Book Review: Artemis by Andy Weir

One gets the impression, with his sophomore effort, that Andy Weir, author of the bestselling novel The Martian, is likely to only ever write one sort of book, a meticulously researched technothriller, set in space, that lurches paper-thin characters from one disaster to another. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Much like John Clancy, with his more earth-bound technothrillers (starting with The Hunt for Red October), Weir has created a new sub-genre of fiction that we didn’t know we needed. And Artemis proves that he is still its master.

Artemis is about Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara, a petty criminal living on the moon at some unspecified time in the future. Why people are living on the moon, in a collection of domes that form the city of Artemis, is never quite explained, but Jazz spends most of her time smuggling cigars and other contraband while trying to earn enough money to pay off a personal debt. When a wealthy customer recruits her to sabotage the competition, which would allow him to take control of local aluminum production, things inevitably go bad, leading to murder, mayhem and a technically detailed “heist” that will set things right and save Artemis.

One criticism that Weir probably heard often in response to The Martian was that his characters were too good. They were too noble, and too component, and just all around too decent. Characters need flaws, because we all have them, and complete fictional characters should cast an accurate reflection of the human condition. Weir’s response to this criticism was to make the main character of his next book a criminal, and to give less-than-honorable motivations to many of his secondary characters. But his approach to characters has a sort of check-the-box result that lacks any real depth. Jazz has a history, a family, relationships and ambitions that all seem to point to the existence of a well-drawn character, but that for some reason don’t really add up to one. She has her flaws, almost painted in big letters across her forehead, but that doesn’t make her a more well-developed character than Mark Watney (The Martian). And that’s okay. Nobody reads an Andy Weir novel looking for deep characterization. They come for geeky space tech and the thrills of the adventure.

Andy Weir, like his characters, brings a great deal of technical competence to his work. Artemis, like The Martian before it, is an eminently readable and well-paced novel. The plot is logically constructed and leads to an ultimately satisfying conclusion. It offers nothing in the way of a profound statement on humanity or our place in the universe, but it is a very entertaining and engaging piece of fiction. A-

The Martian: Book Review

The Martian, by Andy Weir, a science fact heavy science fiction novel about an astronaut abandoned on Mars, started life as a self-published freebie available on the Internet. In October it will debut as a science fiction blockbuster film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. In between, one of those unlikely ‘self-published book becomes bestselling novel’ things happened that had everyone talking.

The Martian of the title is Mark Watney, an American astronaut blown away from his crewmates in the middle of a dust storm, and left for dead when said storm forces an evacuation of the planet. With no means of communicating with Earth (the main antenna having been destroyed in the storm) Watney has to figure out how to survive alone on Mars until the next mission arrives four years later. Fortunately for him, his skill sets include both botany and engineering, which come in handy for growing food and re-purposing equipment. 

The Martian is a very technical novel, providing a detailed look at the challenges Watney faces on Mars and the solutions he comes up with to survive. The character has little depth beyond his wisecrackery and technical skills, and seems to operate in two modes, “Holy shit, I’m going to die” and “No, wait, I’ve thought of a brilliant solution.” I imagine the mental toll of living alone a year and half under the constant threat of death would be enormous on a real person, but the novel never really explores much more than the technical challenges of Watney’s survival.

The novel starts off with a strong first person narrative, in the form of Watney’s mission logs, but eventually resorts to a series of third person narratives for scenes involving NASA personnel and Watney’s crewmates. Some of these sections feel random and haphazardly placed. None of the other characters are more than paper-thin. Watney is the best-developed character in the book, and that is not saying much. There is no doubt that many of the obstacles to survival and rescue faced by Watney (and those at NASA trying to get him home) could have proved fatal, but by the end of the book it seemed like the author was just throwing in extra difficulties for the hell of it. Still, this mashup of Apollo 13 and Castaway is both compelling and entertaining and should make a hell of a movie. B+