Artemis

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.

65 of 77 people found this review 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.

149 of 184 people found this review 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.

26 of 32 people found this review 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.

21 of 26 people found this review 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.

17 of 22 people found this review 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...

16 of 21 people found this review helpful

Not the Martian

A light and fun listen. A slightly kitsch action packed detective adventure novel. Incomparable to the Martian. I enjoyed the narration and the fast paced story line.
A perfect throw away after you have finished book for a long journey or a listen by the pool on holiday.

4 of 5 people found this review 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.

19 of 26 people found this review 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.

30 of 42 people found this review helpful

A Woman antihero to love

Jazz Bashara is a character that is not afraid to guide its audience and explain what is happening while living a very unorthodox life in low gravity but full throttle, all the main characters in the story are female and strong, the men are secondary but well described and instrumental to the story, also there is one Canadian and some one American tourist with one line but the rest of the cast is from countries not commonly mentioned in bestsellers except as cannon fodder or evil villans; very refreshing because Andy Weir humanises them and even makes them humorous.
A good plot with a very likeable character and cast that runs like clockwork and entertains while keeping you interested in what is an alien environment.
This book is a good read for anyone even those that don't enjoy science fiction because it is a character-driven plot and the environment is explained with ease and in what a pear to be a very natural way.

17 of 25 people found this review helpful