A few years ago I read an entire book before realizing I had already read it. I looked back at my Goodreads read list and realized I had no memory of about half of the books on there. So I built a new habit – (almost) every time I finish a book, I word-vomit my thoughts and emotions into a note on my phone. Sometimes they’re brief, sometimes they’re long-longwinded, sometimes they just ramble…and now I’m putting them here. Please enjoy the madness.
I liked Artemis but…it tried too hard. There were a lot of points where it felt like it was just saying “look how funny I am”. It felt less worked out more shallow than The Martian did…the science was less science-y and, which in my opinion made this less interested. Character development could have been better – the main character was hard to empathize with and childish for her age throughout. In that same vein, all of the romance aspects felt very haphazard, almost as if they were just checking a box that all books must include some kind of romantic element. It could have been stronger without that pettiness. Overall, it seemed like an author who had a hit under his belt wanted to get another one. I did end up seeing Andy Weir speak about the book and thought his motivations were interesting though. If he comes out with more sci fi, I’ll definitely give it a chance.