Artemis by Andy Weir Review

If you believe, they put a city on the moon - a city on the moon?

Andy Weir’s follow up novel to The Martian takes place on the moon. It’s 2080 and a city has been built on the moon, with a small civilization who’ve built their own culture up there. Lead character Jasmine Bashara (or Jazz as she’s known) is a 26 year old who lives in a very small apartment, worlds apart from the classy areas she one day hopes to inhabit. Jazz is a likeable protagonist with good principles, but this gets called into question when an opportunity to make a lot of money appears…

Jazz is written in a very similar way to Katniss. She’s a brave and forceful character who defies her environment to help those around her, and herself. She’s a very likeable person who has a solid backstory and often will entice herself to the reader. She can be funny and quick too, but what is most likeable about her is that she’s not perfect: we can relate to that, right? Jazz isn’t a warrior like Katniss though, she uses her talent for smuggling to survive.

The moon has a variety of resources which are rare on Earth, but certain commodities are hard to find too. Jazz delivers contraband to the wealthier folk for a tidy sum, but she never really does anything too unethical. But one day her best client offers her a big pay day, and all she has to do is destroy the source of the Moon’s oxygen so that this client can replace it with his stored oxygen: receiving the huge payouts this provides too. But as you might expect, not everything happens as planned and Jazz finds her life turned upside down.

Sadly minor characters come off as very flat and don’t always endear themselves to the reader. Arguably, at times Jazz is not always written too well either, especially when discussing her sexuality. It sometimes is hard to believe that a 26 year old woman would say some of the things she says. But I personally didn’t find this a huge problem.

Weir’s description of the moon on the other hand…Perhaps a third of the novel is taken up with science-y talk about how the moon has become a liveable area. At first it’s intriguing, but when you’re over half way through the book? The setting really should have been established in a better way.

Overall though the main takeaway from the novel is Jazz and her determination to make things better. For the most part she’s relatable, likeable and funny. Sadly Artemis is not as good as The Hunger Games, but it’s a fun read and worth your time!