Artemis
A Novel
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4.2, 1.3K Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The bestselling author of The Martian returns with an irresistible new near-future thriller—a heist story set on the moon.
Jasmine Bashara never signed up to be a hero. She just wanted to get rich.
Not crazy, eccentric-billionaire rich, like many of the visitors to her hometown of Artemis, humanity’s first and only lunar colony. Just rich enough to move out of her coffin-sized apartment and eat something better than flavored algae. Rich enough to pay off a debt she’s owed for a long time.
So when a chance at a huge score finally comes her way, Jazz can’t say no. Sure, it requires her to graduate from small-time smuggler to full-on criminal mastermind. And it calls for a particular combination of cunning, technical skills, and large explosions—not to mention sheer brazen swagger. But Jazz has never run into a challenge her intellect can’t handle, and she figures she’s got the ‘swagger’ part down.
The trouble is, engineering the perfect crime is just the start of Jazz’s problems. Because her little heist is about to land her in the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself.
Trapped between competing forces, pursued by a killer and the law alike, even Jazz has to admit she’s in way over her head. She’ll have to hatch a truly spectacular scheme to have a chance at staying alive and saving her city.
Jazz is no hero, but she is a very good criminal.
That’ll have to do.
Propelled by its heroine’s wisecracking voice, set in a city that’s at once stunningly imagined and intimately familiar, and brimming over with clever problem-solving and heist-y fun, Artemis is another irresistible brew of science, suspense, and humor from #1 bestselling author Andy Weir.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Andy Weir isn’t optimistic about humans inhabiting the moon. The author of the runaway bestseller The Martian imagines the the first lunar city, Artemis, as an expensive capitalist outpost where money talks and corporations talk loudest. Like his debut’s hero, astronaut Mark Watney, Weir’s protagonist Jazz Bashara—a down-on-her-heels porter—is scrappy, flawed, and likable. Her hopes for a better life seem like an impossible dream until she receives a proposition from an eccentric, wealthy Norwegian. We loved following Jazz’s scheme as it nearly spirals out of control. Artemis is full of thrilling twists and intricate dystopian visions.
Customer Reviews
Flawed but enjoyable
Stronger writing than Weir’s first outing in The Martian, with impeccable speculative science fiction. But he’s still an enthusiast more than a novelist, and this book should be regarded primarily as a (worthwhile, excellent) piece of well structured science communication for anyone interested in the practical nuts & bolts realities of lunar colonies. Did you ever wish 2001: A Space Odyssey had spent even more time on worldbuilding its depiction of routinized space station hotels and livable gravity centrifuges? This is the book for you.
The story is a lovely swashbuckling heist, with the expected Weirian knack for making airlocks-and-EVA-suits life or death drama compelling. But as with Martian, some—albeit fewer—character moments will make you wince. Don’t expect to have your breath taken away by soaring dialogue, nor your heart moved by genuine human moments evocatively rendered. The story is a vehicle for the aspects of the spec-fictional lunar colony Andy wanted to explore, and it does that ably. But he’s no Bradbury or Huxley—the human element such as it is very much serves the mechanics of the (inventive, elaborate, worthy) worldbuilding exercise, rather than the other way ‘round.
Loved it
If you loved The Martian then you can expect this to be a hit. The level of technical detail in his writing is what brings me back. And what’s not to love about a story based in a futuristic moon colony?
Such a thrilling read!
Huge fan of Andy since the Martian days, and I was worried Artemis wouldn’t live up to its predecessor. Boy, I was so happy to find out my fears were unfounded.
While the theme of space is identical to the Martian, the story is fresh and just as thrilling. I highly recommend anyone who became lost in the pages of the Martian to pick up a copy of Artemis!
