Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer

(Cover picture courtesy of Reader Store.)

Thousands of years ago, fairies and humans fought a great battle for the magical island of Ireland.  When it became clear that they could not win, all of the fairies moved belowground—all except for the 8th Family, the demons.  Rather than surrender, they used a magical time spell to take their colony out of time and into Limbo.  There they have lived for decades, planning their violent revenge on humans.

Now the time spell is unraveling, and demons are beginning to materialize without warning on Earth.  If humans were to find out about them, all fairies would be exposed.  To protect themselves, the fairies must predict when the next demon will materialize.  But in order to do so, they will have to decipher temporal equations so complicated, even a great brain like Foaly can’t understand them.  But he knows someone who can: Artemis Fowl.

So when a very confused demon imp appears in a Sicilian theater, Artemis is there to meet him.  But he is not alone.  Someone else has unlocked the secrets of the fairy world and managed to solve complex mathematical problems that only a genius could.  And she is only twelve years old…

The Lost Colony is probably one of my favourite Artemis Fowl books, aside from The Eternity Code.  I love how Artemis is finally given a run for his money by a twelve-year-old girl and how his plans turn out far from perfect for once.  He makes mistakes and finally, in some respects, actually behaves like a normal teenage boy who’s going through that dreaded time in everyone’s life: puberty.

New characters like N°1 and Doodah Day are very colourful and add a lot of depth to Eoin Colfer’s fantastic world where fairies are real and dangerous.  Of course, old favourites like Foaly, Holly, Butler and Juliet return and continue along their character arcs.  Artemis himself changes quite a bit and gains sympathy for other people, which has been hinted at in earlier books, but really shows through in The Lost Colony.  Of course he’s still manipulative when he needs to be, but the difference is that he feels guilt over it.

There were truly unexpected plot twists and Eoin Colfer used the demon island in Limbo to expand upon the history of the fairies, particularly why they went underground.  I was up reading The Lost Colony until early in the morning and I have to say that I didn’t regret it one bit because it was well-written, entertaining and the characters were sympathetic.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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