JediKermit's Full Review: Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl
As a junior high teacher, I've seen a lot of the "Artemis Fowl" series of books in my classroom. The 12 and 13-year olds I teach seem to enjoy them. So I thought I should see what all the fuss is about. After reading the book in a period of about two hours, my biggest reaction was..."is that it?"
The titular character is a spindly, physically weak, but prodigiously intelligent teenager. He comes from a long line of criminals, and is determined to continue their dastardly (and profitable) legacy. With the help of a bodyguard, Artemis has discovered a way to tap in to the world of the supernatural to make money.
That supernatural world is my favorite part of the book: it turns out that elves, goblins, trolls, dwarfs, centaurs, and leprechauns are all real, and have been living underground for thousands of years, out of view of the "mud people". That's us. They've got an extensive bureaucracy, complete with a police force, their own version of the FBI, and impressive weapons (plus their magic) to help mitigate encounters with human beings. When one of their own is kidnapped, they stop at nothing to get her back.
The bulk of the book takes place at Artemis' mansion, and quickly becomes claustrophobic. It's fairly graphic for a book aimed at young readers, with blood, vomit, spit, feces, and other fluids coming at the reader more often than I'd like. There seems to be an amorality to both sides that's unusual for a children's book, and while part of me finds that refreshing, I found myself hoping that the innate goodness of someone would rear their haloed head at some point.
The book is fast-paced, it's imaginative, it's funny at times...but it's also fairly insubstantial. The writing is jumpy at times--like a movie whose edits come too quickly to make sense of a scene. Some of the dialogue is stilted and clumsy, and although Artemis' words are often the best part of each chapter, he's not as active in his own book as he should be. It comes off as what it is--the first in a series of books--but the story it tells within it's own pages left me wanting more. Author Eoin Colfer has built a franchise on the character of Artemis Fowl, but in his first adventure, he was mostly unlikeable. I didn't want him to win, and I found it problematic that the hero of a series of books for children is a villain.
I plan on reading at least one more Artemis Fowl adventure, and see if the characters or situations grow on me. In this first book there are moments of brilliance, but they're few and far between.
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