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A review by jenny_librarian
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Artemis Fowl was the original Kaz Brekker. I couldn't help but compare the two while reading this book. Of course, Fowl isn't nearly as charismatic as Dirtyhands, but the two are just so similar in minds and schemes. You can bet if fairies existed in the Grishaverse, Kaz would have tried this exact thing.
I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining this book was, and I think it's partly because of what I just mentioned. As a character in himself, I'm not a huge fan of Artemis. But thinking about Kaz (whom I obviously love) and what Fowl could become made me appreciate him more. The plot was good and it had some genuinely funny parts -- even the potty humour was better used than in some other MG books.
Being a product of its time, it's slightly sexist and there's a bit in the beginning that could be considered racist (Eoin Colfer had it right when he wrote the Vietnamese character's name as [last name] [first name] but since Nguyen is the last name and Xuan is the first name, calling that character "Mister Xuan" when Artemis doesn't know him personally would be the same as calling Root "Mister Root" -- which would not suit Artemis' personality at all), but I've seen worse.
I don't know yet if I'll read more of the series because it seems to be all of the same. One or two heist/kidnapping stories is interesting, but 8 books on the same theme might end up boring. We'll see.
I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining this book was, and I think it's partly because of what I just mentioned. As a character in himself, I'm not a huge fan of Artemis. But thinking about Kaz (whom I obviously love) and what Fowl could become made me appreciate him more. The plot was good and it had some genuinely funny parts -- even the potty humour was better used than in some other MG books.
Being a product of its time, it's slightly sexist and there's a bit in the beginning that could be considered racist (Eoin Colfer had it right when he wrote the Vietnamese character's name as [last name] [first name] but since Nguyen is the last name and Xuan is the first name, calling that character "Mister Xuan" when Artemis doesn't know him personally would be the same as calling Root "Mister Root" -- which would not suit Artemis' personality at all), but I've seen worse.
I don't know yet if I'll read more of the series because it seems to be all of the same. One or two heist/kidnapping stories is interesting, but 8 books on the same theme might end up boring. We'll see.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Dementia
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexism, Torture, and War