Throwback Thursday: Artemis Fowl Series # 2,3 & 4 by Eoin Colfer

 

Eoin Colfer's final Artemis Fowl book, The Last Guardian, is coming out this summer.  Since Autumn and I reviewed the first one(with very differing opinions) in March, I thought I would read and review the other ones to catch up to be ready for #8.
 

I wasn't too happy with the second book, The Arctic Incident (pub. 2002 by Hyperion) .  I didn't think it was as good as the first one. In the end it ended up being just OK for me.  I couldn't quite put my finger on why I didn't really like it as much.  It seemed to have less humor and was much more serous.  I also felt like I as getting a science lecture on radiation.  Too much technical stuff bogged down the story for me and I though that as a kid, I would have gotten bored with it pretty quickly.

The one thing that I did like was the Artemis seems to have grown a little more as a person.  He truly does care about his family and wants to rescue his father.  Holly and him have also started a tentative friendship of a sort.  

I liked The Eternity Code (Pub 2003 by Hyperion) a lot more than the 2nd book.  It was lighter and much more interesting.  It was more of an adventure that I thought a kid would like  There was a lot less scientific information crammed into the book. Artemis is going legit, he just has one more thing to do.  He has created a supercomputer cube that is made from stolen fairy technology. Even though he is a genius, he discovers that he hasn't thought of everything.  His plan sets off events that threaten not only his world but the fairy world as well.

In The Eternity Code, we see a nicer side of Artemis.  He has started to really care about his friends.  When Butler's life is in jeopardy he is willing to whatever it takes to bring him back. I also think having his father back and seeing a new attitude in his father contributes to this change.Artemis and the fairies work together as a team once again and their bond deepens.  I was a bit surprised by the ending and looked forward to seeing how it played out in the next book.  This is a great addition to the series.

The Opal Deception (Pub. 2005 by Hyperion) continues the adventures of Artemis Fowl.  In this book, Artemis and his family have been mind-wiped.  They have no recollection of the fairy world. Holly is being accused of murder and she must convince Artemis that they once knew each other in order to save his life.  This installment was pretty good.  There are some pretty intense moments and plenty of action. Most of the main characters are back.  I was surprised at the loss of one of the key characters in the book.  I wonder at the author's motivation for that when the murder set-up could have been anyone.  I'm not usually a fan of major characters being killed off, so I this was one element of the book I didn't like.

For the first part of the book, Artemis is back to his old plotting self, yet he seems to have developed a conscience that tries to tell him to do the right thing.  I was glad to see Artemis change significantly in toward the end of the book.   Now that I'm halfway through the series, I am curious to see how it all ends. I just hope the author doesn't kill anyone else off that I like.

Throwback Thursday - Joint Review: Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Author: Eoin Colfer

First published in 2001 by Hyperion Books

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius—and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories—they're dangerous! Full of unexpected twists and turns, Artemis Fowl is a riveting, magical adventure.

Kari's take: Artemis Fowl is a genius, millionaire and is only 12 years old. He has gone through way too much for a 12 YO and he is much more worldly than he should be.  All he wants to do is set things right for his family.  He plays hard at trying to be an evil mastermind, but in reality, he isn't all that evil.  He does seem to have a conscience at times and never really harms anyone.   


The mythology about the fairy world was interesting.  I think the MG readers will get a kick out of this book. It's definitely on their level.  I'll probably continue with the series just to see how things work out for Artemis.  I will admit that the beginning was a bit dull and it took me a little while to get oriented, but after the first 2 chapters, things picked and the story flowed pretty well.  I listened to the audioversion and it was pretty enjoyable.  Give it a try sometime!

Autumn's 2 cents:  I got about halfway through this and I stopped reading it out of disgust.  I was tired of all the "humans are evil and they're destroying the earth" kind of talk throughout this book.  It seemed to me like an attempt to warp little impressionable minds with this kind of leftist thinking early on.  I don't take issue with getting kids to try to make a change in the world if you do it from a positive point of view, like how the Disney Channel does it with Friends for Change and all their little reminders between each show about conserving water and not polluting, etc.  Don't get all radical and talk about the evils of human beings though, it's not appropriate in MG literature.