The Lost Colony

Summary: Early on in the fairy kingdoms, the island of Hybras, home of the demons, was locked away in a perpetual time spell. Only now, the spell is beginning to unravel, and demons are appearing on Earth with increasing frequency. On Hybras, the imp Number One still hasn't undergone the metamorphosis into full demon form, prefers his meat cooked rather than raw, and just doesn't feel appropriately rage-y about anything. On Earth, Teenaged criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl has figured out the formulae to predict the demons' appearances, and is set to catch one to prove himself right. The problem is, he's not the only one hunting demons, and when Number One appears and gets himself captured by the wrong people, it's up to Artemis to show more rescue him... not only to save Number One's life, but also to prevent a far, far worse disaster.

Review: The Artemis Fowl books are just so much fun. They're utterly silly, of course, but they've got a good heart, quick-moving adventures, and some real clever wit underneath all the shenanigans. This installment was no exception. I loved the character of Number One (especially once he got to Earth and started spewing thesaurus entries all over the place). I also thought it was interesting to see Artemis Fowl not as a criminal mastermind, but still in a situation where his unique talents came in useful. Colfer's doing a nice job with the long-term character development on Artemis (on everyone, really, but Artemis especially), and seeing him in the throes of puberty adds not only an element of humor for those of us who have suffered through it, but also some more depth to the characterization. Also, the newly-introduced Minerva Paradiso is a good foil for Artemis, and although she annoyed me a little bit in this book, I can see a lot of interesting future plot developments leading from that storyline, so I'll let it slide. I missed Foaly, and the various bits of fairy technology didn't play as much of a role in this book as they do in previous ones. Overall, though, I definitely enjoyed listening to it, and am looking forward to carrying on with the series. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: The Artemis Fowl books are great if you're in the mood for something fun and not too heavy but with enough heart to keep it from being entirely fluffy fantasy adventure. Don't start anywhere but at the beginning, though. show less

I am sometimes asked by friends, “Which Artemis Fowl book is your favourite?” The answer is all of them. Eoin Colfer is an absolute literary genius, having just churned out yet another fantastic, action-packed novel about our favourite junior mastermind. Witty, fast paced, mind-bogglingly clever and consistently surprising, this is not a book to be sneezed at. The Lost Colony may fit under the genre of fantasy, but it will certainly please fans of any type of excitement.

For loyal Fowl followers, this book promises to reveal a side of Artemis you have never seen before. As he battles puberty, (an irksome drawback he is determined to ignore,) Artemis’ character changes even more from the insensitive, slightly arrogant boy we all show more came to love in the first book. In The Lost Colony, he meets Minerva Paradizio, a twelve-year old girl very much like Artemis when he was younger, and we see the behaviour of our original Artemis through a very different set of eyes. Keep an eye out for significant changes to Artemis’ life – there are quite a few.

Unlike most other Artemis Fowl novels, The Lost Colony is a very condensed story, taking place over the course of only a few days, (once it gets going.) Artemis leaves home to rescue a demon, and from that moment on, characters run from here to there, and nowhere does anyone stop to sleep or eat or pick their nose. This is a time-old tactic to keep readers hanging on for more – and it works!

The only downside to this book is that some parts of it are a little on the silly side. An example are the demons on Hybras, who have taken a badly-written olde English booke, (Lady Heatherington-Smythe’s Hedgerow,) as their bible, and thus named themselves in a ridiculous fashion after all the chararcters. Billy Kong, who is driven by ludicrous demon stories his brother told him to occupy him as a child, is another example. These scenes would feel quite at home in a work of parody – but Colfer just manages to get away with them here.

If you’ve never read an Eoin Colfer book, you haven’t lived. Go and get one immediately. Addictive, quick, and wonderfully tongue-in-cheek, The Lost Colony is yet another brilliant achievement to add to Colfer’s growing list. show less

After the events of the previous four novels, it was getting to the point where something new was going to have to happen in order to prevent the books from all feeling the same. As such, we get yet another child prodigy (a 12 year old French girl by the name of Minerva) and another class of Fairy that we've never heard of before: Demons.

The Demons are actually fairly interesting. Rather than move underground with the rest of the People, they instead decided to take their entire island out of the normal stream of time. Unfortunately, the spell they used is wearing out, threatening yet again to expose the Fairy world to humankind. Also, for some reason, most of their culture has been based around a terrible (intentionally) in world show more romance novel. It's kind of hilarious to picture a giant horned Demon named Leon Abbot.

I really do love the main Demon (Imp really, or Warlock) character of N⁰1. He's hilarious both when contrasted against the other Demons and in his naivety of the real world.

Minerva... feels basically like a younger Artemis Fowl. She's not quite as criminally inclined and doesn't have near the knowledge of the fairy world to fall back on, so she's behind from the get go. I'm curious to see what will happen with her in future books. Especially now that Artemis skipped over a few years so that they're the same age.

One unfortunate point: the dramatic shift of Holly quitting the LEP is somewhat undone when she almost immediately gets recruited by what's essentially the Shadow Government form of the LEP: Section 8. They even hired Foaly to work for them, so what's really changed? A bit less red tape? That was honestly one of the more interesting parts of Holly's character, watching her chafe against the restrictions placed upon her and succeed despite (or by ignoring) them.

Overall, another solid read. The introduction of the Demon world seems forced (no one in four books has even hinted at their existence), but it mostly works. We shall see where it goes from here. show less

Artemis Fowl and the gang are in the thick of things again-- and this time they're up against a 12-year-old genius to rival Artemis, and the 8th fairy family: demons!

This beautifully far-fetched fantasy is the fifth in Eoin Coifer's series about the criminal mastermind and his exploits in the Lower Elements. Consistently hilarious and exciting, it's action from front to back. This audiobook is masterfully performed by actor Nathaniel Parker, who does a wonderful job putting distinct voices to work with the book's wide ranging cast. The story is truly an ensemble piece, centering primarily around Holly Short (now working for the secretive Section 8), Artemis, and a new character: an imp named Number 1, who just does not fit in with the show more gruesome machismo of Hybras, the demon's hidden island. All of the characters are round, fleshy, complex, and contextualized, and the narration shifts between them, riding the story's weaving threads. Coifer's humor and style are greatly reminiscent of Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), with a decidedly feminist flair-- you won't find any damsels in distress among the female characters (of which there are quite a few). Highly recommended for fans of science fiction and fantasy alike; middle school through high school. show less

5 out of 5 stars! Well deserved!
This time Artemis Foul finds himself trying to save a demon (an imp actually) from the hands of another kid genius. Oh yes that's all while puberty strikes!
The Imp's perspective was nothing like I thought it would be and the whole holy-book-arlekin of the demons had me laughing my ass out!
I really love it when in a series the newest book is better than its predecessors. My only regret is that there is only one more book in the series T.T

The Artemis Fowl books have continued to be a great series to read. For some reason I always start reading these books with a bit of reluctance because they are, after all, kids books. A few pages into the book though I am always hooked again; this continues to be the case.

In this book Artemis calculates that the time warped island that demons live on is slowly unraveling. He is attempting to prove his calculation by detaining a time warped demon. With a demon as proof he is hoping that fairykind will take him seriously and take action to save the demon race. When he shows up at the next demon appearance he finds that he is not he only one who has made calculations about demon appearances. A girl Artemis's age, name Minerva, kidnaps the show more displaced demon in hopes of completing research on the demon and hopefully winning the Noble Prize. Of course everyone's plans end up collapsing and chaos ensues.

The book is action packed and non-stop intellectual fun from the beginning to the end. The new characters introduced are wonderful. Minerva is the perfect female counterpart to Artemis and No.1, who revels in his new found English vocabulary, is a hoot. The whole gang is back and ready to deliver. Holly is in for a lot of action and Foaly has a whole new bag of tricks in his hands..er...I mean hoofs. Artemis is taking his turn as a "good guy" seriously and his new outlook on life really endears him to the reader. The addition of Minerva as a possible love interest is very interesting. Finally Artemis has someone to laugh at quark jokes with.

This is another fun book that further enhances the Artemis Fowl series. I look forward to reading the next book in the series. show less

As always, Eoin Colfer has created a wonderful mixture of action, suspense, humor, emotion, and techno-gadgets that captures the reader from the first page and carries him happily to the end. Having read all of the previous books, I won't say this one was my favorite - that honor goes to book #3, The Eternity Code, but it still left me feeling that Artemis isn't the only genius at work here. Not only has Mr. Colfer built a wonderfully believable alternate reality in which to set his stories, but he crafts his characters so well that they feel like friends. And, unlike some other series books I've read, the characters develop as the series moves forward. The relationships and the people / fairies themselves don't remain static but evolve show more as they should. show less