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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
I'm rounding up to 4 because I liked it better than book 5, and it provided silly entertainment.
Some other readers have compelling reasons for disliking this installment, including discrepancies in the recurring characters.
In considering their reasoning, I realized that I probably have different standards for different genres. I tend to rate this series 4 stars is because I like the entertainment value in comparison to other youth fantasy. If this series were literary fiction, I probably wouldn't rate it as highly. Is that fair or reasonable? I haven't decided. But, it's how I feel right now, apparently.
[I may have to reassess how I rate the Harry Potter series, which I like even more than the Artemis Fowl series, overall. I just have a really hard time handing out 5 stars.]
Some other readers have compelling reasons for disliking this installment, including discrepancies in the recurring characters.
In considering their reasoning, I realized that I probably have different standards for different genres. I tend to rate this series 4 stars is because I like the entertainment value in comparison to other youth fantasy. If this series were literary fiction, I probably wouldn't rate it as highly. Is that fair or reasonable? I haven't decided. But, it's how I feel right now, apparently.
[I may have to reassess how I rate the Harry Potter series, which I like even more than the Artemis Fowl series, overall. I just have a really hard time handing out 5 stars.]
Eoin Colfer is a great writer. I devoured his books, and I read multiple times. Artemis Fowl is a series that I will always remember. I read them when I was about 12. Then I found out one of my classmates was reading them too, I approached him with something along the lines of "oh, are you reading this book too?" but then he dismissed me saying that this book was not for girls, and i just replied that i must have confused it with something else. But something changed in that moment, and well, I never picked up the sequel to Opal Deception. I bought the sequels for my brother years after, but I never read them.
Now I am 20, but I decided to pick it up again. Because it was utter nonsense, it's not just "for boys", it's something I loved and I am not ashamed of it, and I don't care about what people think.
Obliviously, I am used to more heavy books, and this is still a children book, it was an easy quick read. But you know what? It was good. Absolutely good.
I can totally see why these books attracted me so much. This kid outsmarted everyone, Holly Short (Spinella in Italian, which is the version I read) was a badass female character, the plot was not about romance, the whole Fairy People element was something that has always interested me, and it just was so good. Plus, the writing is good, which makes the book enjoyable even though I'm not a child anymore.
It might not be perfect, but this. This was my Harry Potter. This was ten times better than Harry Potter.
Now I am 20, but I decided to pick it up again. Because it was utter nonsense, it's not just "for boys", it's something I loved and I am not ashamed of it, and I don't care about what people think.
Obliviously, I am used to more heavy books, and this is still a children book, it was an easy quick read. But you know what? It was good. Absolutely good.
I can totally see why these books attracted me so much. This kid outsmarted everyone, Holly Short (Spinella in Italian, which is the version I read) was a badass female character, the plot was not about romance, the whole Fairy People element was something that has always interested me, and it just was so good. Plus, the writing is good, which makes the book enjoyable even though I'm not a child anymore.
It might not be perfect, but this. This was my Harry Potter. This was ten times better than Harry Potter.
i didn't like this one quite as much as the others. it's true that, as with any plot involving time travel, it's going to be somewhat confusing & convoluted anyways, but i do feel that the twists and turns of the plot just to include opal koboi were somewhat unnecessary, as well as the whole angeline not actually being sick thing. taking what was meant to be the major problem & cancelling it out makes for a feeling of "why wasn't opal just introduced as the villain from the beginning of the book". but i do love young artemis, & seeing him through older artemis' eyes was pretty interesting
This book was just as interesting as the basic plot predicted it to be. Artemis Fowl, age fourteen, has to go back in time and defeat a ruthless ten-year-old... namely, himself. Though most of the "brilliant Artemis plans" end up with our hero on the bottom, it's still amazing to watch the plans unfold. There were a few rough spots, but not enough to detract from the story, and the fact that the female lead from the last book- not Holly- didn't show up once rather irritated me, but it was wonderful all around.
I've always enjoyed these, but this one didn't seem as good as they did before. I don't know if that's because it's not as good (didn't make me laugh as much) or because I'm five years older and definitely past their target audience.
I was good, entertaining and interesting. I like how Artemis grows and is food to see how his relationship with Holly finally seems to be getting somewhere. The time paradox was okay, not the best way to deal with time-travel but not the worst one either, if there had been references in other books it would have been amazing, but it wasn't as bad as other critics on Goodreads say. The bad guys are really bad, and it isn't as bad as it seems. But the best of all: young Artemis is so cool he outsmarts his older self.
Another great outing with Artemis!
Loved the time travel elements of this, and all the plot twists it provided! It may even be my favourite so far, definitely top 3.
Loved the time travel elements of this, and all the plot twists it provided! It may even be my favourite so far, definitely top 3.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why I gave this three stars when I first read it ten years ago. Also, I can't believe it's been ten years?! The Time Paradox is so much fun, plus I love the time travel aspects. I love the mixture of science and magic and Colfer manages to splice into everything. And I love the characters in this one - the awkward love story, and Artemis trying so hard to do the right thing but doing it the completely wrong way.
Things I loved about this? The way the message works with the story rather than the story just preaching about endangered species. The way we get BOTH No. 1 and Mulch, instead of just one comical sidekick (I still like Mulch better, but No. 1 tends to be the favorite after his introduction). The way that the time tunnel messed with Holly and Artemis, and of course... the aspect of two Artemis Fowls is super fun.
Honestly, after the reread, I think The Time Paradox jumps to my favorite in the series? So many elements of what I love in the series as a whole are present here, and it was a delight to read.
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Original review (2008) - Three Stars
Things I loved about this? The way the message works with the story rather than the story just preaching about endangered species. The way we get BOTH No. 1 and Mulch, instead of just one comical sidekick (I still like Mulch better, but No. 1 tends to be the favorite after his introduction). The way that the time tunnel messed with Holly and Artemis, and of course... the aspect of two Artemis Fowls is super fun.
Honestly, after the reread, I think The Time Paradox jumps to my favorite in the series? So many elements of what I love in the series as a whole are present here, and it was a delight to read.
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Original review (2008) - Three Stars
Seriously don’t know if I’m absolutely in love with these books and they should all be five stars or if they’re just not quite at that point of me being 150% obsessed with them like I want my five stars to be. So I keep rating them 4 stars but that just doesn’t feel like it’s doing them quite justice for how I feel :(