ARTEMIS

5 stars out of 5

Okay, I'm Jazzed.

Finally - a heroine who's independent, feisty and could give MacGyver a run for his money. That much of the time Jasmine ("Jazz") Bashara skirts the edge of the law makes her all the more interesting. Throw in a kinky sense of humor that doesn't let up from start to finish, and I'm in it all the way.

Jazz, now in her mid-20s, has lived in Artemis - the first and so far only city on the moon - since early childhood. Residents live and work in five self-contained spheres called bubbles that have numerous fail-safes to protect residents from an unfriendly moon atmosphere. People come from all parts of Earth to live and visit (tourism is big business, and trips from Artemis to Earth take half a dozen days or so). Jazz herself is from Saudi Arabia, brought by her father, who practices the welding trade in his adopted city. They aren't particularly close - for openers, he's a practicing Muslim and she has no interest in any kind of religion.

Because it's forging new territory, life on Artemis isn't as fully regimented as is Earth; some rules, for instance, like no firearms (or fire of any kind, for that matter), are more stringent, mostly for safety reasons. In addition to her regular but peon-type job, Jazz has been smuggling goodies up from Earth for quite some time. But because she's almost desperate to earn lots of money (called "slugs" on Artemis) so she can move out of her coffin-like living quarters and eat food that isn't reminiscent of Soylent Green, she's hoping for something closer to a windfall.

Then along comes her big chance, in the form of filthy rich businessman Trond Landvik. He's consumed with the notion of putting Artemis's huge aluminum smelting operation out of commission so he can buy it at a fire-sale price and take over. Knowing her proclivity with a blowtorch (some skills she bothered to learn from her father) and willingness to color outside the lines, he offers Jazz a monumental amount of slugs if she can disable the company's four "harvesters" that gather rocks from the moon for use in the smelting process.

Needless to say, things don't exactly go according to plan, and Jazz and her cohorts more than once find themselves between a rock and a hard place (literally). Telling more would ruin the story for others, though, so you'll just have to read it to find out who wins and who loses. 

What I will venture to say is that I liked this book even better than the author's previous book, The Martian, which also earned 5 stars from me (and FYI, each of the two books stands totally alone). Admittedly, Jazz can grate on the nerves a bit, although overall I enjoyed the heck out of her sense of humor. And as was the case in The Martian, the technical stuff is both educational and fun but can be a bit overwhelming at times. 

But in the end, I loved it. Many thanks to the publisher (via NetGalley) for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Artemis by Andy Weir (Crown, November 2017); 320 pp.