When I was a kid, my family would always take trips to Florida to Disney World. Like most middle class families in America, we had to make the mandatory pilgrimage to pay tribute to the Mouse. While my sister loved the Magic Kingdom or MGM Studios (now called Hollywood Studios), I always loved EPCOT. Yeah, I was that kid. Trust me, I've been a nerd my whole life. I was amazed by the world of the future that they had built into the rides. Especially at the climatic point of Spaceship Earth, where you look out over the desolate landscape of the moon to see our little blue marble floating in the empty darkness. It made you feel that this view may be commonplace someday. "Artemis" by Andy Weir gives me that same feeling.
The basic plot of "Artemis" tells the story of Jazz Bashara, a woman who is part of the blue-collar, working class of Artemis, the first permanent settlement on the moon. She's spent most of her life in this literal celestial city and has always scrounged for what she has. That is, until she takes a job from one of the lunar elites that will make her a made woman: sabotage the aluminum mining facility on the outskirts of the city. She'll have more money than she will ever need, if she can survive.
There are two things in Andy Weir's novels that put them above others in my mind. First, is the sarcastic wit that Weir writes into his protagonists. I've seen a lot of reviews claiming that Jazz is just the female version of Mark Watney, the main character from "The Martian." However, I feel that it works for what is going on here. She's got to make light of her predicament, its her coping mechanism. Sometimes, I feel that some critics forget that you are allowed to have humor and fun, even in hard sci-fi. The second thing is the technical detail that went into making the world. It makes the world feel real, vibrant, and most importantly, lived in. All of these connect to make an exciting story that I found hard to put down.
All in all, if you would like a story with a snarky protagonist in a world that could most certainly be real in the near future, then pick up "Artemis."
- Toad
