Artemis

Artemis by Andy Weir  305 pp.

I really enjoyed Weir's novel The Martian so I was a bit hesitant about reading Artemis for fear it wouldn't live up to the same standard. As it turns out, I enjoyed it even more than The Martian. Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara is a porter in Artemis, the only city on Earth's moon. A porter is a low paying job transporting items delivered to Artemis to their intended recipients. Jazz augments her menial pay by smuggling, sometimes to well paying clients. When the possibility of huge score arises, she steps up her game into the big time but things go wrong and she finds herself the target of a killer, the law, and the corporations that control Artemis. The action is fast, the heroine has the right combination of smarts and snark and just enough ethics to commit an altruistic act of heroism. The audiobook is read by Rosario Dawson who does a masterful job. I was sorry to have it end.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein  384 pp.

Before Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick gave us Hal, the sentient computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Robert Heinlein introduced us to Mike, aka Mycroft (after Sherlock Holmes brother). Mike is the administration computer for the penal colony that is the Moon. One armed computer technician Manuel "Mannie" Garcia O'Kelly-Davis is the one who discovered Mike's ability to think for "himself". Soon Mike becomes an integral part of the Lunar Rebellion against Terra (Earth) but only a few of the rebellion's leaders know of his existence and the extent that the rebellion relies on "him." As in other Heinlein works, there is political satire and pointed critiques of the powers that rule. The Lunar society also mocks social mores, especially marriage, by displaying a variety of marriage types including the multi-generational group marriage of the Davis clan. Personally, I didn't find this as enjoyable and entertaining as Stranger in a Strange Land but it is a classic work of Sci-Fi and well worth reading.