A review by mallorypen
Artemis by Andy Weir

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I adore this concept, and Andy Weir’s writing makes everything seem incredibly believable. The scientific detail, the clever design of Artemis, the social-economic power plays, the development of the world and the characters are all so well-done.

I listened to an audiobook version, and at the beginning I thought this took forever to get started; however, when I adjusted the playback speed to 1.2x, the story got a whole lot more enjoyable. I was still listening to it more slowly than I would read myself, but that’s the primary reason I gave the book 4 stars. I would need to read it to see if the opening pacing was slow or if I were more annoyed at the speed of narration.

I was mildly skeptical about a man writing a female protagonist; often, that isn’t done well and it’s obvious what the male author is missing. That being said, Weir’s treatment of Jazz was respectful, fleshed out, non-stereotypical, and done in such a way where I would forget this wasn’t a story being told by a woman. Again, the female narrator of the audiobook may have influenced some of that, but overall I wasn’t ever taken out of the story by some misstep from a female characterization.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings