Artemis: Not the Heist I Was Hoping For

    This is not the review I was hoping to write when I picked up this ARC, and I'm afraid a lot of people are going to be disappointed, but I just had a really hard time getting through this book. I never read The Martian. The idea of a man stranded on Mars just didn't really grab me, but a heist on the moon? Oh yes. When I first heard about Artemis on a podcast this summer I immediately put it on my TBR. I can't say reading it made me want to rush to add The Martian to my TBR.

    Artemis is about a young woman named Jazz. She grew up in Artemis, the first city on the surface of the moon. What appears to be a marvel to tourists is just rock and glass to Jazz. Although her smarts and skills for mechanics and metal work could take her far, she has disappointed her father by choosing the life of a delivery porter, specializing in smuggling illegal goods into Artemis from Earth. Her goal: work as little as possible to pay her debts and live a modest life. But it's not going well for her. She once again fails the test to be an EVA master (someone who take tourists outside the city walls in special suits) and lives in a "coffin" where she can't even stand up straight. Things look up when a wealthy connection provides her with an opportunity she can't turn down. But it all takes a turn for the worst when she realizes there's more at stake than just money...control of Artemis itself.

    Maybe the summary will be enough to pull you in like it was for me, but all in all I was disappointed by this book. I really prefer character driven stories, and this book was mostly plot. Normally, I could get past this but I really did not like Jazz's character. It wasn't just her wasted potential but her cocky attitude and flippant personality. I'm all for flawed characters, but this one had few redeemable qualities for me. Honestly, she often came across as a teenage boy. I didn't feel like I had much of a chance to get to know the minor characters, which in turn left me feeling like there was a major hole in the story. Weir's writing, especially dialogue, felt really forced to me, particularly with the humor. There were a lot of "cringy" scenes and phrases, which sounds silly, but that's really the best way to describe how I felt. I'd be interested to know if this is how The Martian reads as well. Is this Weir's style or just how I felt about Artemis?

    I had high hopes for the heist aspect of the story, but it definitely fell flat for me. I was expecting something similar to Bardugo's Six of Crows for some reason...if anyone is familiar with that. But here, there just weren't any really exciting, gripping moments. Instead there was a lot of technical jargon weighing the story down. Every time something remotely interesting happened I felt like it was interrupted by a lesson on smelting. There are so many more interesting things Weir could have done with the world he created. Instead readers are subjected to paragraph after paragraph of welding explanations, air quality descriptions, and rock/dust composition.

    I don't know, perhaps my hopes for this were too high? I think Weir had some really great world building going for him, but unfortunately what it lacked in depth of character it overloaded with sarcasm and scientific lingo.

Artemis is released November 14, 2017. Thanks to Baker & Taylor for the ARC!

2.5/5 Stars