Review: Artemis - Andy Weir

WELCOME TO ARTEMIS. The first city on the moon.
Population 2,000. Mostly tourists.
Some criminals.

Jazz Bashara is a criminal. She lives in a poor area of Artemis and subsidises her work as a porter with smuggling contraband onto the moon. But it’s not enough.

So when she’s offered the chance to make a lot of money she jumps at it. But though planning a crime in 1/6th gravity may be more fun, it’s a lot more dangerous…

Visit Andy Weir's blog for more information

Review:
I absolutely loved The Martian so of course Artemis went straight to the top of my wish list the minute I heard about it. I'll tell you upfront that this is very different to Andy Weir's first story but it was still a great read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Jazz is a criminal who makes her money smuggling contraband into Artemis, the first city built on the moon. She's not the biggest crime lord on the block but she's fiercely independent and smart enough to work the system in her own favour. When she's offered the chance to cash in on the job of a lifetime she jumps at it thinking she'll finally have enough money to start living the high life that Artemis is so well known for but it doesn't take long before things go horribly wrong when her contact is murdered. She soon finds herself in the middle of a war, caught between the mob on one side and the police on the other. Her only chance of survival is pulling of a heist that is so tricky it's just as likely to be the death of her rather than the salvation she desperately needs.

Artemis is such a fun read, very fast paced and full of action it was hard to put down once I'd started reading. I loved Jazz, she was snarky and sarcastic, a little too mouthy for her own good and very sure of herself but she has the skills to back up her confidence and I enjoyed seeing her work out how to achieve her goals. This story was a lot lighter than The Martian and a very different tone but Andy Weir still excels at making science interesting and including all sorts of fascinating information in his stories that just make his worlds feel even more believable. We have a larger cast of characters here and they all had their own personality quirks and added something unique to the story.

Although this story works perfectly as a stand alone I can't help hoping that the author will revisit this world again in the future, I'd definitely be happy to see this turned into a series. Either way Andy Weir has earned a spot on my auto buy authors list and I'm looking forward to seeing where his imagination will take us next.

Source: Received from Del Rey in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
Hot Listens
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of 2017

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week has a different theme & you can find all the details about how to join in HERE.

Today's topic is Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of 2017. (Yes I realise I'm posting this on a Wednesday but I already had something scheduled for yesterday!)

1. Wildfire - Ilona Andrews - This is kind of a cheat since I have an arc so I've already read it (twice!) but I'm such a fangirl of everything Ilona and Gordon write and this series is my favourite so I HAD to include it!
2. Silver Silence - Nalini Singh - I'd also include Archangel's Viper on this list because I adore both the Psy-Changeling and the Guild Hunter series.
3. The Scorpion Trap - Pippa DaCosta - If you like the sound of Egyptian gods roaming around modern day New York then you HAVE to give this series a try!
4. Godsgrave - Jay Kristoff - Nevernight was one of my favourite books last year so this one was a no brainer, I can't wait for more of Mia and Mr Kindly's adventures.
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Illustrated Edition - J.K. Rowling & Jim Kay - I've read this whole series a million times but it'll never be too many and these illustrated editions are absolutely gorgeous.
6. The Language of Thorns - Leigh Bardugo - I love the Grisha world so I'm excited to go back to it with this collection of short stories. I'm also really looking forward to her upcoming superhero book Wonder Woman: War Bringer.
7. Renegades - Marissa Meyer - I'm really excited we're seeing a trend of superhero books this year, I've enjoyed everything else Marissa Meyer has written so I have very high hopes for this new duology.
8. Artemis - Andy Weir - I loved The Martian so Artemis jumped to the top of my wish list the minute I heard about it.
9. La Belle Sauvage - Philip Pullman - I read the Dark Materials series when it was first released, in fact I've reread it too many times to count over the years so I'm thrilled he's decided to return to this world.
10. Forest of a Thousand Lanterns - Julie C Dao - Not only is the cover for this one beautiful but it's also described as "The Wrath and the Dawn meets Snow White and the Huntsman in this dark and mystical East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend" and I can't possibly resist a blurb like that!

Book & Movie Review: The Martian - Andy Weir

I'm stranded on Mars.

I have no way to communicate with Earth.

I'm in a Habitat designed to last 31 days.

If the Oxygenator breaks down, I'll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I'll die of thirst. If the Habitat breaches, I'll just kind of explode.

If none of these things happen, I'll eventually run out of food and starve to death.

So Yeah. I'm screwed.

Visit Andy Weir's blog for more information

Review:
Mark Watney is part of a six man mission to Mars, the plan is to spend thirty days on the planet carrying out various experiments but just six days into the mission a major storm changes their plans and they have to evacuate. Unfortunately Mark has an accident as they're leaving and the others, presuming he's dead, are forced to leave him behind. Now Mark is trapped, completely alone on a planet over 50 million miles from home with no way to contact Earth. He's in a habitat that's only designed for short term use and he only has enough supplies to last a year (and that's if he rations them!). That might not be so bad if the next mission from Earth wasn't four years away but as things stand he's completely screwed.

What follows is a bit like Robinson Crusoe on Mars only Mark's chances of survival are much, much lower, in fact he's facing pretty impossible odds whichever way you choose to look at things. The good news is that Mark is well trained, he's a mechanical engineer and a botanist which might just save his life. If Mark can figure out a way to grow crops on a planet with no soil he might be able to make enough food to stay alive long enough for a rescue mission to reach him. Of course it's not quite as simple as that and there are lots of other issues to deal with but food has got to be one of the top priorities.

The Martian is one of my favourite books of 2015, I wanted to read it after seeing trailers for the movie but I had no idea how much I'd end up loving it. Mark's story captured me from the very first page and I absolutely devoured it. The main part of the book is told in the form of Mark's daily mission logs but as we get further along and people on Earth realise he survived the initial accident we start to see what's happening at the NASA base and how they are doing their best to rescue him. It's funny because The Martian is quite a science heavy story which isn't usually the kind of thing that appeals to me but the science is told in such a straightforward and personable manner that I didn't find it at all overwhelming. In fact I was just fascinated by Mark's thought processes and the various tasks and goals he set himself in order to survive.

Mark's a great narrator, he's in this horrendous situation with very little chance of actually surviving but he still manages to keep his sense of humour and I was surprised how many times I laughed while reading this book. Nothing quite goes to plan for him though, every time he solves one problem and thinks he has things figured out something will happen that throws everything back up in the air again. Mars is an incredibly hostile environment and I think the planet is trying to tell him something - humans just aren't meant to survive out there.

Considering I picked this book up on a whim to read before the movie came out I'm still surprised by how much I loved it but it's a story I'd recommend to everyone. There was just something about it that completely caught my attention and I loved every minute of it. While I'm on the subject of the movie I thought they did an excellent job with the adaptation. Obviously it doesn't follow the story 100% but movies never do, it included all of the major plot points though and more importantly it captured the feel of the book. The special effects are phenomenal and I loved Matt Damon's portrayal of Mark. Both the book and the movie are well worth checking out, personally I'd recommend reading the book first but I think that pretty much goes without saying!

Just in case I haven't convinced you here's the movie trailer to really catch your interest.



Source: Purchased

Other reviews of this book:
Hot Listens
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle: