It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say I like Andy Weir’s writing style. It all started with The Martian, and we all know that. Project Hail Mary only confirmed it. However, somehow Artemis remained unread on my bookshelf. Perhaps it was because I read so many Kindle books that I neglected the good old paper edition.
Compared to the two books already mentioned, this is not a space survival story. Instead, it is the tale of Jasmine Bashara, a young courier, smuggler, and Moon-citizen born and bred. Artemis, the first permanent settlement on the Moon, is what she calls home. She somehow gets entangled in a billionaire’s scheme to take over a business, which turns out to be a money laundering operation for a South American drug cartel. It gets messy. But it wouldn’t be worthy of the author of The Martian if Jazz wasn’t a smart-ass who can come up with solutions worthy of Mark Watney.
The book is very readable, and while you can probably find dozens of plot, logic, character and random setup faults, it does not matter. It’s fun nevertheless.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ ?