OK, he does have a name: Andy Weir. I absolutely loved The Martian and read it in English and Russian. And listened to it in both. Great story. This one? Not so much.
Spoilers hence.
Lots and lots of telling vice showing here. And that's ok if the book has lots of science that is integral to the plot. Additionally, against all modern writing books, I'm ok with some telling vice all-showing. But this went beyond. Everything was telling. And the narrator broke the fourth wall excessively, it got tiresome. Too cutesy, all the "Hey, I like pretty things, shut up" and similar.
And I think Mr. Weir managed to get every single mandatory (for modern crap-lit) character into this one except maybe a trans character. The gay, the goy (his words), Arab/Muslim, Irish (Scottish?), Kenyan, etc. All over the place. Again, it got silly after a while. Can we just have a story?
He certainly does his homework. Lots of detail in the welding segments (part of the "okay" telling), but still the story was a bit too simple. All was too perfect. And, I'm no economist, but was he commenting on American-style capitalism towards the end? Maybe not, but I don't know. Initial feeling by that point: Ew.
Spoilers complete.
Like I said, The Martian? Recommend all day. Artemis? Not so much. Unsure I'll even try Project Hail Mary, but who knows. ***
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