Fly Me to the Moon

Character Driven, Humorous, and Witty

Artemis by Andy Weir

Genre: Science Fiction

Book information: Hardcover, 305 pages, published by Crown, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, Copyright 2017.

·         ISBN 13: 9780553448122

Setting: The moon, in a small lunar colony known as Artemis.

Summary: Artemis is the first lunar civilization on the moon. Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara has lived on the moon since she was a child. She is clever, resourceful, and a criminal. The only thing Jazz ever wanted in life was to be rich, but on her own with as little effort as possible. Her current job as a porter, a lunar delivery person, barely covers her living expenses, but with a dash of smuggling on the side, she is able to survive, barely. One of her best customers, a wealthy businessman named Trond, offers Jazz a job for more money than she has ever seen. Trond wants Jazz to destroy Sanchez Aluminum's harvesters. Not an impossible task, but if she was caught, she would be sent back to earth, where she might not survive due to being in lunar atmosphere for so long. But for a million slugs? How could she refuse? However, when the job goes south and Trond is mysteriously found dead, Jazz is forced to seek out the truth behind Trond’s intentions and finds herself in the middle of something much larger that could threaten life on the moon. What will Jazz do to save the only home she has ever known?

Elements of Science Fiction

Pace: Intensifying. The story is constantly unfolding with new information that readers sometimes can hardly consider before being swept away by the next piece of action thrown Jazz’s way. As the story goes on, things just can’t seem to go Jazz’s way, but her quick thinking can usually get her out of some pretty sticky situations.

Frame: Weir describes a livable futuristic civilization on the moon, therefore lunar atmosphere laws apply. Weir is able to present the differences in atmosphere through Jazz in an understandable, but technical way so that her actions make sense.

Storyline: Weir writes from a first-person perspective through Jazz, allowing you into her internal thoughts and conflicts she continuously faces difficult situations. Also, since Jazz is on the moon, the outcomes of the actions and decisions she makes are not always the most logical to the reader because things work differently on the moon as they would on earth, giving it a sense of unpredictability     

Characterization: Flawed, but humorous. Jazz has a sarcastic nature and don’t care attitude that gives her a strong female lead, ready to take on whatever people can throw at her.

Tone: Comedic with gritty, sarcastic humor. Jazz has a unique way of explaining things, most of the time taking the formality right out of it. Jazz is also very fluent in curse words.

Style: The book is filled with jargon specific to the story. Some jargon is scientific, relating to the moon and its characteristics. While others describe life on the moon, such as the equipment/technology used, job titles, and how things operate in the lunar atmosphere.

Appeal: Artemis is really the story of Jazz. Jazz is such a unique, but flawed character, you can’t help but love her. Jazz herself even says that her life ran on mostly bad decisions, yet she is borderline genius. The complexity of her character is enough to keep a reader going. Oh, and she lives on the moon. I’m sure that everyone in their lifetime has wondered what it would be like to live on the moon. Weir brings that wonder to life in a sometimes crude, but comical way, along with everything that could go wrong on the moon.  

3 Read-a-likes

1.) The Martian by Andy Weir

2.) Off Rock by Kieran Shea

3.) All Systems Red by Martha Wells (series)