The best-selling author of The Martian returns with an irresistible new near-future thriller – a heist story set on the moon.
Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.
Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself – and that now her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.
Bringing to life Weir’s brash, whip-smart protagonist is actress Rosario Dawson (Marvel’s The Defenders, Sin City, Death Proof). With the breathless immediacy of one realizing they’re one cracked helmet visor away from oblivion, Dawson deftly captures Jazz’s first-person perspective – all while delivering sarcastic Weir-ian one-liners and cracking wise in the face of death. And with a cast of diverse characters from all walks of life calling Artemis home, Dawson tonally somersaults to voice Kenyan prime ministers, Ukrainian scientists, and Saudi welders. It’s a performance that transports listeners right alongside Jazz, matching her step for step on every lunar inch of her pulse-pounding journey.
Another hard scifi thriller by master storyteller Andy Weir! I read the book in a day–it’s a compelling page-turner. His protagonist, Jasmine ‘Jazz’ Bashara, was reminiscent of Heinlein’s Friday–mouthy, ballsy, and savvy. She made a great first person voice. The science and technology of a city on the moon was for the most part well-researched and believable, although I’m still having a problem with 100% O2 atmosphere inside the domes. He harkened it back to the Apollo days, but as I recall, that policy did not turn out well for Apollo 1. Okay, maybe…
Andy Weir does it again The main similarity between âThe Martianâ and Andy Weirâs latest novel âArtemisâ is that both take place in space and both feature a highly intelligent, sarcastic character. There the similarities end. Jazz, the featured character in Weirâs latest book, is a 26 year old woman of Arabic descent who lives on the Moon about a century from now. She is not a scientist or engineer, but rather a full time porter and part time criminal smuggler, living at the bottom of the socio-economic scale. Like…
“It’s the greatest little city in the worlds.” Ok – let me start right here. This is no “The Martian: The Sequel”. It is a completely different story done very differently. I’m guessing there will be A LOT of people who think that’s what they’re getting and get very disappointed when they get this instead. Which is sad, because this really is a very good book.