It’s not a new concept-it goes back to the Apollo days. That gives us the right amount of oxygen while minimizing pressure on the hulls. So Artemis’s air is pure oxygen at 20 percent Earth’s air pressure. The rest is stuff human bodies don’t need like nitrogen and argon. There’s nothing more annoying than trust-fund boys looking for “moon poon.”Įarth’s air is 20 percent oxygen. If my neighborhood were wine, connoisseurs would describe it as “shitty, with overtones of failure and poor life decisions.” Writing I highlighted because I laughed, learned something, gleaned an insight, or just nerded out on because it was well done. The story languishes as scientific explanations drag on, and while Jazz has some good moments firing off smart one-liners, she’s just too overpowered to be believable. It just isn’t as compelling and funny as what I’ve come to expect from Weir. I’m just not that interested in how various gases behave, or the industrial process behind melting metal.Īrtemis isn’t awful. But there’s too much exposition this time. And Weir’s characteristic scientific rigor is here, as always. On the moon, Weir’s jokes don’t land as smoothly as the Apollo 11 once did.

But the main character, a young porter and smuggler named Jasmine 'Jazz' Bashara, seems awfully adept at metallurgy, space welding, and advanced off-planet ventilation concepts for someone who works as a porter and smuggler. The concept for Artemis is interesting enough: a crime caper on a moon settlement, complete with mobsters, government corruption, and corporate misbehaviors.

“The Martian” and “ Project Hail Mary” are two of my favorite sci-fi reads ever.īut in “Artemis,” Weir’s tried-and-true formula misses the mark. Sprinkle in some humor for warmth, and voila. Andy Weir has a pretty reliable book formula: use science to both complicate, and then resolve, problems for the protagonists in his books.

Artemis by Andy Weir