Reviews

Artemis by Andy Weir

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marsusdm's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

mediabaron's review against another edition

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3.0

Good storyline, author admits he had a tougher time writing the part and thought process of a female protagonist. An entertaining read that isn't as complex as his previous book 'The Martian.'

szilvicsanyi's review against another edition

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5.0

As captivating as The Martian. Weir is a genius who invented every detail of the town of Artemis. The characters are entertaining, the dialogues are written with a great sense of humor and the story is fast-paced. You'll feel sorry that it's over. A fascinating must read.

jbabiarz's review against another edition

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3.0

I’m a little torn on this one. On one hand, I loved the nerdy science stuff and explanations of life on a moon colony. I knew it wouldn’t be the same as The Martian and that was fine. But on the other hand, Jazz was just so unbelievable as a female lead. Her internal dialogue with herself (and conversations with others) really sounded like a guy. I just couldn’t get over that. I rolled my eyes on many occasions when Jazz was talking. But - really creative and interesting. He’s one of the only authors I’ve found that cares about making the science realistic! I even read his paper on the economics of life on the moon which was really interesting. So all in all, I found it enjoyable.

cement99's review against another edition

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3.0

Three stars. This is what I thought when I finished the book. It's just a 3-stars read; nothing more, nothing less. A book I enjoyed, but not one that I will be reading again or putting in my favs.

It's an enjoyable little book, but in my opinion not as good as The Martian. Don't expect anything crazy - just a lightweight, relaxing sci-fi read. The style of writing is very simple and linear and, being an Andy Weir book, it's a very immersive experience. But there's a catch: the fact that the book was fun and immersive doesn't mean that it's written as well as The Martian. It looks like the typical book written just to be turned into a film, which is really visible when you look at the the plot: it's not as engaging as The Martian, it rarely ties in with past events on the book, it's awkwardly forced and it's awfully predictable. And towards the end of the book, where many things still had to be fixed, the author took the easy way out, creating a series of super improbable event that would have NEVER, EVER, EVER happened in real life. I have also noticed a decent number of plot holes, but I'm not going to list here since I'd have to hide this review for spoilers - and what would be the point of reviewing if I had to hide spoilers? If you've read the book you'll have already have an opinion on it.

I also am not a fan of the way some characters have been portrayed, I'll stick to jazz for the purpose of this review. Jazz is basically Mark Watney: a sparkling, likable personality. Having a fun protagonist is, in theory, great - unless when it is not. Jazz's sense of humour seems a lot of times forced, out of place and anything but what you would expect from a girl in her twenties. But in general I feel like the characters in The Martian were written much better: I read that book in a few days and I really bonded with the characters - it was crazy, you know a book is written very well when you just randomly wanna hang out with a team of astronauts doing things after you put the book down, and keep thinking about what will happen to the protagonist in between reading sessions. Artemis was nowhere near that exciting: it took me longer to read, I didn't bond with any of the characters, and I found it difficult to emphatize with the protagonist too, as pretty much any person with common sense will be not on the same page with most of her choices and trivial mistakes.

Also, the letters. I get it. It's nice to see the evolution of Jazz's friendship with Kelvin, but it should be made more clear when those letters, that are written from when jazz was 9, eventually blend with the present. Also, they were often used as an easy "Add some suspance for free card" - some of them will be, as a result, read more hurriedly and quickly because you just wanna get to the next chapter, eager to see what even is going on.

If you were to ask me if you should read this book, I'd tell you that yes, you should. However, if this would be your first book by Andy Weir, skip it entirely and read "The Martian" first. The Martian does Andy way more justice than Artemis. But if you've already read The Martian, just go ahead and read Artemis. If you're here you're interested, it's a short read, it's fun, it will still you give some moments of interest and suspence and a generally good experience.

Now time for some positives: the map. I love any book that starts with a map. That's definitely a good thing. I love seeing how a city in space would work and evolve in its early stages, and I particularly liked all the socio-economic analysis on various different themes that Andy made. The science bits and pieces were, as always, intensely interesting; but I felt as if the whole welding part added weight to the book as opposed to making it more enjoyable.

If you have loved The Martian, you will enjoy Artemis. If you just liked The Martian, Artemis will be an OK book. If you didn't like The Martian, then Artemis is not exactly the kind of book you'll be wanting to read. Was Andy a one-hit wonder? Was just Artemis a bit of a slump from The Martian, but the level of quality will get right up to a solid 5-stars in his next book? As a fan of this author that would happily read his shopping list at this point, I'm confident than the next will be better than this!