Boston Public Library's teen volunteer program has gone remote! As part of this program, local high schoolers will be sharing their thoughts on books, movies, and more on our blog. Check out Kien Bui's review of Artemis below! Kien is a new addition to our volunteer review team and is a sophomore at Boston Latin School.
Artemis by Andy Weir is part of the science fiction genre. It follows the story of Jasmine Bashara, a woman struggling to find her way in her hometown of Artemis, the first lunar colony. She manages to land herself into the middle of a huge conspiracy that may decide the fate of her entire city. I was very excited to read it when it came out because my favorite genre is science fiction. The book definitely exceeded my expectations.
The book had a very interesting plot, and I was intrigued the whole time. It combined technical aspects and amazing storytelling. We see Jasmine at first as impatient and strong-willed, but as the story progresses, she grows into a mature and caring person. The development of the characters was very well executed, and this was what made the book so exciting. As for the technical and scientific aspects of the story, Artemis fits well into the science fiction genre; it describes a place that is not far-fetched, and is easy to imagine. A couple things I didn’t like about it were the plot twists and the long, unnecessary filler text. Some of the plot twists were not as surprising as they could have been, such as the big “debt” that Jasmine owes near the end of the book. I understood the main concept of the plot, and the filler was almost always about how a certain machine functioned.
Overall, I believe that Andy Weir did a fantastic job at writing Artemis. Another amazing work by him is The Martian. Artemis and The Martian are almost equal in comparison, and so I recommend that you read them both. These two books will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
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