Andy Weir’s Artemis is a standalone book. Several decades in the future, man has finally colonized the surface of the moon. Created by the Kenya Space Corporation, mankind’s first and only lunar colony, Artemis is a hub of tourism and wealth. While visiting the lunar colony is something only the extremely wealthy can afford, many of the long term inhabitants are nothing approximating rich. Most work blue collar trade jobs within or in opposition to a guild and those who are less fortunate work low paying service jobs. Jasmine (Jazz) Bashara is one of those less fortunate souls, working as porter and smuggling contraband to stay afloat. One day, one of Artemis’s few wealthy inhabitants offers Jazz a chance to earn a lot of money, and all she has to do is destroy some property belonging to a rival company. However, Jazz’s act of vandalism attracts far more trouble than she ever imagined and soon, this young woman finds herself in way over her head.
Jazz reads like a teenage boy, instead of the independent Saudi woman that she is. She makes lame wisecracks and lewd jokes that grow more irritating as the story moves on. She and other characters are constantly commenting on either her body or her promiscuity. At best, she could be called a female Mark Whatley, but she more often seems like teenage boy masquerading as a woman. According to the story, Jazz is in her twenties. She had a religious past, but is no longer a practicing Muslim. You would think her demographic might have some impact on her personality. Maybe her religious upbringing might shape her worldview or sense of morality. Maybe as a mature woman in her twenties, she would refrain from making sex jokes and lame innuendos that quickly become annoying. Unfortunately, it seems like her gender and race are just there to fill some diversity quota rather than to actually have an impact on her personality. Andy Weir turns what could have been an interesting character into one that is annoying a best and flagrantly offensive to those in her demographic at worst.
Artemis is a disappointment compared to The Martian. Where The Martian was groundbreaking in the way it turned the wilderness survival genre into a clever, science fiction, survival tale, Artemis was a predictable heist story with a peculiar setting. Although the book was fast paced from start to finish, it was extremely predictable and devoid of tension. The first time Jazz gets off scot-free after committing a serious offense sets a precedent for the remainder of the story. It is impossible to be concerned or invested in a person’s wellbeing when there are seemingly no consequences.
With a plot as bland as this, one would hope that the characters might be able to breathe some life and joy into the book, but alas, they don’t. As previously mentioned, Jazz is a disappointment, and unfortunately, the rest of the cast is not any better. The supporting cast is varied in age and sexual orientation, but not a single one particularly memorable or interesting. All of them are lacking in personality and characterization, becoming vehicles of the plot rather than unique entities with their own agency. They all fill bland archetypical roles or are used as Jazz’s get-out-of-jail-free cards.
The only redeeming part about this book is the setting. Andy Weir does a surprisingly good job building a complex future world. The lunar colony is extremely well thought out and explained in intricate detail. As a huge tourism destination, the prominence of blue collar and service oriented jobs makes complete sense (although the lack of scientists does not). Every element of the city’s design plays a role in the story and the Artemis that Andy Weir creates almost seems feasible. It honestly felt like he put more effort into describing the world than building the story, which would explain the lack luster characters, but phenomenal setting.