ARTEMIS

Andy Weir’s new novel moves from the world of Martian astronaut/potato farmer Mark Watney to the safer confines of Earth’s moon. I did like The Martian (see my review of 4/15/2014), but was mostly bored with the predominantly solo character novel. In Artemis, I wasn’t bored, but I wasn't enthralled either. Mr. Weir seems to get close to novel perfection but somehow missed his orbit on both novels. I wasn’t quite thrilled with his wise cracking, small time smuggler Jasmine Bashara, who suddenly turns into a super heroine (so to speak) after a failed attempt to earn a million slugs (Moon money) from one of the Moon’s richest citizens. I realize (that) what I think means very little to Mr. Weir since he probably earned a small fortune with his first novel’s movie receipts, but literature is literature. Neither of his novels are going to claim a piece of the Great American Novel. That term was first articulated by novelist John William Deforest in 1868, and he thought that Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (see my review of 12/9/2012) was “the nearest approach to the desired phenomenon.” Anyway, I’m not saying Andy Weir is a commercial writer, but he hasn’t jettisoned from that stigma yet either. Mr. Weir’s novels remind me of American astronaut Alan Shepard, who was rocketed 116 miles up and down in a fifteen minute flight...unlike John Glenn’s actual three orbit ride. So what am I trying to say? I’m saying...write an American classic space opera instead of another inconsequential novel like this one. Take the real orbit ride, not the quick up and down ride. You can do it. Take your time. There’s no rush. You could be the next Issac Asimov. Okay, no more jawing - what’s this almost good novel about?

   

Artemis is a Moon colony with five main aluminum bubbles connected by tunnels no wider than a hallway. Jasmine Bashara (now 26 years old) has lived on the Moon most of her life with her recently alienated father, a master welder. She lives in a tiny enclosure that she calls her coffin, because you can’t stand up in it. She is trying to get her EVA license so she can join the EVA Guild (people who are trained and authorized to go outside the bubbles) and start earning some decent slugs. The Guild takes tourist outside the bubble to tour the Apollo 11 landing site during which the tour leaders wear their EVA suits while the tourists get around in individual hamster bubbles (pretty funny). Jazz (as Jasmine is known by) has recently failed her EVA test because her used faulty suit blew out a valve assembly and she had to run for her life back to the bubble. She couldn’t afford a new suit...it’s a catch 22 situation. Anyway, while she tries to save enough money, she works as a porter and small-time smuggler. One day she is called on her Gizmo (a futuristic smart phone) by one of the Moon’s wealthiest citizens, Trond Landvik. He offers Jazz a million slugs to destroy Sanchez Aluminum’s harvesting equipment. The Sanchez company makes oxygen for Artemis by separating anorthite rocks into aluminum, silicon, calcium and oxygen. Since they supply oxygen for the colony, Sanchez gets all the electricity they want for free. It’s a symbiotic relationship. Trond tells Jazz, “For the last four months, I’ve been collecting oxygen and storing it away. I have enough to supply the entire city’s needs for over a year.” Does Trond want to destroy Sanchez aluminum so he can take over their city contract, or does he have other motives?

Jazz says, “You want me to stop Sanchez’s oxygen production?” “Yes, I do.” He stood from his chair and walked over to the liquor credenza. This time he selected a bottle of rum. “The city will want a fast resolution and I’ll get the contract. Once that happens, I won’t even have to build my own smelter. Sanchez will see the futility of trying to make aluminum without free power and they’ll let me buy them outright.” Who really owns Sanchez Aluminum? Is Jazz about to open up a can of worms? You will have to read the next 262 pages to find out. One thing that Andy Weir did that was clever was the emailing back and forth from Jazz on the Moon to Kelvin at Earth’s KSC complex in Kenya (since they were each nine years old). Kenya set up the Moon base in the beginning and now KSC acts like a bank for Artemis converting Earth currencies to slugs. The sporadic conversations between the two gives the reader all the background information he/she needs without having some of the chapters in the past and some of the chapters in the present. For that I congratulate the author. I thought his prose could have been better - a lot of it was rudimentary. If my first paragraph analogy seemed space themed...it was done so on purpose. I did like the novel, but I think the author can do much better, especially in picking out the right story to tell.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: This the second time that Andy Weir has written a space opera (a novel set in outer space), but neither were great novels. I’m waiting for him to come up with a classic, like Arthur C. Clarke’s 1968 novel, 2001: a Space Odyssey (which became a four book series). Or Isaac Asimov’s 1951 novel, Foundation (which became a seven volume series). Or Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune (which became a six volume series). Do you see what I’m getting at? Write one great novel and the others will naturally follow along with many possible Hugo Awards.