418 pages
English language
Published April 17, 2017
"Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself--and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first" -- summary from author's web page.
I read Artemis after The Martian and Project Hail Mary. Where I felt a connection with an alien in the latter, Artemis offered no such thing, even though the main character is roughly my age and gender. Or because of it. It feels like Weir is uncomfortable with the political and social side of this story. This could have been such a solid exploration of a future society, but we got some dumb luck and a happy ever after instead.
1) "I live in Artemis, the first (and so far, only) city on the moon. It's made of five huge spheres called 'bubbles.' They're half underground, so Artemis looks exactly like old sci-fi books said a moon city should look: a bunch of domes. You just can't see the parts that are underground.
Armstrong Bubble sits in the middle, surrounded by Aldrin, Conrad, Bean, and Shepard. The bubbles each connect to their neighbors via tunnels. I remember making a model of Artemis as an assignment in elementary school. Pretty simple: just some balls and sticks. It took ten minutes.
It's pricey to get here and expensive as hell to live here. But a city can't just be rich tourists and eccentric billionaires. It needs working-class people too. You don't expect J. Worthalot Richbastard III to clean his own toilet, do you?
I'm one of the little people."
2) "The Hungarians …
1) "I live in Artemis, the first (and so far, only) city on the moon. It's made of five huge spheres called 'bubbles.' They're half underground, so Artemis looks exactly like old sci-fi books said a moon city should look: a bunch of domes. You just can't see the parts that are underground.
Armstrong Bubble sits in the middle, surrounded by Aldrin, Conrad, Bean, and Shepard. The bubbles each connect to their neighbors via tunnels. I remember making a model of Artemis as an assignment in elementary school. Pretty simple: just some balls and sticks. It took ten minutes.
It's pricey to get here and expensive as hell to live here. But a city can't just be rich tourists and eccentric billionaires. It needs working-class people too. You don't expect J. Worthalot Richbastard III to clean his own toilet, do you?
I'm one of the little people."
2) "The Hungarians owned all the metalworking shops. Just like the Vietnamese owned Life Support and Saudis owned welding.
I pulled up next to the workshop of Dad's colleague Zsóka Stróbl, who was apparently named during a severe vowel famine. She was a pressure-vessel specialist. When Dad got a contract to install an air shelter, he usually bought one from Zsóka. She made high-quality product and Dad's all about quality.
I parked Trigger and rapped on the door. Zsóka slid it open a crack, peeked out with one eye, and spoke with a thick accent.
'You want what?'
I pointed to myself. 'It's me, Mrs. Stróbl. Jazz Bashara.'
'You are daughter of Ammar Bashara,' she said. 'He good man. You were nice little girl. Now you are bad.'
'Okay...look, I want to talk to you about something---'
'You are unmarried and have sex with many men.'
'Yes, I'm quite the harlot.'
[...]
'So we have a deal?'
She pulled out her Gizmo. 'Yes.'
I fired off the funds transfer and she accepted.
'You bring back. Two days.' She returned to her shop and closed the door.
Yeah, she was grumpy and thought I was a bimbo. But you know what? I wish everyone was like her. No chitchat, no bullshit, no pretense of friendship. Just goods and services exchanged for money. The perfect business partner."
3) "The biggest time sink was when I had to run and hide from the debris. I knew what I had to do---I just didn't like it. I'd have to blow the remaining two at the same time.
Please don't quote that last sentence out of context.
I prepared each of the remaining harvesters for kaboominess."
