Jazzed Up Sci-Fi Crime Caper

As The Martian Mark Watney was a real star of a character, his struggles and internal monologues really brought his whole situation to light. He was one of the elite, in the space program and with multiple degrees to his name. Jazz is the same in that she also indulges her narrative in the same low humour but she's progressed a lot less and through rather more dubious routes. If you buy into her you'll likely buy into the story.

This is a fast-moving sci-fi crime caper that gets increasingly out of control as it goes along. It's fun, it's laden with interesting science which I won't try to validate because cleverer than me people are still debating The Martian! I do think Weir lets himself go just a bit more with this one and the final part of the adventure does stretch things a bit but not any more than many authors do.

I'm quite shocked, genuinely, to read some early critical reviews of the narration. I think Dawson is an absolute star in this. She delivers Jazz pretty much perfectly for me and the other characters are easily distinguishable. If you have doubts listen to the audio sample of course and come to your own decision but I'd definitely recommend giving it a chance and not being put off even trying!

So, maybe not quite the all-time classic that The Martian was with of course the great RC Bray but definitely a highly entertaining read if you like this style of humour. Sure, the story has some weaknesses but I still found it thoroughly entertaining.

67 people found this helpful

Hmmm...

Written from a female perspective but is tone deaf in the details; reads more like a male fantasy of the way that a woman thinks and there are some really cringey bits. So...she is a hot, genius, welding, space engineer, smuggler, sci-fi tv geek, who can turn her hand to literally anything and has a smokin’ body: it just got really annoying to read someone’s teenage fantasy of a cool woman rather than a nuanced, developed character.
I loved his first book but this one just drove me crazy and the plot was rather dull, because an arsehole (sorry: anti hero) attempting to commit a crime is not as gripping as someone trying to save their own life by escaping from an impossible situation.
The narration was good - Dawson gave the character as much credibility as she could.

162 people found this helpful

Standing on the shoulder of The Martian

This didn’t work for me. Not the detail of his previous work and the voice actor just didn’t connect. Poor.

26 people found this helpful

Very weak. Poor plot, poor central character

What did you like best about Artemis? What did you like least?

Great voice performance, some interesting ideas about the moon base itself.

Really good voice performance by Rosario Dawson, she makes the most of the weak material.

What was most disappointing about Andy Weir’s story?

This is a very immature book, with a plot filled with holes and truly hopeless characters. The choice of language and speech patterns for the lead character are like a middle aged mans idea of how a "sexy young woman" would talk.

Only a man could write a female character like the lead.

She's like a Tesco Value Mark Watney, with needless sexual elements shoe horned into the text in a clumsy manner.

The plot itself is very weak too, failing to stand up to the most rudimentary application of critical thought.

You can see the benefits that Andy Weir had from the long development and continual peer review of "The Martian". none of which is demonstrated in this. The best use I can think of for this book is as an example of why writing a character from a totally different culture/background to yourself is very hard to get right, and painful to read when you get it this wrong.

Do you think Artemis needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Absolutely not.

33 people found this helpful

Oh gosh

I really should have read the reviews because other people have been here before me and could have saved me the time.

Don't come looking for a book of the quality of the Martian. It's not even close.

Don't come looking for a good story, it's predictable, has holes and is uninspiring.

But the killer, for me, is the author's view of how young women think. Wow. You should read the book to experience this.

On a positive note, loved the narrator and production.

3 people found this helpful

Not as good as The Martian

It was ok, but The Martian casts a large shadow, it’s hard not to compare premise, realism, narration, humour, protagonist etc and find Artemis lacking.

I likely expected too much, but hoped for science fiction that didn’t lean on the tropes of distant future technology/infrastructure - no matter how well backed by scientific theory - when the authors previous work had tapped into the realisation that an amazing story can be told without too much hand waving, and leaves the audience believing the authors world is one they could live to see and be in.

21 people found this helpful

A book about living in a vacuum that doesn't suck.

I don't get why some people have been giving this only one star. Yes the main character has many failings. However the storyline is compelling and the last half of the book I could barely put down. To be honest I am now hoping for a sequel...

19 people found this helpful

Predictable

The story seemed like it had promise, but every step was predictable, nothing to make you think.

The narrator did a good job with the material, but overall I found this book very disappointing considering the hype audible gave it.

23 people found this helpful

Brilliant listen

I dont understand the bad reviews.
I have listened to loads of rubbish on here lately and was pleased to have a great book to listen too for a change.
Rosario does a fantastic job with the characters and I totally get the plot.
shes offered a get rich quick scheme it all goes tits up and she has to think on her feet for life or death.
BRILLIANT.
well done Andy weir and well done Rosario Dawson you had me hooked from the start.

32 people found this helpful

Captivating start, didn’t make it to the end

I bought this book because of The Martian. I consider The Martian one of the best audio books ever released. Artemis doesn’t come close. The performance is excellent and so the first part of the book is alright: good setting and a complex main character.

At one point, however, the mystery unfolds (one of the characters just says why certain things happened and what the other character has to do to solve it) and for me that totally breaks the suspense in the story. I have tried to listen for 1 or 2 more hours, but at 80% of the book I decided to just stop. Such a shame, because the first part of the book was good and I absolutely loved The Martian (by the same author).

1 person found this helpful