Artemis Fowl

Image credit: Wikipedia

After some weeks of more ‘serious’ reading, I decided to jump back in to my little project of reading children’s classics that I missed out on. This week, my partner was kind enough to visit his parents and dig out his copies of the Artemis Fowl books. So that’s where I’ve been the last week, watching in fascination as a 12-year-old criminal genius extorts the faerie world.

Coming out round about the same time as J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Eoin Colfer treats young readers to a completely different type of adventure with Artemis Fowl. The book tells the story of a pre-pubescent criminal mastermind on a mission to steal a large sum of gold from the People, i.e. fairies. However, Artemis’ plan flawless plan take a turn he never expected when he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon unit and Fowl Manor is placed under siege. Can Artemis outwit the fairies, or has he bitten off more than he chew?

Like Terry Pratchett and Derek Landy, Colfer’s novel is a truly fun reading experience for those starting out independently, taking a number of beloved genres and morphing them together into one great adventure. In this case, the result is an exciting fantasy heist novel.

Delightfully easy to read, and putting a modern twist on a lot of recognisable fairytale creatures and realms, the book is the perfect young-reader experience. It’s filled with instantly likeable characters, has a refreshing twist, as the protagonist is technically a bad guy, and there’s enough eloquently described toilet humour to keep it funny for everyone.

Image credit: HarperCollins Publishers

However, there are multiple thin layers to it that make it more than a mere fun, children’s fantasy book. Whilst Colfer doesn’t delve too much into the emotional makeup of his characters, there are certainly moments of deep emotional turmoil that occasionally come to the surface, and which promise to get developed in later novels, keeping readers on their toes.

While I read Harry Potter at the impressionable age of 11, I did not ever get around to Artemis Fowl, so now I am making up for lost time, and I have to say that I do regret not reading this at that tender age of independent literature consumption. This book is cute, fresh, funny, exciting, basically everything that a young-adult modern fantasy book should be.

Author: Eoin Colfer, 2001.

Published: Viking, the Penguin Group: Penguin Books (England), 2001.