Artemis by Andy Weir

Sorry, for the delay, SmartGirls, but I'm finally back and ready to post about the final book I read in 2017. It was such a busy time of year with the holidays that my reading took a bit of a backseat. Then we were out of town and I had to wait to post. You know how it is.

The last book I read in 2017 was Artemis by Andy Weir, the author of a book I liked very much: The Martian. Set this time on the moon, Artemis features Jazz Bashara, a young woman living in the lunar settlement known as Artemis. Officially she is a porter, but her main occupation is that of contraband smuggler. Barely scraping enough together to pay the rent on her "capsule domicile" -essentially just an enclosed bunk and access to a communal bathroom- Jazz is searching for a way to increase her income. When she is offered something extremely dangerous with an extreme pay out, she takes it with barely a hesitation. Perhaps she should have done a little more research.

I was hopeful that Weir would be able to recreate the magic in The Martian, but I feel like he fell short. It is difficult for any author to follow a blockbuster debut and Weir's writing style leaves much to be desired. The dialogue is unpolished and at times choppy and Jazz is a bit rough around the edges, but to me her voice never sounds quite right. It feels like what a man thinks women sound like when they are tough and refuse to put up with any nonsense. Like The Martian, there is a lot of language that some might find objectionable, but it isn't overwhelming. And, unfortunately I was about halfway through the book before it got interesting for me. I only stuck with it because I had liked Weir's first book so well.

In the end, this book was fine. I won't likely be adding it to my "must read" list, but it may be just exactly something you would love. A lunar caper involving conspiracy and industrial sabotage is a great premise.