Book Review: Artemis by Andy Weir
Three Stars
“I have a plan.” “A plan? Your plans are … uh … should I hide somewhere?”
The good news is that Andy Weir is not a one hit wonder; he writes gripping, realistic science fiction. The bad news is his reliance on profanity to express his characters. (Cost him a star.) Good plotting, good foreshadowing. The usual superabundance of happy coincidences and good luck
“People trust a reliable criminal more readily than a shady businessman.”
Jasmine is a totally unsympathetic character. If anything she’s pathetic. Given choices, she will always take the more self-centered and antisocial. It’s hard to like her, but she has grit and standards. A wet, shivering, but rabid pit bull puppy.
“I only forgave you because I thought I was going to die.”
Quibbles: Pressurized oxygen pipe on the moon’s surface? “We don’t have weather.” But you do have meteorites. “I might have been on the run my whole life, but I wasn’t willing to go without email.” (Will email exist in 10 years, let alone 60 or 70?)
“When does your victimhood expire?”
Weir understands economics better than some Nobel laureates I could name.
“Building a civilization is ugly, Jasmine. But the alternative is no civilization at all.”
As a Matter of Fancy 