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A review by nedjemet
The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer
3.0
The Artemis Fowl series was something that I grew up with and, with this being the final book, I find myself left unsatisfied. There's nothing wrong with this one per say and, were it a single novel publication, I'd probably give it a higher rating. However, this is the final book in a series and must be reviewed as such.
So why does it fail as a final chapter? Well, it all boils down to two main points:
Issue 1: Loose Ends from the Other Books
Questions from the first 7 books never get answered. Things that a lot of fans were waiting for never happened and little things that should have been wrapped up weren't. Along the same lines, you'll find that beloved characters that have been around since book one fail to make even a cameo appearance. That's true for locations as well because this thing takes place almost entirely on the Fowl estate with no trips into the fairy world or even other parts of the human world. All of that comes together to leave readers feeling rather let down. This is our last trip to this world and we don't really get to say goodbye.
Issue 2: Lack of Finality for Artemis' character
This is, quite possibly, the least character driven of all eight books. Books 1-7 saw Artemis growing in some way and, while action was a huge part of the story, there was always a lot of subtext about Artemis becoming a better person. One could arguably say that the series' overarching subplot was Artemis' transformation into a good person so one would expect the final book to showcase just how far he's come which is sort of does, book one Artemis wouldn't be doing the stuff he does here and actions supposedly speak louder than words, but I really wanted some heartfelt dialog about how much he's changed! [b:The Opal Deception|114954|The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl, #4)|Eoin Colfer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266475201s/114954.jpg|1537541] was a better wrap-up to Artemis' character growth than this novel.
A lot of these flaws can be chalked up to Colfer's 3 year hiatus from the series. It's pretty clear that his attachment and connection to these characters took a serious hit during his time away and, while the hiatus made sense for his career (he was writing a commissioned book and had a set deadline) Artemis and the gang suffered as a result. It leaves one to wonder what would have happened had books 7 & 8 followed directly after book 6.
So why does it fail as a final chapter? Well, it all boils down to two main points:
Issue 1: Loose Ends from the Other Books
Questions from the first 7 books never get answered. Things that a lot of fans were waiting for never happened and little things that should have been wrapped up weren't. Along the same lines, you'll find that beloved characters that have been around since book one fail to make even a cameo appearance. That's true for locations as well because this thing takes place almost entirely on the Fowl estate with no trips into the fairy world or even other parts of the human world. All of that comes together to leave readers feeling rather let down. This is our last trip to this world and we don't really get to say goodbye.
Issue 2: Lack of Finality for Artemis' character
This is, quite possibly, the least character driven of all eight books. Books 1-7 saw Artemis growing in some way and, while action was a huge part of the story, there was always a lot of subtext about Artemis becoming a better person. One could arguably say that the series' overarching subplot was Artemis' transformation into a good person so one would expect the final book to showcase just how far he's come which is sort of does, book one Artemis wouldn't be doing the stuff he does here and actions supposedly speak louder than words, but I really wanted some heartfelt dialog about how much he's changed! [b:The Opal Deception|114954|The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl, #4)|Eoin Colfer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266475201s/114954.jpg|1537541] was a better wrap-up to Artemis' character growth than this novel.
A lot of these flaws can be chalked up to Colfer's 3 year hiatus from the series. It's pretty clear that his attachment and connection to these characters took a serious hit during his time away and, while the hiatus made sense for his career (he was writing a commissioned book and had a set deadline) Artemis and the gang suffered as a result. It leaves one to wonder what would have happened had books 7 & 8 followed directly after book 6.