Artemis by Andy Weir

Everyone excited to see what Andy Weir would do for a followup to the massively successful The Martian can rest assured that he has struck gold again. Artemis is every bit as fun and another wild ride.

Jazz Bashara has grown up on the moon in the small city of Artemis. She knows every nook and cranny of the domed city where she works as a porter and a smuggler. Jazz dreams of joining the EVA guild which will allow her to escort tourists outside the dome for a lot more money than she’s making and quite a bit more comfort than her current coffin-like apartment provides. When Trond Landvik,one of her smuggling customers, offers her a chance at a big score, the money is too much for her to ignore. Jazz knows there’s something fishy, but she trusts herself to be smart and clever enough to outwit everyone else. She almost is. Once the caper goes awry, Jazz is on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of disaster: for her and Artemis.

Weir has once again created a smart-aleck, intelligent, slightly obnoxious character that you can’t help but love. He surrounds her with strong supporting characters all of whom get fleshed out as the novel progresses. Impressions of all the characters change as you learn a little more of their backstory and motivations.

Weir does a good job of incorporating and explaining the science, even if it is not present to quite the same degree as his previous book. He also creates a fascinating and plausible economy and political system. Match this with a clever plot and explosive action and you have an outstanding book.

The story has the pacing of a James Cameron film (hint, hint James Cameron) in that once the action really starts rolling, it doesn’t stop until the book ends and you’re out of breath. Most importantly, this book is a lot of fun. I wouldn’t mind more adventures in this world, but whatever Andy Weir has up his sleeve next, I’m on board. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

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