Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Artemis, by Andy Weir


Artemis, by Andy Weiris a science fiction novel revolving around the first lunar colony, specifically the main smuggler in the colony. Jasmine Bashara (Jazz) has lived in Artemis since she was six, with her father, Ammar Bashara. Jasmine has plans to become rich one day, thus the smuggling, with the help of her pen pal from Earth, Kelvin. But as of now, she works a low paying job as a porter, trying to work her way up to an EVA master so she can give tours as another source of income. One of the richest men in town, Trond Landvik, calls upon her to act as a saboteur, she is quite skeptical. It's quite out of her skill set, but then Trond offers her 1,000,000 slugs (Artemisian currency). Quite enough to retire. Jazz accepts to help Trond, and, if she succeeds, she'll be rich, Trond will gain control of an important contract that will help him wrest control over the oxygen manufacturing industry, and everyone will be happy. But then the plan goes wrong: Jazz is on the run from the Brazilian Mafia, O Palácio, her smuggling gig falls apart, Trond and his bodyguard have been murdered, and nobody quite knows what Jin Chu, a businessman from Hong Kong is doing with a secret project labled ZAFO.

I think that this book was very well written, involving a good mix of the science fiction and criminal genres, and Weir's use of sciences (physics and chemistry) added to the authenticity. The plot takes an interesting path and the characters are very well developed. Artemis is very detailed and thought provoking, and it has a creative setting. I would highly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys books involving a criminal protagonist or science fiction. I enjoyed the cunning and intelligence found in the protagonists (and the antagonists) and the only part I even remotely disliked was the over explanation of how certain processes work.

Reviewed by Eubank C., Grade 9
Montrose Library



1 comment:

Teen Speak said...

Jasmine Bashara is a woman living on Artemis, a lunar colony on the Moon. Working as a porter and a smuggler, she is desperately searching for money to move out of her tiny home. When the wealthy (and slightly crooked) businessman Trond Landvik gives her a deal for a million slugs (the currency of Artemis), she can't decline. All she has to do is disable the harvesters (the machines that gather moon rocks to produce aluminum and oxygen) of Sanchez Aluminum, who provide the oxygen that Artemis needs. Trond would then step in and take the job of Artemis' oxygen supplier. However, Jazz finds out that Sanchez Aluminum is actually owned by O Palácio, Brazil's most powerful gang. Things turn bloody when one of O Palácio's killers begin hunting Jasmine down. Jasmine, along with her friends and family, decide to cripple Sanchez Aluminum and O Palácio one final time- ridding Artemis of organized crime.

Artemis by Andy Weir is a hard science fiction novel that I really enjoyed reading. I loved the extreme detail and scientific accuracy Weir used in his novel, which wasn't surprising- most of his novels have a ton of research put into them. I didn't really dislike any part of this story. I think that people who enjoy accurate science fiction would enjoy this novel. If anyone is interested in space travel or colonies, this would be a very interesting book for them. This book made me think about the possibility of people living on places other than Earth. Many parts of the book were action-packed and funny, and it was all in all a good read. I definitely recommend this book to others, as I enjoyed it very much

Reviewed by NK, Grade 10
Montrose Library