Book 31: Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer

Although I’ve read this before I’m still counting it as a book I’ve read this year. I should probably only count it as a half, because it is a young adult novel and I should be challenging myself, but that would be completely undermining some of the brilliant Young Adult fiction that is currently out there. Although a lot of times the novels are formulaic and sometimes tedious in their making sure the reader understands the plot lines and characters, I just have to remind myself they’re written for a younger audience.

Now I always debate with myself on whether I should count books I re-read for this blog. I think I’ve settled on the criteria that as long as I have not previously reviewed them here I’m going to count them. There are some books I re-read pretty frequently (At Swim Two Boys, the Inheritance Cycle, The Harry Potter books, etc.) so this will allow me to ‘review’ them, but only count them once in my various yearly goals.

Now that I’ve successfully waffled on for over 150 words, I’ll talk about the novel. This series was recommended by a friend in the UK and I’m very glad that he did so. I’m re-reading as the most recent novel (Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex) came out after I’d read the novels and similar to Harry Potter, I want to re-read the novels to fully immerse myself in the world Colfer created.

The story itself is ingeniously created, taking aspects of fiction and fantasy and throwing them all together for young adults. An 11 year old genius with a criminal streak whose targets happen to be Faeries, Trolls and Pixies. What I love the most about the story is this seemingly hodge-podge collection of fictional aspects all rolled into one. From Artemis’ incredible IQ and lack of social/emotional understanding, to Holly’s (a Pixie from LEP) love and yet complete disregard for rules and regulations, to the smart-ass centaur Foaly’s goading the other characters, it’s a well written novel. Top this off with the brilliant way Colfer has taken some of the most well known words and characters of folklore (leprechaun, trolls, pixies, centaurs, goblins, etc.) and turned them into truly unique characters and experiences. He’s brought the faerie tales of old into the 21st century. The best I think is the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Recon unit), it’s just brilliant how he thinks of these things and even provides a nod to the traditional stories within his stories.

Overall I would definitely recommend this series no matter you’re age, they’re fun reads and at about 150 pages each, they’re quick reads too! I’ve already read book two (again) and am forcing myself to write these entries before I move on to book three.