Artemis Fowl

I have just read this book again and I’m wondering why I originally gave it 3 stars. Was I nuts? This book is great. It combines espionage with the fairy world. How original is that?

It starts off with this genius, millionaire kid named Artemis Fowl. The Fowl family are corporate criminals. They lost a few hundred million when a Russian missile destroyed a shipment of Coca Cola, and Artemis, having the mastermind brain that he has, wants to build the fortune back up. How’s he going to do it? By kidnapping a fairy and demanding ransom of course.

The fairy world is comprised of all kinds of impish creatures, all of which are unknown to humans. Artemis has figured out their existence and has gotten his hands on their secret handbook. The show more fairies have been forced underground to get away from humans. Holly Short is a captain in the LEPrecon police unit. She works for the cantankerous Commander Root. When Root orders Holly to recharge her magic, which can only be done at certain locations above ground, Artemis is waiting. He kidnaps her and threatens to expose the fairy world unless they pay up. What follows is a great James Bond like attempt by the fairies to rescue Holly without having to pay the ransom.

This book is jam packed with action. Great characters. Great plot. Great description. Highly sophisticated fairy magic. I love Root, Holly, and the techie centaur Foaly. Colfer brings high creativity to this one.

FYI: Movie coming out in 2019 show less

Faries and Diabolical Child-Geniuses - Bookwyrm Chrysalis Review: No matter how many times I read this book, I am drawn in by the imagination, the creativity, and the enchantment of the tale of Artemis Fowl. The first in a set of five books, I resisted the lure of a 12-yr-old criminal-mastermind for a while, thinking the book too silly for my age. Now I run to the store the moment a new book in this series appears.

Artemis Fowl has a plan to gain back the money his father lost when he disappeared a year ago. Aided by Butler, his body guard, Artemis devises a plan to steal gold from the fairies. Young enough to still believe in magic, but old enough to construct a devious scheme, few could pull off what Artemis is about to do.

Our show more fairy heroine, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit, is the test case for allowing female elves to join the Lower Elemental Police recon unit, and she has been having a very bad week. After being attacked by a troll, she attempts to carry out the ritual to recharge her magic, but instead is captured by Artemis and Butler, thus beginning the hostage crisis.

Filled with interesting characters and an excellent usage of magic and technology, Artemis Fowl is a book that readers of any age should enjoy. My favorite part is how Colfer integrates magic and technology, instead of ignoring one in favor of the other, like so many urban fantasy writers do. Instead, Foaly, the centaur super-genius, uses technology to shield magic from human scanners and stay one step ahead of the Mud People.

The book is rich with detail that will keep the reader coming back. It's been a few years since I last read the book, and I was amazed at how many things I didn't remember and how I was still enthralled by the action. Even my roommate, who tends to feel that she is above reading "children's" books, eagerly reads every new Artemis Fowl.

With the release of The Lost Colony, right now is the perfect time to pick up a copy of this classic and reread it. Then continue on to The Artic Incident, The Eternity Code, The Opal Deception, and of course now The Lost Colony.

The cover is golden and holographic, while the gnommish language spells out a hidden message along the bottom of each page. For fun, the reader can find the alphabet here and decode the messages that every book includes. show less

I first read this when I was twelve. I was determined to grow up and marry Holly, or work with her side by side, or both. I kind of wanted to be Artemis but not really. Mulch fascinated me and Foley was the coolest, in my mind. I didn't go online to crack the code at the bottom of the pages. Having just read a sci-fi book about teens that taught the readers to crack the code (and just tonight spent an hour unsuccessfully attempting to google the title of), I attempted to decipher the Artemis Fowl code myself. After a few pages, I gave up and read the first Artemis Fowl book in one sitting. As an adult, I saw a Goodreads friend rate it and figured I'd reread it myself. I remembered several cool parts and thought they'd be interesting show more again. The copy I read had a cover I found uninteresting, and to my dismay, the pages were feathered. Feathered edges drive me nuts. The text was middle grade, but the story tried to hide that, with some effort, it could have been YA. The overall effect was that readers were treated as stupid over, over, over and over some more. I didn't laugh at single joke. I laughed a 'do you know what you just implied to an American audience?' few times. Mostly I shook my head and waited for the book to end.

The parts I was looking forward to were incredibly lackluster and went on for maybe a paragraph each. The world-building was rushed. It also presumed the audience's knowledge of mythological creatures and such history in a sloppy way. The writing tried to alert me to the fact that this is the beginning of a series in an overdone way. Sometimes this was done in a way that sucked all possible tension out of the present moment. Most of all--I read the book flap as an adult and had forgotten Artemis is twelve. I giggled upon rediscovery and at times, had to stifle laughter as I read. Oh, and the mom has locked herself in the basement and the dad's presumed dead and oh look, the bodyguard is supposedly a father figure. At first, it was entertaining that the author thought this plausible in the story. As the book progressed, it got incredibly annoying.

Butler is repeatedly stated to be a father figure to his employer (power dynamics are a thing, author), but is afraid to ask how he's feeling. How old is Butler? His little sister, Juliet, is sixteen and means the world to him, and I'm never shown why. Juliet is a prop, anyway. She's there for Artemis to have a crush on and Holly to put a spell on. Juliet's only characterization is to like wrestling, to be stupid, and I kept waiting for her to say the exact phrase 'I'm not like other girls'. Why is she in the Fowl's employ? Why is a twelve-year-old managing the family finances and business decisions? Did his mom sign papers so he could fly to another country in the beginning of the book, with his bodyguard? Admittedly, that's always been one of my favorite parts: the alcoholic faery is awesome. No clue why. Back to the pompous jerk who can't shave yet: who's letting him get away with all this stuff? How long has he been doing this? Why have responsible adults and agencies overlooked him? I get that the mom's sick and the dad's missing, but he should have gone into foster care long ago since that's the case.

I'm convinced that, as an adult, the author wrote down the elaborate childhood fantasies he'd had and got them published as this book series. I congratulate him sincerely on his success and have been curious about the movie since I first read the book--I want to see what Holly looks like. I point out that Artemis Fowl is a Marty Stu, although arguably a Gary Stu, and shall peruse TV Tropes to accurately label. In a different time, he might get along with Draco Malfoy. Seriously, both times I read this, I kept thinking of Malfoy when Fowl got more than a sentence of page time.
To Mr Colfer: I'm sorry your childhood was so hard. Mine also resulted in me developing a rich fantasy world to cope, and this is the second time I've admitted this. I think you needed more editors for this book, and I hope the movie turns out well. show less

Very smart book for kids with a nice anti hero twist.

Artemis is a shit of kid. Rich, smug, entitled, genius level IQ and a serious desire to take over the world. He is a young Lex Luthor with ten times the smarts and possibly also the ruthlessness. When he one day catches a fairy he discovers a whole new world of magic, violence, special forces units and danger all of which might help or hinder his plans for world domination.

This book in no way shape or form talks down to kids rather it demands they raise themselves to its level by treating the main protagonist with such seriousness and skill that you end up cheering for the little turd.

The Artemis Fowl books are the first ones I dive for when I'm sick or have had a bad day. They never fail to make me laugh out loud (which can be incredibly embarrassing if I'm somewhere in public...) and are among the very few children's/YA books that I return to again and again. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who welcomes an original (yes, original!) take on fairies and magic, and to those who read "comfort books" like they eat comfort food. Guaranteed to brighten your day.

Artemis Fowl is the first book in the series and introduces the title character, a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind with a family legacy of law-avoiding Fowls behind him. His father was killed a year ago in an explosion rigged by some rival crime lords, and Artemis lives with his slightly crazy mother at the family estate Fowl Manor. While they are certainly not poor, the Fowl family has seen better days (i.e., millionaire days) and Artemis is determined to raise the family fortunes by whatever means he can. He is assisted by his butler Butler, who works as Artemis’ bodyguard and accomplice in criminal operations. As the story opens, Artemis has cooked up a nefarious plot to steal fairy gold. The fairy world is underground and the show more Mud People (er — humans, that is) have no idea it’s there. All Artemis has to do is kidnap a fairy and hold it for ransom…

Scattered throughout the story are cutting observations on the foolishness of the Mud People as seen through the eyes of the fairies. But as the story goes on, it becomes evident that the fairies aren’t much better than their human counterparts, as they betray one another for ambition and use underhanded tactics to defeat their opponents. The characters are very funny and very believable, and a well-defined fairy culture is carefully shown through the fairies’ dialogue.

There is some crude humor. What makes the crude humor palatable in this story is that, unlike most instances of crude humor, this is actually funny. But that is not the only type of humor Colfer employs; he has a wry, sarcastic style that reminds me strongly of Terry Pratchett. Some of it had me laughing out loud.

Overall, this is a very fun book and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. Recommended! show less

Descended from a family of criminal geniuses, 12 year old Artemis Fowl is a boy desperate to find his missing father and return the Fowl family to their previous status and wealth. To accomplish this he has devised a scheme to steal one of the most sought after treasures in history, the elusive fairy's gold.

First off I have to say had I been reading the story and taken such a dislike to a character as I did Artemis at the beginning of this book it would be quite unlikely I'd get past the first couple chapters. However, because this was an audio book my son and I were listening to in the car and the reader was quite smashing at all the different accents, I could not simply stop listening to it. I'm so glad that this was the case because show more it really turned out to be much more enjoyable and entertaining than I had imagined! In addition to the initially unlikeable Artemis there was a great cast of characters ranging from woman's rights activist poster-fairy and LEP operative Holly Short to a wise cracking centaur wearing a tinfoil cap on his head. Then, of course, there was Mulch Diggums who is undoubtedly now one of my son's favorite characters ever. And, I have to admit, Artemis rather grew on me until I was rooting for him at the end (well, sort of). He's probably the first real anti-hero I've ever actually become fond of.

Illuminating each character individually, the voice actor was simply amazing in his versatility. It was just a lot of fun to listen to and I'd highly recommend this commando fairy tale to boys, girls, mothers and fathers alike. show less