Tagged: holly short

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

(Cover picture courtesy of the Reader Store.)

When Artemis Fowl’s mother contracts a life-threatening illness, his world is turned upside down.  The only hope for a cure lies in the brain fluid of the silky sifaka lemur.  Unfortunately, the animal is extinct, thanks to the money-hungry deeds of a younger Artemis.

Though the odds are stacked against him, Artemis is not willing to give up.  With the help of his fairy friends, the young genius travels back in time to save the lemur and bring it to the present.  But to do  so, Artemis will have to defeat a maniacal poacher, who has set his sights on new prey: Holly Short.

The rules of time travel are far from simple, but to save his mother, Artemis will have to break them all…and outsmart his most cunning adversary yet: Artemis Fowl, age ten.

Ah, time travel.  It’s definitely a complicated subject in fiction and very few writers can truly pull it off, but for the most part, Eoin Colfer is one of them.  What’s interesting is that when Artemis and Holly travel back in time, they age differently.  As a result, Artemis is suddenly older and Holly is suddenly younger, as in the human equivalent of a teenager.

If you haven’t guessed what’s going to happen already, I’m disappointed in you because it’s so typical of YA: romantic tension.  When I first read The Time Paradox, I was pretty angry about Eoin Colfer forcing the tension between Holly and Artemis, but now I’m just slightly disappointed.  It felt like he caved in to the demand that romance has to be part of every YA book, although thankfully things were sorted out in the end.

We learn a lot more about Artemis’ ‘childhood’ and why he was quite the sociopath when we met him in the first book.  With a childhood like he had, assuming the role of man of the house at the age of ten, wouldn’t you be a sociopath too?  Having the older, more human Artemis meet his ruthless younger self was one of the highlights of the whole novel.  In addition to Artemis’ expanded backstory, we also get to learn more about Holly and how her mother died.

There were a few rough spots (see the aforementioned ‘romance’), but overall I enjoyed The Time Paradox.  It had an excellent plot that sets up the next two books, helped expand on the backstories of main characters and showed just how far Artemis has really come since the beginning of the series.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer

(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)

After his last run-in with the fairies, Artemis Fowl had his mind wiped of his memories of the world belowground.  Any goodness he had grudgingly learned is now gone, and the young genius has reverted to his criminal lifestyle.

Artemis is in Berlin preparing to steal a famously well-guarded painting from a German bank.  Little does he know that his every move is being watched by his old rival, Opal Koboi.  The evil pixie has spent the last year in a self-induced coma, plotting her revenge on all those who foiled her attempt to destroy the LEPrecon fairy police.  And Artemis is at the top of her list.

Once again, it’s up to Artemis Fowl to stop the human and fairy worlds from colliding—only this time, Artemis faces an enemy who may have finally outsmarted him…

As I’ve mentioned before, I was a victim of moderate bullying for about five years and the memories of those incidents haunt me to this day.  If you had offered to wipe all those painful memories from my mind only a year ago, I would have said yes without a second thought.  Now, however, I’m not so sure because as a human, I am nothing more than the sum of my memories.  Like it or not, those memories are a part of who I am today and I would be a much worse person without them.  So with that in mind, consider what wiping all of Artemis’ fairy memories would do to him.

Well, in The Opal Deception, we find out and it isn’t pretty.  Without even the scraps of goodness Holly Short and the other fairies taught him, Artemis has reverted to his default setting: evil criminal mastermind.  Did this actually come as a surprise to anyone but the LEP?  Probably not.  And thanks to their brilliant idea to wipe Artemis’ memory, they are in even worse trouble when Opal Koboi escapes, bent on revenge.

Unfortunately, one of my favourite characters is killed off in this book in a very touching death scene.  The plus side is that we get to see more of the eccentric centaur, Foaly, and the kleptomaniac dwarf, Mulch Diggums.  Both Artemis and Holly go through significant character development as they join forces once again to stop Opal Koboi, becoming friends again along the way.  With a well-paced plot and a satisfying end to the novel, fans will love this fourth installment of the Artemis Fowl series.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

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Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer

(Cover picture courtesy of Book Advisers.)

Artemis Fowl is going straight—as soon as he pulls of the most brilliant criminal feat of his career…

At least, that’s the plan when he attempts to sell his C Cube, a supercomputer built from stolen fairy technology, to Jon Spiro, one of the most dangerous businessmen in the world.  But Spiro springs a trap—stealing the C Cube and mortally injuring Butler.  Artemis’s only hope of saving his loyal bodyguard is to employ fairy magic, so once again he must contact his older rival, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon fairy police.

It’s going to take a miracle to save Butler, and Artemis’s luck may have just run out…

Despite its sad beginning, The Eternity Code is my favourite out of all of the books in the Artemis Fowl series.  In the third book, Eoin Colfer has given Artemis a significant amount of character development, raised the stakes even higher than before and added just enough humour to balance it all out.

First off, the characters in The Eternity Code are amazing.  We see the more vulnerable side of Artemis, the softer side of Holly and more of the obnoxious side of Foaly.  Characters who have only made minor appearances in the first two novels, like Juliet Butler and Commander Root get a lot more page time and one of my favourite characters, the kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch Diggums is back.  Mulch Diggums’ biting wit (pardon the pun) takes centre stage in the scene where he taunts Jon Spiro’s two big dumb henchmen.  I love this line in particular:

“Mulch groaned.  If stupidity were a crime, these two would be public enemies one and two.” (Pg 273)

A fast-paced plot, amazing characters and great humour…what more can you ask for?  Well, after the cliffhanger ending, you’ll be begging for the fourth book, Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer

(Cover picture courtesy of Sarah’s Reviews.)

Artemis is at boarding school in Ireland when he receives an urgent e-mail from Russia.  It is a plea from a man who has been kidnapped by the Russian Mafiya: his father.  As Artemis rushes to his rescue, he is stopped by a familiar nemesis, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon fairy police.  But this time, instead of battling fairies, he is going to have to join forces with them if he wants to save one of the few people in the world he loves.

The Arctic Incident is the second book in Eoin Colfer’s bestselling Artemis Fowl series and it really improves upon the first novel.  It picks up with a plea from Artemis’ father, who has been missing for the past two years and because of this, we really see the side of Artemis that is still a twelve-year-old boy.  This vulnerable side gives him a lot more depth and makes him much easier to relate to than he is in the first book.  Holly Short, who joins him on this quest after he helps the LEP with the goblin rebellion, is also given more depth.  Her dislike of Artemis is evident (he did kidnap her after all), but by the end of the novel she has warmed up to him a lot more.  The dynamics of their ‘friendship’ are very interesting and Eoin Colfer plays up this “unlikely friends” angle a lot, much to his readers’ delight.

As for the plot, well, what can I say?  There’s always a sense of urgency and the point of view switches at all the right places to keep the novel moving along very quickly.  Seeing the story from a few different perspectives is really interesting because each one is so unique.  when it comes to switching writing styles quickly, Eoin Colfer is king.

The characters and plot are excellent, but what I love most about The Arctic Incident is all of the technology the fairies have developed.  In most fantasy, creatures that have magic are far behind in science and technology, but this is definitely not the case.  The Neutrino 2000, the Moonbelts and even the suits the LEP use for above-ground missions are truly amazing.  Yet it’s magic, not science, that heals Holly when she’s badly hurt in Russia.  This combination of science and magic is probably my favourite part ofThe Arctic Incident.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

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Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

(Cover picture courtesy of TweenCity.)

Stay back, human.  You don’t know what you’re dealing with.

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.

Artemis Fowl may be a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind, but readers of all ages will be able to identify with him.  He can be cold and ruthless, but we see hints of the boy inside when he is with his mentally ill mother or thinking of his father, who has been missing for over a year.  And while he may be a genius, he is flawed and does make a mistake that almost ends his fairy ransoming scheme.

Eoin Colfer’s amazing characterization is second only to his world-building.  He has created a compelling history of fairies by mixing folklore with his own highly creative ideas.  The technology described in Artemis Fowl is highly futuristic and some of it expands upon older ideas in science fiction.  The Neutrino 2000, a laser gun is just one example of this.  His explanation for the origin of the word ‘leprechaun’ is also slightly humourous.

Spectacular characters, fantastic world-building and a riveting plot…what more can YA readers ask for?  Artemis Fowl certainly deserves to be among the YA greats, therefore I would recommend it to both tweens and teens.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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