Artemis
Andy Weir
★★★★★ 4/5
Fiction: science fiction, crime, thriller
Outstanding science detail, partially eclipsed by meh characters and writing
Back in 2016, when I was between jobs, I read Andy Weir’s The Martian. That book, among a few things, contributed significantly in rekindling my interest in Astronomy and Space, subsequently leading to several joyful hours of observing and imaging the night sky—not to mention several $$$ of equipment purchase. So I have special regard for Mr. Weir.
In Artemis, his second book, Mr Weir’s attention to science detail and science based problem solving in the plot, are once again outstanding. That of course, is the most important element—why else read sci-fi?—and the reason I give this book four stars. But he regurgitates what feel like the same characters from The Martian in a plot that is less compelling and in many ways ‘made for Hollywood.’
An Intelligent Lunar Heist story
Artemis is a heist/caper story set in the near future (2080s per this author interview) on the namesake human colony on the Moon. Near future SciFi is hard to write: you have to convincingly extrapolate from current scientific progress providing reasonable explanations without room for much hand waving. You cannot, for example take the liberties of hyperdrives and other constructs that far out SciFi casually assumes. And this near future sci-fi is where Mr. Weir seems to excel.
He is a writer who seems to ask how and why something should be in every scene in the location+time he has concocted and goes on to answer that as part of the story. That leads to a lot of detailed descriptions and explanations: the economics of Artemis, its design and construction, and how humans live and survive there, use of lunar resources etc. He sweats the small stuff: how would coffee taste? (ans: terrible) What would stairs look like? How do scenarios like welding and explosions play out on the lunar surface outside Artemis, devoid of atmosphere and hence no sound and no conductive/convective heat transfer and so on…
The Moon’s a nice place to pass out. You hit the ground very gently.
Some find this tedious, like Adam Roberts in this Guardian review. My question is: if you do, why read science fiction? There are tons of other heist books out there!! Needless to say, I enjoyed all of it. It is perhaps the only redeeming feature of otherwise mediocre writing. In fact, I thought that the ‘lecture’ on why the space between the hulls of Artemis’ domes is pressurized to 10% lower than the insides (that the Guardian review specifically mocks) was quite brilliant!
Plot and characters
The plot follows the predictable and timeworn devices of heist thrillers: meticulous planning gone awry with unpleasant surprises; difficulty discerning the truly good guys from the bad in a high stakes environment; where failure equals death—for a lot of people! But the problem solving involves science and redeems the otherwise unimpressive plot. Besides the unremarkable plot construct, I’m also disappointed with Mr. Weir’s writing of the protagonist, Jazz—short for Jasmine. Mr. Weir says he consulted several women (including his mother!) to ensure he got the feminine aspects of Jazz’s personality right. But to me (admittedly, another clueless male) he seems to have failed: for Jazz feels the same as Mark Watney from The Martian.
Forced racial and ethnic diversity?
Mr. Weir makes sure that the characters—esp. heroes— are not all American as is customary in your typical American movie or book. This effort is commendable and much needed. But he goes a tad too far, stretching believability.
I’m willing to buy that the first lunar colony is actually a result of Kenyan ingenuity. But Jazz and her expert welder father are from Saudi Arabia. This is implausible—outlandish even. Saudis notoriously have all of their labor performed by immigrants from South Asia (with few rights and no possibility of citizenship). A Saudi as expert (or rich) businessman? Sure. Welder? Gimme a break! Saudi Arabia is also notoriously conservative and has a poor reputation on womens’ rights. Even as adults, women need a male guardian to approve most activities. Rahaf’s plight in recent news is a case in point. So a practicing Saudi muslim raised in today’s Saudi Arabia, comfortable with a beer loving, promiscuous and non Islam practicing daughter, frequently on the wrong side of the law, seems a little far fetched.
Jazz while in the midst of an explosive emergency: “I knew what I had to do: I’d have to blow the remaining two at the same time. Please don’t quote that last sentence out of context.”
Massive eyeroll! 
Yes, I know it’s fiction set in the future…and things can and will change. But that extrapolation seems a little too wild when Mr. Weir could just have written Jazz and her father as nationals of one of several other more modern and moderate Islamic countries.
All in all:
The plot and character limitations partially eclipse a brilliant book (see what I did there ?
) but there’s plenty of cool lunar light shining through for sci-fi lovers. I enjoyed it and will likely read the next book by Andy Weir—but only if it is sci-fi.
5 thoughts on “Artemis”
Great write-up! Other reviews pointing at regurgitated characters and a Hollywood plot made me decide to skip this, as to me it felt like Weir not had nothing new to say, but found himself all of a sudden a success after the Martian – which was an amateur labor of love. My guess is that Weir is not really a ‘true’ writer/artist, but an amateur/fan-writer that now tries to cash in on his success by using a similar formula coupled with another popular format, the heist. This is not to shit on The Martian, that was rightfully so a success, but I’m pretty sure his third book will be even worse than Artemis.
Sorry for not seeing this earlier—was marked as spam which I seldom check.
I think of Andy Weir as a science and sci fi lover turned writer, given how he sweats the small stuff. The characters, plot etc. is then “Hollywoodized” for mass appeal. His third book, Project Hail Mary, I agree was not as good. I review that here: https://www.starvind.com/bookreviews/project-hail-mary/
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