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.

40 of 48 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.

73 of 94 people found this review helpful

Disappointing, in fact, terrible. Avoid

I was really looking forward to this following The Martian. The combination of detail, style and story was the hook.

Artemis falls short. I debated quitting this book at least 4 times.

The female lead is 1 dimensional, is too much like a guy writing as a woman and the performance doesn’t help. There’s no real performance, it’s soap opera stuff with stereotypical characters- middle eastern or Russian bad guys, matriarchal king pins, rugged enforcers. I cannot bring myself to elaborate on the ‘English’ pub owner and the accent or the ‘token’ gay friend.

Terrible.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Great performance overall

Terrible English accent for the bar keeper - but great overall, really enjoyed the whole thing.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Rebel without a clue.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This could have been an awesome book but the main character is just so bratty and annoying! It was meant to be written from a female perspective but I just don't think that it was executed well.

Throughout the book she just acts like a child and doesn't seem to mature after all of the experiences she has in the book.

The sciencey bits were cool but over all not great.

4 of 5 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.

23 of 32 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.

1 of 1 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.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Bit Disappointing

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The author creates a very interesting and believable habitat on the moon, but really did not have a very interesting story to tell. In particular, the characters in this book are not likeable or even convincing, especially the protagonist, who is just annoying, with very few redeeming features.
A good book needs more than just convincing science.

What will your next listen be?

Not sure.

Have you listened to any of Rosario Dawson’s other performances? How does this one compare?

NA

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Possibly

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great listen.

Really enjoyed listening to this book. The author has maintained the same level of detail as he did with the Martian with another great story underpinning all the technical delights. Also really enjoyed the narration one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to. And I’ve listened to a lot.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful