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A review by g_korbin
The Fowl Twins by Eoin Colfer
I'd set the rating at around 3.5 stars but I have decided to omit rating it because I may be biased (both positively and negatively). ^^; Even so, the following review will mention a few things about the book that I minded, as someone who has gone through the originals too many times.
First of all, this book suffers greatly from being compared to the Artemis Fowl books (because, yes, they were better and I'll explain why) while I couldn't recommend not finishing the Artemis Fowl series first because what I enjoyed the most while reading this was fishing out the Easter Eggs in there.
My biggest problem with this was the character of Myles Fowl and how really early on this entire book became 'the Myles Fowl show'. His interactions with Beckett were cute but the book was hyperfocused on the two of them, with Myles coming up with every aspect of the plan and Beckett.... doing the muscle work, I guess? For some reason, Colfer tried really hard to show how Myles was smarter than Artemis, and apparently more condescending too, and I cannot understand why. He lacks the charm of a young Artemis, the desired character development and the ultimate goal. Artemis Fowl started out as cold and calculating but when you read that book you knew that you were reading a story about the 'villain' in a sense. Myles get slapped in the role of the hero when all he wants is to show off his intellect. There are no interesting relationships to show character (apart from his bond with his twin). Lazuli just happened to meet them by accident. There are no Butlers (where are the Butlers??), there is no family to save (and WHERE are the parents??*insert 'our expectations of you were low, but holy f**K' meme here*). There is a hint at the end that which would be a character arc I'd be down for but still. Personally, I think it'd be much more interesting to have a Myles who strives to catch up to his older brother, having grown in his shadow, so we could root for him instead of having a Myles who is already so much better than Artemis and so perfect. It ended up demeaning for Artemis himself and Myles is... annoying. Exhausting even. Have Myles try for something instead of lacking only in the emotional intellect department, which he doesn't even try to address at any point during the story.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Lazuli was used once. Once. In the same way that you'd use a fancy weapon. She was completely irrelevant to the plot and there was not much I could tell you now about her character apart from what species she is. NANNI was more interesting than Lazuli. The toy Troll was more likable than her, not because she was not likable, but because she did virtually nothing throughout the story. Going from Holly Short to her was... weak. Holly had a necessary POV. Holly did things in the scenes she was included. In this one? The twins could have had their adventure outside of the fairy world entirely and it would have ended up far too similar. In fact, the fairy world is barely brushed upon and Colfer seems to assume we have read the Artemis Fowl series beforehand.
As for the book itself, The Fowl Twins thankfully manages to keep Colfer's writing style and quirky humor and it was a pleasure to dive back into the Fowl world. There are certain things that iff me about Colfer's writing such as the frequent 'head-jump', as in not keeping a clear POV throughout the scenes even if they seem to be focused on one character. It's not a distanced narrator exactly but it keeps switching between characters mid-scene so you can't say that it's limited. Nevertheless, this happened in the previous books as well and that's something I could get used to. The plot is a little short and focused mostly on the humans. As I said before, this adventure could have easily happened without the fairies and it would not be all that different than what we ended up with.
This is getting kind of long so I'll cut it here and say that if you've already read the Artemis Fowl series, this will probably fall a little short. If you haven't read Artemis Fowl? Honestly, just go read those instead. As I'm going to soon. I'll give it that much, it reminded me of how much I loved the originals.
"I know," said Holly. "I have one just like him."
First of all, this book suffers greatly from being compared to the Artemis Fowl books (because, yes, they were better and I'll explain why) while I couldn't recommend not finishing the Artemis Fowl series first because what I enjoyed the most while reading this was fishing out the Easter Eggs in there.
My biggest problem with this was the character of Myles Fowl and how really early on this entire book became 'the Myles Fowl show'. His interactions with Beckett were cute but the book was hyperfocused on the two of them, with Myles coming up with every aspect of the plan and Beckett.... doing the muscle work, I guess? For some reason, Colfer tried really hard to show how Myles was smarter than Artemis, and apparently more condescending too, and I cannot understand why. He lacks the charm of a young Artemis, the desired character development and the ultimate goal. Artemis Fowl started out as cold and calculating but when you read that book you knew that you were reading a story about the 'villain' in a sense. Myles get slapped in the role of the hero when all he wants is to show off his intellect. There are no interesting relationships to show character (apart from his bond with his twin). Lazuli just happened to meet them by accident. There are no Butlers (where are the Butlers??), there is no family to save (and WHERE are the parents??*insert 'our expectations of you were low, but holy f**K' meme here*). There is a hint at the end that
Spoiler
Myles might pull a reverse Artemis and turn into a villainOn the opposite side of the spectrum, Lazuli was used once. Once. In the same way that you'd use a fancy weapon. She was completely irrelevant to the plot and there was not much I could tell you now about her character apart from what species she is. NANNI was more interesting than Lazuli. The toy Troll was more likable than her, not because she was not likable, but because she did virtually nothing throughout the story. Going from Holly Short to her was... weak. Holly had a necessary POV. Holly did things in the scenes she was included. In this one? The twins could have had their adventure outside of the fairy world entirely and it would have ended up far too similar. In fact, the fairy world is barely brushed upon and Colfer seems to assume we have read the Artemis Fowl series beforehand.
As for the book itself, The Fowl Twins thankfully manages to keep Colfer's writing style and quirky humor and it was a pleasure to dive back into the Fowl world. There are certain things that iff me about Colfer's writing such as the frequent 'head-jump', as in not keeping a clear POV throughout the scenes even if they seem to be focused on one character. It's not a distanced narrator exactly but it keeps switching between characters mid-scene so you can't say that it's limited. Nevertheless, this happened in the previous books as well and that's something I could get used to. The plot is a little short and focused mostly on the humans. As I said before, this adventure could have easily happened without the fairies and it would not be all that different than what we ended up with.
This is getting kind of long so I'll cut it here and say that if you've already read the Artemis Fowl series, this will probably fall a little short. If you haven't read Artemis Fowl? Honestly, just go read those instead. As I'm going to soon. I'll give it that much, it reminded me of how much I loved the originals.
Spoiler
Lazuli jerked a thumb at Myles. "Commodore, there's no point in listening to this human.""I know," said Holly. "I have one just like him."