Reviews

I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and were not affected by the free copy.

I absolutely LOVED Artemis Fowl. I grew up reading them, and I still reread them every year. Luckily, the Fowl Twins did not let me down. I don't love them as much, but they are still a wild ride. Myles and Beckett are Artemis's little brothers. And they are a handful! Myles is a genius who believes he is smarter than his brother and hates Einstein, and Beckett is a savant of his own sort-he is instinctively a genius at all things physical, and he can talk to animals to boot! Their LEP handler is a pixel named Lazuli, and in her own way, she is quite gifted. Unable to perform magic, she learned languages the hard way and studied all types of martial arts. Together, they are quite a team. But what happens if one of them goes missing?

Eion's books are always amusing, full of flashbacks, flashforwards, and even flash-sideways, letting us see all characters' points-of-view, and the plans they made where we couldn't hear. Myles is definitely an arrogant jerk, but Beckett is life. He makes us see who his brother truly is, and I absolutely adore him. Myles, I tolerate because he makes Beckett happy. I enjoyed seeing Angeline and Artemis Senior in this book, fulfilling their roles as concerned parents. So much of the original series they spent not part of their son's life or mind-wiped, so this was a wonderful change for them.

I love getting to see small glimpses of Captain-ehem-Commodore Short. She is such a fun character, and I really, REALLY hope we get to see Artemis and Butler sometime in the series. I will definitely be recommending these books out to young and young-at-heart alike.

nightshade_novels's review against another edition

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2.0

This was so painful to read, possibly even more so than the first book in the series. I went into it cautiously hopeful that Colfer's good writing would return, but more so expecting another disappointment. I was right, this book was a mess. It's such a shame because the original books in this universe were so good.

There were far too many weird parts where the fourth wall was broken that just felt poorly executed and jarring. There was, what I assume was, a poor reference to Brexit in a children's book that only adults would catch. And once again the book has cringy names and made up languages that are a far cry from the brilliance of the languages introduced in the original series.
There was also one point where Lazuli is mistakenly called Holly in a typo... Did he forget who he was writing about? The wonderful Holly Short is no longer your protagonist.
I'm still not sure how I feel about the way that Artemis senior and Angeline are being written in this series, it feels very different from the original series. But then this is several years and two more kids in the future.

So was there anything I liked about this story? The plot felt like a typical Artemis Fowl story which could have been great if the writing hadn't let it down. There were also a few cases where his old style of humour shone through making me smile.

I went into this book expecting very little and that's exactly what I got out of it. I don't know how many more books Colfer has planned for this series, but I think this is where I part ways with the world of the Fowl's.

mimosaeyes's review against another edition

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3.0

Myles and Beckett remain pleasant enough to read about, but I still don't find them as compelling as Artemis. And yes, I realise I shouldn't compare, but it's rather inevitable, isn't it?

I found the omniscient narrator's voice an effective device in the first book, but this time round, I think it's resulted in slightly meandering storytelling. Ah well.

I do like the growing friendship between the twins and Lazuli, who is like their hapless babysitter who gets roped into adventures.

paigereitz's review against another edition

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4.0

Another delightful romp.

miketheboy89's review against another edition

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4.0

Continues the entertaining absurdity of the first, sometimes delving too much into the vein of too absurd (but that's classic Colfer). Better antagonists than the first, but overall it retains nearly all of the initial charm, though still not quite up to par with the original series. Plenty of hilarious moments and a fast-paced diction that makes it easy to read, it nonetheless also has a few too many convenient happenstances and lightly explained lore that might have been better a tad more flushed out. Regardless, Colfer remains enjoyable and sticks to his well-established story formula.

booksandpops4000's review against another edition

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3.0

This was a fun listen. I think i still prefer the previous series, this book I enjoyed a little bit more then book one. I also liked that this book expanded the world a bit. I also did like the adventure in this story, It went in a direction, I did not expect. It was a fun read, but def not a new favorite!

sagenguyen's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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