportunity to collide first time with Andy Weir's style and with the uniqueness of his technical and scientific explanations of the things the main character always did to preserve himself. We can find plenty of that in "Artemis" as well, because Jazz Bashara is, just like Mark Watney, a MacGyver of Outer Space, but this time the reader is already used to it, so "Artemis" brings less in the sense of innovation than "The Martian" did, while bringing more in the sense of storytelling, being a much more complex work structurally than "The Martian" ever was, through its higher number of characters and the relations between them. Adding to this are the cultural differences, because for those who cannot tell until now, Jazz Bashara is a Muslim. And she encounters barriers not only because she's female, but because of her religion as well, even though she wasn't necessarily a religious person, but people around her identified her as such because she was of Arabian descent. So "Artemis" not only does Science Fiction well, but also treats delicate themes with care, pointing out the problems in our society and their outcome in an eventuality of their persistence over time.

Leaving political aspects aside, "Artemis" is a very good read, threading at the point between relaxing and engaging, which makes it very fit both for the average reader, as well as for the more experienced one, whose expectations are generally higher.

And, just as "The Martian" became a movie, "Artemis" should do too at some point, because while the book doesn't necessarily surface over "The Martian", being somewhat its equal in terms of quality and its smaller sibling in terms of innovation, it would definitely be bigger and better as a movie. Much more visual than "The Martian", and more dynamic than it, hence better fit for the big screen.

"Artemis" should definitely be your go-to read for the month of November 2017.

I was really excited when I was approved by Netgalley for this book, The Martian was one of my favourite books last year and I was really looking forward to getting stuck into this. This one is a very different story, still with all the science and clever techie stuff that Andy Weir is making his signature style, but this time with a female protagonist and set on the Moon. Jazz is a fabulous character, a bit of a rebel and with a renegade spirit. She needs cash, fast. She lives in Artemis, the first and only city on the moon. Her Dad is the master welder (which is going to come in very handy) and because Jazz has been a bit of a rogue in her past she doesn’t work in the family business but works as a courier delivering packages. This allows her the opportunity to import forbidden items into Artemis. She is basically running an importation business. This means she meets some dodgy people.

The structure of Artemis is fantastically described and I loved reading about all the features of it’s bubbles and how the society is managed there. Life is pretty grim for many of the inhabitants but looks great to the tourists who visit for the opportunity to go out onto the moon surface with the qualified EVA people who take tours, Jazz has just failed her exam to become an EVA specialist when we meet her.

When Jazz is offered the opportunity to earn a huge pile of money she jumps at the chance. She is going to sabotage large machinery and enable her friend to pick up the contract from which he will make a fortune. This sabotage plan will mean danger and risk to Jazz and the story is about her planning and organising this and then putting it into action. It is really detailed. At times I was left a little underwhelmed by all the detail of the sabotage but while there is a bit of a lag in the middle of the book, it picks up markedly towards the end and I found myself completely absorbed as the book raced to it’s conclusion.

There is a heap to like in this book, The Martian was always going to be a hard act to follow and I think Andy Weir has done a good job on this one and I’m looking forward to the next.

Fast paced, high octane and highly entertaining - I absolutely love this novel and would like to recommend it to everyone.
Andy Weir has managed to exceed expectations with this second novel, and The Martian is a hard act to follow.
Set on the Moon in the not too distant future, Jazz is a smuggler with a conscience - she gets caught up in a plot to sabotage that nearly costs her her life, and the lives of everyone around her.