Established by the Kenya Space Corporation, the city of Artemis sustains itself by smelting the anorthite ore found on the lunar surface. Smelting breaks the rock into aluminum, calcium, oxygen, and silicon. The aluminum, calcium, and silicon are sold -- the oxygen supplies the city's five habitable domes with breathable air. Enough is produced that there's a regular surplus and that's sold as well.
Jazz Bashara came to live on Artemis when she was six years old. She's now in her twenties, legally working as a delivery person and illegally working on the side as a smuggler. She makes enough money to rent a bunk-sized space to sleep in and to afford a daily diet of flavored algae. She'd planned to earn her EVA license, allowing her to lead tours outside the domes and earn a decent wage, enabling her to pay off her debt and rent a place with its own bathroom. She failed the test however, so when one of the wealthy businessmen she regularly smuggles for offers her a huge amount of currency to sabotage a competitor, she accepts. Things do not go according to plan.
I loved The Martian. I enjoyed Artemis, in spite of a few details. If it's made into a movie, I will watch it. And, if there's a sequel, I will read it.
The story starts off a bit slow, but once the second sabotage attempt was enacted, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Weir makes a lunar colony believable. He even makes it someplace I'd think about visiting, if I were wealthy enough to afford a vacation there. He's at his best when he's describing the colony and its inner workings. And if you like nitty-gritty details about welding, hull pressure etc, you'll be in heaven. (I skimmed over the nitty-gritty details. I just wanted to know what happened next.)
His character development needs work I think, especially if he's going to continue this as a series with Jazz as the protagonist. I like that the story is told as if she's having a conversation with the reader. I like that's she's snarky. That said, there were a few times I was taken out of the story by a particularly crude reference. I watched Sex and the City when it was on HBO and Weir wrote statements/reactions for Jazz that I think would have been out of bounds for Samantha. Yes, women talk about sex and women joke about sex, but the instances I'm referring to just didn't seem believable, even for a character completely comfortable with her sexuality. I don't know a single woman who would find it funny if a man implied that she regularly received shots to the face (I'm not talking about botox). Basically, scenes like this felt more in context with Beavis & Butthead than the perspective of an adult woman.
There were other character development problems as well. Once the history between Dale and Jazz was revealed, their first scene together in the book didn't ring true either. And Svoboda is more cartoonish than awkward.
My only other quibble is that the resolution seemed a bit too easy. Maybe appearances are deceiving, however. There's speculation that Weir may turn this into a series. Things may not be wrapped up as neatly as we think.
No comments:
Post a Comment