Clara’s Verdict
I want to be upfront with you before anything else: this edition of Artemis is the German-language audiobook. The synopsis, narration, and production are entirely in German. If you are looking for the English-language version of Andy Weir’s second novel, this is not it. Please check the listing carefully before purchasing.
With that essential caveat stated, this is Andy Weir’s follow-up to The Martian, and for German-speaking listeners it represents a polished production from Random House Audio Deutschland. The novel follows Jazz Bashara, a smuggler and porter living in Artemis, humanity’s first lunar settlement, who takes on a dangerous sabotage job and finds herself entangled in a conspiracy that threatens the city itself. Weir’s signature blend of hard science and wisecracking protagonists is very much present, even if the version here reaches you through the voice of Marius Claren and the translation team rather than in the original English.
About the Audiobook
This production runs just over ten hours and was released in March 2018 by Random House Audio Deutschland. The novel itself belongs to the science fiction and crime thriller overlap, though Weir’s approach is firmly grounded in physics and engineering rather than in the more operatic traditions of space opera. Artemis, the city, is a meticulously constructed setting: five habitat domes, a tourist economy built around the Apollo 11 landing site turned visitor centre, an aluminium smelter, and a rigid social hierarchy dictated by the price of oxygen. Jazz navigates all of this with the darkly comic pragmatism that Weir’s fans will recognise from Mark Watney.
The abridged nature of this release is worth noting. One reviewer flags that the production runs as a shortened version, which means some of the scientific texture that defines Weir’s work may be condensed. For the full experience, the unabridged version is preferable where available.
The Narration
The production credits two voice performers: Marius Claren handles the primary narration, while Gabrielle Pietermann lends her voice to Jazz herself. This dual-voice approach is an interesting choice, and reviewers in Germany largely find that Pietermann captures the tough, self-deprecating energy of the protagonist well. Claren’s role appears to be that of the framing narrator. Whether or not the division feels seamless depends somewhat on what you are accustomed to, but the consensus in the German-language listener community is that it works.
What Readers Say
German-language listeners who came to this off the back of Der Marsianer were largely satisfied. One five-star reviewer notes that Weir remains true to form: dry humour, realistic settings, and a protagonist who earns your affection by being competent rather than charming. A four-star reader found the first three-quarters absorbing and the characters well-differentiated, but felt the final act lost momentum. One dissenting voice, awarding three stars, identifies the book as somewhat lighter in weight than The Martian, though acknowledges the audio presentation is clean. The average rating of 4.2 across nearly a thousand ratings reflects a satisfied but not uniformly enthusiastic audience.
Who Should Listen?
This audiobook is suited to German-speaking fans of Andy Weir who want to experience Artemis in their native language, or to learners of German looking for contemporary genre fiction with an accessible pace. English-speaking listeners should seek out the English-language edition instead. Readers who prefer their science fiction heavy on social texture rather than pure physics may find this a slightly easier entry point than The Martian, though the core audience remains those who enjoy rigorous world-building alongside heist-thriller plotting. If you bounced off The Martian‘s relentless technicality, Artemis is somewhat more character-driven, though Weir’s love of precision engineering never fully retreats.
