Artemis, by Andy Weir

Andy Weir struck publishing gold with The Martian, which he published himself online before it became a best-seller and a motion picture.  So can he do it again, with Artemis?  Yes and no.  Artemis followed a more traditional publishing track, and tells a more conventional sci-fi story.  Yet it retains much of the character and attention to science details that made The Martian such a hit.

Artemis is the moon's city, now populated by a couple thousand people, supporting fledgling industries, and hosting tourists from Earth.  It's very much a frontier town, and Jazz Bashara is one of the first generation of people to grow up on the moon.  She works as a porter but supplements her income with some smuggling.  When a local billionaire recruits her for a bit of sabotage, she gets gets pulled into a scheme that has far-reaching effects on the future of Artemis.

Weir has a great talent for providing enough scientific and technical detail for the not-so-distant future story to be believable, but in a way that doesn't detract from the story.  In Artemis, the story is pretty wild, with Jazz nearly shutting down a major lunar industry and nearly killing every human on the moon.  It's a fast-paced tale told by an emerging master story teller.

Will Artemis surpass the success of The Martian?  Perhaps not.  But it's certainly an enjoyable follow up.  Readers who like their sci-fi full of hard science, believable story lines, and absent made-up magic or alien tech will love Artemis and should have Andy Weir near the top of any list of best current sci-fi authors.


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!