Challenge Corner discussion

Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.

Jasmine / Jazz the 'moon gal' / (view spoiler)[welder extraordinaire! Or would that be a weldress?
How come that she never burned Artemis? With her superior planning skills it's almost a given that she'd do something like that. Maybe it's good that she skipped on the guild (hide spoiler)]

Love the Moon hype! (view spoiler)[What could go wrong if one's in a mixed culture Moon soceity out there? (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ How come that Jazz never saw the bait-and-switch coming here:
Q:
Didn’t want to be a welder? No problem. You could have been a scientist. An engineer. A politician. A business leader. Anything. But you’re a porter.”
I scowled.
“I’m not judging,” he said. “Just analyzing. You’re really smart and you want money. I need someone who’s really smart and I have money. Are you interested?” (c)

Or, rather she 'smelled bullshit in the air.' but still proceeded with this business.
Run, Jazz, run! Or we will have this novel to have fun with!
(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[They have no fire department and still they tell you they don't fuck with fire safety?
Q:
Artemis doesn’t have a fire department. We have volunteers. But smoke and fire are so deadly here the volunteers have to know how to breathe with air tanks. So all EVA masters and EVA trainees are automatically volunteers. Yes, there’s an irony there.
...
The fire brigade, well trained, got on it immediately.
...
Artemis does not fuck around with fire safety.(c)

Or is it just Jazz's take on it?
She's not exactly a paragon of responsibility, not sure she would recognize it if it bit her you know where. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ Manipulative Jazz, I wonder how her dad dealt with her when she was a kid? There must have been some mechanisms to get her complacent enough to eat veggies or she wouldn't have grown all those braincells .that we don't really see in action here.

Nice, huh? This could've come from some self-help for sociopaths:
Q:Nothing like a language barrier to make people leave you alone. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[Q:
Goddamn, it’s annoying to commit crimes in a small town. (c)
But why do it then? Poor impulse control or what? (hide spoiler)]


(view spoiler)[She even vicimizes harvesters!!

Q:
The victim harvester was totaled. Hell, you could barely tell it used to be a vehicle (c) (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ What's her deal with sexual stuff: she's like some teen boy who's just learned what the 'adult' stuff is about. It's very immature, isn't it?
Q:
I knew what I had to do—I just didn’t like it. I’d have to blow the remaining two at the same time.
Please don’t quote that last sentence out of context.
I prepared each of the remaining harvesters for kaboominess. (c) (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ Priceless! Jazz's plans usually elicit this reaction.
Q:
I have a plan.”
“A plan?” He looked concerned. “Your plans are…uh…should I hide somewhere?” (c)
Once again, how did we deduce that she's smart? 'cause she's the resident weldress? (hide spoiler)]

oo I think I will be joining this BR tomorrow. Still on a 32 hr one and I'm hoping to finish it today.

(view spoiler)[Artemis:

Q:
It’s the greatest little city in the worlds. (c)
True. Too bad it's on the Moon! (hide spoiler)]

Now, this made me mortally offended! What would she've said if someone went the same way about welders? (view spoiler)[
Q:
I left without further comment. I didn’t want to spend any more time inside the mind of an economist. It was dark and disturbing.

So, victimising poor blameless harvesters is OK but sharing an economist's POV is NOT? Grrr! (c)
(hide spoiler)]

Alaina wrote: "oo I think I will be joining this BR tomorrow. Still on a 32 hr one and I'm hoping to finish it today."
I saw your 32 hr one and was intimidated into skipping it altogether :)))) No, really, listening for 32 hrs for Mr Paolini's latest is quite the task. I think I'll wait until the paper/ebook get published and only then will go all sci-fi alien artefacts!

Actually, a surprising-ish choice of subject / genre for him, isn't it?

☘Misericordia☘ ~ The Serendipity Aegis ~ wrote: "Alaina wrote: "oo I think I will be joining this BR tomorrow. Still on a 32 hr one and I'm hoping to finish it today."
I saw your 32 hr one and was intimidated into skipping it altogether :)))) No,..."

I was so excited to get the audio eARC from NetGalley but then I saw how long it was and uhhh not even sure how I talked myself into starting it right now lol.

Starting this audio now!

Ch 4: (view spoiler)[I'm definitely in love with Jazz. She is such an unapologetic bad ass criminal. Love it all. Not sure what is going to happen next but whatever Trond asked her to do seems a bit fishy. Other than that, definitely loving this so far! (hide spoiler)]

Ch 9: (view spoiler)[I'm worried about Jazz at this point because of that mistake.. but maybe she will redeem herself? I'm also wondering what the heck is going to happen next. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 15: (view spoiler)[Uh, okay move over Jazz.. Svo is here and I'm in love. (hide spoiler)]
Finished: (view spoiler)[Lowkey thought Jazz was going to die and I guess it's okay that she did. I am happy with what she did with the money and everything. Overall, a pretty good ending to this book that has been on my TBR for ever. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[So, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but it's a lot of fun. I really like Jazz, and I hope things don't go horribly wrong for her on her mysterious illegal job. Personally, I would have wanted some money upfront, but I guess Jazz trusts him. Still, since we're only 25% of the way through the book and she's just starting the job, I expect things to go horribly wrong. (hide spoiler)]

Deanie wrote: "Chapter 4 [spoilers removed]"

LOL I love everything about this comment. All I can say is just wait.

Chapter 8 (view spoiler)[ Trond's job was suspicious, but I was surprised someone murdered him and is now after Jazz. She's pretty darn savvy about spycraft for a low level smuggler. They have Star Trek reruns, so maybe she's been watching a lot of Alias? Because the prostitute disguise seems very Sydney Bristow. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 12 (view spoiler)[The story just took a hard right from Alias into Leverage territory. Let's go steal an aluminum factory! (hide spoiler)]

Deanie wrote: "Chapter 8 [spoilers removed]

Chapter 12 [spoilers removed]"

Is Alias.. the show with Jennifer Garner? Never seen it, but I have seen Leverage! Also never saw the Star Trek shows but I have seen the movies lol.

Alaina wrote: "Deanie wrote: "Chapter 8 [spoilers removed]

Chapter 12 [spoilers removed]"

Is Alias.. the show with Jennifer Garner? Never seen it, but I have seen Leverage! Also never saw the Star Trek shows bu..."

Yes, Alias with Jennifer Garner. She was a kick-ass spy. The show was awesome... well, at least at the beginning. Then she and her co-star Michael Vartan dated and then broke up and the show changed. It didn't get terrible... but her character's epic romance suddenly involved her real-life ex, so they did all kinds of things to keep them apart.

100% - The End (view spoiler)[This was a great, fun book. I think it would make a great series, since the characters are so interesting and likeable. I'm really glad I read it. (hide spoiler)]

Deanie wrote: "Alaina wrote: "Deanie wrote: "Chapter 8 [spoilers removed]

Chapter 12 [spoilers removed]"

Is Alias.. the show with Jennifer Garner? Never seen it, but I have seen Leverage! Also never saw the Sta..."

Sounds like a good show, I wonder if it's on Amazon Prime or Hulu..

Also yay! I'm glad you liked it!! It was a really enjoyable book and a nice surprise. Has Andy written a series?