Artemis Fowl (Cover to Cover)

Rating:
Summary: A Very Entertaining Book
Review: I've been planning to read this book for a while due to its popularity, and have only recently gotten the chance to sit down and read it.

While I certainly wouldn't list this book as a classic, it was thoroughly entertaining and quite action packed. So if you're looking for something new to read for fun, I'd recommend this book because it's just out there.

A quick run down of the plot: Artemis Fowl, 12 year old child prodigy borne of a powerful and shady family (no, not the mafia. The Fowl family is much more than something like that.), is trying to regain the family fortune unwittingly lost by his father (currently MIA) by kidnapping one of The People; Captain Holly Short, member of the LEPrecon for ransom. Of course, boy genius has a whole lot in store for him even he does have each and every step calculated. The plot would be boring otherwise, no?

The book contains a quirky mix of modern technology, wit, deviousness, a dash of magic, and snarky characters that you grow quite fond of. (Technology and deviousness seem to dominate the book) It's not extremely difficult or long to read, although sometimes I would get confused with some of the technological jargon later on in the book.

The plot, as I mentioned before is entertaining and action packed especially as you pass the first part of the book. Artemis Fowl is interesting in that the main character is actually sort of the bad guy. I feel that the plot could have been tied up a little more tightly and made more plausible, but other than that I liked it a lot.

The characters are all interesting, and my favorite is Artemis Fowl. What can I say? I have a thing for child prodigies. He's my favorite character because he's intelligent, cool and in control. People just have to bend to his will one way or another. Yet underneath that in control exterior he shows really does lay a 12 year old boy with emotions like every other child. It's just buried REALLY deep underneath the devious and calculating genius.

I'm going to get books 2 and 3 now that I know I'll actually read them.

It's a new kind of fantasy fiction so kick back, relax, and get ready to be swept with the flow.

Rating:
Summary: Artemis Fowl
Review: If first impressions are everything, then Artemis Fowl, twelve-year old criminal mastermind, has got it made in the shade. "Artemis Fowl," a novel of the young genius' first escapade involving the faerie world, has all the requisites of a great first impression -- lean, mean, with a dashing smile and a devilish glint in its eyes, but also with a heart. A black heart, to be sure, but a heart nonetheless.

Eoin Colfer has written a wonderful novel for older children of all ages. Completely original, "Artemis Fowl" creates a new world - identical to our own, with the one exception that the faerie world is a thriving technological marvel existing right alongside ours (or, more accurately, underneath). Many of the book's charms come from Colfer's witty characterizations of life in the faerie world, which is plagued with many of the same problems (traffic jams, computer glitches, ambitious underlings, you name it) as ours.

This faerie world is a rough-and-tumble place, and mercifully not a regurgitated version of (the sainted) J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology. Tolkien's favorite dwarf Gimli may share a love of gold with Colfer's dwarf Mulch, but the similarities end there. Trust me -- you will be laughing till your sides hurt when Mulch dispatches a would-be attacker with his most-unusual weaponry! Elves, sprites, fairies . . . in Colfer's world, they are as likely to resemble General Patton as an overheated travel agent.

Colfer has also given Fowl a sidekick to remember -- the hulking bodyguard Butler. Fowl and Butler have a special relationship . . . one which can accommodate Butler both dying to save Fowl's neck as striving to break it.

But this novel depends entirely on its villain, young Artemis. He is a young man who would give James Bond fits - an evil genius smart enough not to give away his plans just because he thinks he has the hero trapped.

The plot is straightforward -- can Artemis do the impossible? Can he swipe the faerie gold . . . and live to keep it . . . where everyone else who has tried has died . . . hideously? You'll be turning the pages well into the wee hours of the morning to find out!