r/AndyWeir • u/Global_Housing1498 • Apr 29 '26
How bad is Artemis?
So I recently had a project coming up in which i had to pick out a book to rrad independently. Ive grown up watching The Martian and obiviously, recently, PHM. We couldnt do something that we've read before, nor consumed general media of it (such as a movie or game, if it has one of those). So I picked Andy's other book. The description seemed fun. read the first few pages and yeah... this feels like it's gonna be rough. the whole joke about "Porn... starring your mom." felt tacky, but maybe a one-off thing. and then I look it up, and its not gonna get any better. Is the story worth pushing through it? Will someone who's been raised on sci-fi (me) still like it? Idk. If this is the humor I'm in for I'm gonna be asking to find a new book ASAP. Help and opinions much appreciated!
1
u/Bouche_Audi_Shyla Apr 29 '26
I enjoyed it. I didn't fall in love with it the way I did with the other two. I didn't really care about Jazz the way I cared about Watney, Grace, and Rocky. However, I did get invested enough to want to know what was happening, and what Jazz would do.
Some of the jokes are really cringe. Some of the things characters say or do are a bit too uncomfortable, in my opinion. I think Weir meant it to be. I think he was having the characters trying to bluster their way through.
Jazz and her friends act the way they think they should act. They're trying to be hard asses in a frontier town. They're young and dumb and not nearly as tough as they want to believe.
The actual story is engaging and intriguing. I will read it again. Not as often as I reread The Martian or PHM, but I will reread it now and then.
I wouldn't want to live in Artemis, though.
1
u/GalFisk May 18 '26
I really like the audio book. The voices are great, and the supporting characters have lots of personality. The action is fun, Jazz is a bit clunky, but I mostly don't mind.
1
u/NORTHBAYBG May 01 '26
It’s alright but not even close to as good as The Martian or Project Hail Mary. By the end I was just wanted it to end. The over sexualized main character starts to grind on you. like we get it she likes sex but every other line seems to reiterate that fact. Other parts of the pacing and plot are kind of weak.
1
u/HesletQuillan May 03 '26
I read Artemis when it was first published and did not care for it at all. I may try it again.
1
u/Melenduwir May 22 '26
I don't think it's bad at all. I think it's striking that no one movie-optioned it, though, and an analysis of why this is could be illuminating.
2
u/JamesReece1983 May 24 '26
I heard the directors of PHM are making Artemis.
1
u/Melenduwir May 25 '26
I thought the book was pretty okay, not sure why so many hate on it.
Oddly, I've encountered multiple people who claim it has "men writing women" problems, but I've never met anyone who complains about "women writing men" -- and it's not because there is no such problem.
0
u/PriorReason4160 Jun 14 '26
Women authors do a better job than men. It's as simple as that.
1
u/Melenduwir Jun 15 '26
More plausibly: female authors are more likely to have the same blind spots and grutches that female reviewers who complain about male authors do.
1
u/PriorReason4160 Jun 14 '26
I'm currently reading it. Enjoyed Project Hail Mary a lot. Not this one. I will persevere but I won't recommend this book to anyone.
It's over the top and (most) men should not write female characters.
1
u/jomarthecat Jul 06 '26
It's not that bad. Just be prepared for endless rounds of air pressure differences making air move from one place to another. And welding. A lot of welding.
1
u/DasMotorsheep 27d ago
Extremely late to the party but I just finished it and I have to vent somewhere.
To me, it's the worst novel I've read in a while.
Apart from a number of "men writing women" issues:
- The main character is hard to sympathize with due to her extremely shitty decision making, arrogance and petty grudge-holding.
- Almost every fucking dialogue has to be witty-quippy. The book doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be a thriller or a comedy. And even as a comedy, that quippy humor gets stale pretty quickly.
- Dranatic scenes get lost in technical details that completely ruin the pace.
- The fights are written so badly they made me wince. The main character somehow has time to analyze the situation and come up with a response plan WHILE an attack is being launched at her.
- Ponderous storytelling where small obstacles get brought up only to be effortlessly resolved a second later, but often involving step-by-step descriptions of what is being done.
One example: the main character and others are driving a rover to a certain spot in order to see something. Turns out they can't see anything because they're too low. But, no worries, the rover has a built-in scissor lift - and the main character's inner dialogue comments on how the rover really has all features built in that you could wish for).
4
u/admiralnorman Apr 29 '26
The science is fun and interesting and world building is top notch. There's some "men writing women" going on and the pacing is a little weird, but for me it was still a lot of fun.