Book Review: Andy Weir's Artemis

Short version: If you enjoyed The Martian, dive right in.  It reads like drinking cool water on a hot day.

Slightly longer version:  Take someone awfully like Heinlen's character Friday and plunk her into a similar setting to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  Have her run around and fix problems a la The Martian for 300+ pages.  Have an underlying economic story about a Lunar outpost city transitioning from running things as a company store into a more free market system, while fending off a mobster-rule threat.  Interesting problems crop up regarding breathing air – we take if for granted, but on the Moon, it's a – what? – public utility good?  Or a commodity to be traded?  Or...?  Then throw in some insider trading, a stagnating economy, sabotage, and a nascent economic boom and things start getting exciting.

And just to keep things moving along, this all happens at a frenetic Quentin Tarantino movie pace, with the accompanying snappy dialogue.  Realistic, perhaps not, but entertaining as all get out.  In fact, when this book gets picked up for a movie, Tarantino would be a good choice to direct.

Look, if you're looking for some mid-20th Century existentialist message novel, this isn't it.  If you're looking for deep insights into the human soul, go elsewhere.  If you want to see a few characters grow into some awfully big shoes while action swirls all around, there's a lot of it here.  Mostly though it's just a quick read in which Andy Weir successfully fends off the sophomore slump.  

Three out of four stars.