Artemis by Andy Weir

I was late on the Andy Weir bandwagon. I somehow missed all the initial fuss over The Martian and didn't get around to reading it until the movie was just about out. I still haven't seen the movie. They followed the movie with an announcement for his new book: Artemis. Then I had to wait. I hate waiting mainly because I have a tendency to lose track of things. I forgot about it until last June when I put a request on in in the library. It took a month for my turn to come up, but eventually the time was mine.

Artemis is another sci-fi of the old school focused on the science and its possibilities, or maybe more exactly it's a crime caper set in a classic sci-fi story. This one is set on a moon base in the nearish future. A small community lives there full time in a city called Artemis. This city is separated into several interconnected domes that represent a full social diversity from the rich rich and all the way down to the impoverished. Jazz, our protagonist, is pretty far down the social chain. She's a porter, a delivery girl, and a small time smuggler on the side.

Weir spent a lot of time getting the science right, or at least feasible. Oxygen is produced on site as a by-product of the aluminum smelting industry. The process is a little mysterious, but the theory sounds possible. Jazz gets involved in it when one of her clients asks her to do a little sabotage to break the monopoly that the Aluminun Smelters have.

Of course, Jazz doesn't have the whole story and quickly finds out that she's one tiny cog in interlocking plots of corporate espionage. She's in over head and learning to doggy paddle.

Jazz is an interesting character. She's angry at the world and brilliant. Her ability to improvise and plan is insane and her ability to teach herself everything from metallurgy to chemistry makes her a near genius. In fact, her blatant intelligence occasionally broke my ability to believe the story. I'm a teacher... an ability to learn like that is rare if not impossible. It strained my willing suspension of disbelief. However, as a whole she's pretty likable.

As a final assessment, Artemis is reminiscent of the literature of the golden age of sci fi in both the positive and negative ways. On the positive, the science is interesting and probably mostly feasible. The one place I noticed Weir fudging was in the aluminum smelting process. The rest of it all seemed very well researched and explained and that includes architecture, the specifics of living surrounded by a vacuum, and specific concerns of living on a moon base. On the negative, the characters are a little cartooney and have a broader base of expertise than is really possible. All in all, a lot of fun.