The coming-of-age novel of a weaponised human, Artemisa Can’t Stop Killing People is an often cold and brutal tale; as our protagonist’s sense of self grows beyond the confines of her imprisonment, so does her humanity and warmth.
Driven by American political greed, Artemisa is an unfeeling assassin, a modern slave to the exploitation of those who restrict her freedom. Although a killer, she is strangely naïve in the ways of the 21st Century; her identity is no more than that of a bomb or a gun. Her interpersonal relationships are initially totally antagonistic but fraught with a sense of entitlement as a valuable military asset, tense and difficult. As the story unfolds, we see how someone with understandable trust issues can learn to take a leap of faith into the complete unknown, something which is not unknown to modern life.
This is a cautionary tale for a society which seeks to dehumanise women in pursuit of power – don’t p*** off Aremisa!