Just to get the obvious out of the way: nope, this is not as good as The Martian. Hey, now, sophomore efforts are hard, and Weir had an even tougher row to hoe since he blew everyone away with the first book (and the film didn't hurt his reputation either).
I haven't read any other reviews of this book, but have heard that folks were not enamored with our heroine. Specifically, that people couldn't identify with someone who was, essentially, a criminal. And perhaps also as a non-stereotypical female? By that, I mean that she's somewhat of a tomboy, to use old parlance. While I do agree with the first concern, I couldn't disagree more with the second one.
Jasmine (going by Jazz, of course) is a 20-something-old not living her life to the fullest, but certainly using her smarts to the fullest. She has a complicated relationship with her past and her father. The town she lives in is on the moon, so that creates all the science and all the crazy shenanigans related to science needed for a book written by Weir. That is, not surprisingly, the best part - especially the hijinks towards the end.
But I did appreciate that Weir crafted a female protagonist not of the usual mold. Others may say "yea, that's just a girl in boy's clothing" but it is So Very Much Time to move past this outdated nonsense. Jazz is a girl doing her own thing, and while there were specific gender-related character attributes, they weren't a core part of the plot. I thought that, in and of itself, was pretty darn fabulous.
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