Artemis appears to be Andy Weir’s sophomore slump
The American writer’s first novel, The Martian – the story of an astronaut stranded alone on Mars – was one of the most exciting, interesting and compelling science fiction adventures of recent years
Unfortunately, exciting, interesting and compelling are three of the things that its successor, Artemis, is not
Weir shoots for the moon with his second novel, stationing the proceedings on Earth’s satellite where a lunar city serves as the centre of the action
The protagonist is Jazz Bashara, a porter and smuggler of Saudi origin who moved to Artemis, the city on the Moon, when she was six
Now in her 20s, she has established a reputation for drinking and sleeping around, having given up her religion, much to the disappointment of her welder father Ammar, who is a devout Muslim
When an underhanded businessman offers her the chance to make a fortune by sabotaging a rival company, she hatches an outlandish plan to carry out the job
But her scheme doesn’t go quite as planned, and she ends up running into a conspiracy that could have dire consequences
Admittedly, the setting – the Moon! – is quite fascinating and it is fun to read about the lunar city and what it might be like to actually live on the lunar surface one day
Moreover, Weir is clearly adept at weaving science into his tales
All that, sadly, is undercut by a convoluted plot that is just plain ludicrous when it isn’t busy being preposterous
It also doesn’t help that Jazz is about as irritating as a protagonist can be
A grown woman with the personality of a teenage boy, she seems immature, lazy, unnecessarily profane, amoral, and the opposite of bright
We’re repeatedly told that Jazz is very intelligent but she never bothers to actually demonstrate said intelligence at any point
She is meant to be witty, but her attempts at humour are groan-inducing
And why should we care about the fate of a reckless smuggler-turned-saboteur? Weir doesn’t venture towards an explanation
The Martian was a triumph because Mark Watney was working against astronomical odds, struggling for survival
Jazz, on the other hand, is trying to make a quick buck by destroying someone else’s property, causing extensive damage, and putting hundreds of lives at risk
All that – even if seen under the light of the absurd conspiracy – does not make her someone to root for
Weir tries to create a multicultural society, but instead of coming up with something smart, he keeps stumbling on stereotypes
Parts of his characterisations are cringe worthy; others are downright offensive
Everyone appears to have been given a nationality, religion and sexual orientation seemingly at random
The supporting characters seem like they are diverse just for the sake of diversity, like a quota was kept in mind
There are plot points that ultimately don’t go anywhere
The pacing is off
The dialogues seem forced and unnatural
Too much goes wrong in this one read
Artemis is one giant leap in the wrong direction for Weir
But what’s most frustrating about the book is that it could actually have been very interesting if better executed
At its core, there really is a fascinating idea – colonising the Moon and all its wonderful, messy outcomes
Had this premise not been paired with an unsatisfying caper featuring a grating heroine, we might have landed on a tale that wasn’t this disappointing
Date: | 15-Jun-2019 | Reference: | View Original Link |
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