Artemis

Starred review from September 11, 2017
Jazz Bashara, the heroine of this superior near-future thriller from bestseller Weir (The Martian), grew up in Artemis, the moon’s only city, where she dreams of becoming rich. For now, she works as a porter, supplementing her legal income by smuggling contraband. She hopes that her situation can improve drastically after she’s offered an impossible-to-refuse payday by wealthy entrepreneur Trond Landvik, who has used her in the past to get cigars from Earth. Trond asks Jazz to come up with a way to sabotage a competitor so that he can take over the moon’s aluminum industry. She develops an elaborate and clever plan that showcases her resourcefulness and intelligence, even as she continues to have misgivings about her client’s true agenda, suspicions borne out by subsequent complications. The sophisticated worldbuilding incorporates politics and economics, as well as scientifically plausible ways for a small city to function on the lunar surface. The independent, wisecracking lead could easily sustain a series. Weir leavens the hard SF with a healthy dose of humor. Agent: David Fugate, LaunchBooks Literary Agency.

Rosario Dawson narrates the story of a young woman on a moon colony who is half-hero, half-something else. You can't call Jasmine Bashara a villain--she cares about people too much. But then again, her desire to be rich makes her happy to become a smuggler. And not just any smuggler--she's the best. Dawson makes Jasmine sound like the lovable rogue she is. As in Weir's previous novel, THE MARTIAN, this audiobook is filled with science that sounds realistic. Dawson makes listeners care about a diverse cast of characters with quirky mannerisms. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine