Author: Eoin Colfer
Overall synopsys
The story revolves around a boy criminal mastermind and his adventures with his fairy friends. The plot is usually action packed with unusual surprises. The readers will also wondering what is Artemis’ plans and what is the result. In addition, the most attractive part of the novel is the unusual characteristics of the protagonists (if you can call a criminal mastermind a hero) and their relationship to each other (which usually revolves around sending each other sarcastic comments). There are a lot of dry humor in parts of the book which will surely make the reader laugh. And the idea of having a human with no magic as the main hero of a fairy story is appealing. It also helps that the fairies depict here are not supernatural fairies with unlimited abilities but fairies with a little magic who are dependent on highly advanced technology.
Main Characters
Artemis Fowl II: Criminal boy (around 12 years old in the first book) mastermind with access to unlimited funds to help his illegal deeds. Feels no guilt whatsoever in performing thievery and other indecent acts where he can earn profits. This is not so surprising since his father is one of the world’s best criminals. He speaks and act like an adult which makes adults uneasy and is dressed in formal suits. He is very self confident in his plans. His ability to create plans in urgent situations proves useful for the survival of himself and his group. However, he is highly dependent on Butler for physical protection.
Butler: Artemis Fowl’s gigantic butler. His strength is so impressive that the fairies consider him a respectful enemy. He is extremely calm in handling death and life situations. He is apt in handling various weapons and self defense art. He is willing to sacrifice himself for Artemis. He follows Artemis orders without question even though he’s not sure of the plan. He is the only person brave enough who gives Artemis genuine advice. Artemis sometimes refers him as “old friend”.
Holly: A Leprechaun and first female Captain of the Lower Elements Police (the police of the fairy world). She is the best LEP pilot and does not necessarily following rules and orders to get the job done (a method that proves to save her life one too many times).
Mulch Diggums: A thief dwarf with a lot of special abilities that proves useful in urgent situations. He steals from humans and fairies alike. He has been chased by Commander Root for several centuries. He serves as a wild card in defeating the enemies since they usually are not aware of his existence.
Foaly: A centaur tech genius that provides the fairy police with most up to date high tech support (including wings, guns, shields, etc). He is sarcastic by nature and likes to pick up quarrel with Commander Root by referring him by his first name. He is super confident in his abilities in technology and highly respects (and irritated by) Artemis who manages to hack into his systems one too many times.
Commander Julius Root: Commander of the LEP and is Holly’s superior. He is sometimes miserable by the fact that he spends most of his time getting bullied by Foaly, has to work with the criminal he’s chased so many times (Mulch), and has to ask a human (Artemis) for help. However, he is a very good and wise commander.
Artemis Fowl Book I
Artemis Fowl, the criminal mastermind is planning to kidnap a fairy for gold ransom. He manages to obtain a copy of the fairy’s bible from which he manages to know their weaknesses. Butler and his sister, Juliet, is helping Artemis. The unfortunate fairy he kidnaps is Holly. Together, Commander Root and Foaly tries to free Holly from the Fowl Manor where she is held captive. In order to break into the house, the Commander request the help of Mulch Diggums.
The story is hilarious, action packed, and full of surprises. Sometimes Artemis’ plan is going according to plan and sometimes he gets defeated. The most highly expected part is to figure out how Artemis escape the time prison while being invaded by the fairy’s version of atom bomb. All of the characters has an equal share in their roles and the relationship between the characters are filled with witty conversations, sarcasm, and intellect.
Artemis Fowl Book II: The Arctic Incident
Artemis father is being held captive by the mafiya. In order to save him, Artemis offers his help to the fairies who are currently troubled by the goblin uprising. Therefore Butler, Artemis, Holly, and Commander Root go to Russia to save Artemis’s father. They are not aware that the goblin uprising is a cover plot made by Cudgeon and Opal Koboi (the other tech genius LEP hires aside from Foaly) to kill Root and his team and to take over the LEP and let Foaly take all the blame. In the middle of their journey, Artemis and his friends were ambushed by the goblin while Foaly is trapped in his own operation room without any means of communication.
In this story, Artemis is forced to do a lot of physical activities (e.g. catching up a train in the snow). Aside from his final plan to save his dad from a location surrounded by the mafiya and some basic plan to defeat the enemy, he does not really show talent of being a criminal mastermind which is a bit of a disappointment. However, lack of Artemis’ involvement is covered by an action packed story filled with suspense.
Artemis Fowl Book III: The Eternity Code
Artemis – being the criminal that he is – tries to sell a latest technology invention (the C cube), which he created using his knowledge of the fairy technology, to a gangster. Unfortunately, his plan failed and the cube ended being stolen by the gangster and Butler ended up extremely wounded. Therefore, he requests the help of the fairy and Butler’s sister to clean up his mess. Mulch Diggums who were working with the gangster stumbled into the whole plot.
The story is revolves around the completion of Artemis’ master plan in re-stealing the cube. So for those who would like to see Artemis genius side, this book is highly recommended. In addition, the story reveals Artemis’ affection for Butler which is probably the only genuine feeling Artemis ever had.
Artemis Fowls Book IV: The Opal Deception
Opal Koboi is back and she is trying to get a revenge to Artemis and all the people who ruined her plan. She made Holly a fugitive and tries to kill Artemis and Butler. Unfortunately Artemis has lost his memory during the mind wipe (read the Eternity code). Therefore he lacks the ability to create a genius plan to save both of them from their grave situation. Meanwhile, Mulch manages to find Butler and restore his memory. Together, they save Holly and Artemis. After gaining his memory, Artemis formulated a plan to ruin Opal’s plan to collide the human world and the fairy world.
There is a good part in the beginning of the story where Artemis robs a bank. Reading Artemis performing crimes which has nothing to do with fairy issues is exciting. It’s like mission impossible performed by a teenager. However, it’s not fun reading hopeless Artemis being chased around by trolls and being dragged around by Holly for over half of the book. In addition, Foaly’s role in this book is extremely minimal and he is not as sarcastic as he used to be since he is assigned to capture Holly – a job he prefers not to do.
Artemis Fowl Book V: The Lost Colony
Artemis and all the fairies are officially buddies now. Artemis is researching the appearance of demons. He stumbles upon a beautiful genius girl called …… She is determined that her research will get her the noble prize. Meanwhile, an imp escaped into the human world and got captured by … Artemis tries to release him from his captives. The demon child turns out to be a demon warlock which supposed to be extinct and together they release an older demon warlock from his 10 years slumber to prevent the collision of hell to the human world.
Aside from new characters, this book tells nothing new. Artemis does not show that he is indeed a genius. The sarcastic comments between Foaly and Mulch is prolonged and boring. The little girl fails to become a threatening enemy to the group (the fact that in the middle of the story the girls bodyguard turns out to be the real enemy does not help either). Overall, the character’s strong points are not properly exposed and the plot is easily predicted. And in the end of the story, Artemis gains magic. This is a fatal point since what has always made the series interesting is the fact that Artemis is a human boy who is exceptional due to his capacity in creating foolproof plans without the help of magic. Doing so will eliminate the need of other characters – such as Holly.
Artemis Fowl Book VI: The Time Paradox
Artemis mother has got illness which is incurable by magic and science. His only hope is to capture a lemur. However, his ten year old self had made the lemur extinct. Therefore, Artemis travelled through time with Holly in order to defeat his old self and prevent the catastrophe.
The story simply revolves around Artemis and Holly. Due to the time distortion, Artemis is made older and Holly younger. Artemis has changes so much into a teenager with conscience and perhaps even a crush on Holly. And Holly transforms into a childlike version of herself. Other characters such as Foaly and Butler have almost no part. Mulch appearance to help Artemis and Holly is extremely forced. The best character in the book is the villain – Artemis aged 10. This book is a great disappointment for those who like the first book since all of the characters are pretty much not themselves anymore.
Artemis Fowl Book VII: Atlantis Complex
Artemis has become a good citizen of the human race. He intends to stop the melting of the Arctic. Therefore, he invites his fairy friends: Holly, Foaly, and Commander Vinyáya to discuss his plans. In the middle of the discussion, they were attack by robots who were made by Foaly and were supposed to go to Mars for material collection. In short, Foaly's program was again hijacked by an unknown person. Matter got worse when it is discovered that Artemis was suffering from a disease called the Atlantis Complex. He was so severely infected that he developed a second personality called Orion. Unlike Artemis, Orion is somewhat stupid, poetic, and bothers everyone with his comments. All this happens while Butler is not by Artemis' side. Due to his paranoism, Artemis sent him a false message stating that his sister Juliet was in trouble.div>
After further investiagtion, the crimes are coreographed by Turnball Root - Commander Julius Root's brother. He is being detained in Atlantis and needed to get away since his human wife is dying.
This new addition to the Artemis Fowl series is a huge disappointment. First, because the criminal mastermind is not a criminal anymore. Second, because in half the book Artemis is not preset. He is being replaced by Orion whose actions and words are dismissable. Third, the villain is a romantic person who longs for his wife. Real villains like Opal Koboi is so much missed here. Fourth, there is no chemistry whatsoever among the characters. Foaly does not seem that smart. Mulch and Butler become insignficant entities. Holly's ability as captain is not much shown. Artemis does not sound like a genius. Last, there is almost no notable action scense. I skipped through so many pages due to boredom.
I really wish the next Artemis Fowl book is better.
I like how the story develop. How one party eventually betray another. I do find some of the characters disturbing (why is William Shakepeare doing magic?). Since the only original characters are the twins, sometimes I feel there is lack of originality and creativity. I also find that the legends are so mixed up (what is Mars - god of the greek doing with Osiris - egyptian god?). But overall, since the story is packed with non stop action and events rapidly unreveal, I think such minor deficiency is forgivable.
I also like the story since it does not offer the usual romance. Usually there is teenange and "gooey" romance between the main characters. Well, in this series romance are seldom but strongly depicted. There are romantic moments where Nicholas misses his wife who are trapped in the Alcatraz. How Nicholas and Paranelle do not wish to live forever without one another, how Machiavelli long for his deceased wife, how Saint Germain went back through time to find Joan, his wife depict romance as loving somebody for so much that the two souls can be together for centuries. Living with somebody one loves is better than being immortally alone. And all of the romantic stuff is described in one sentence or two... per half a book. So, like I said before, this book is rather different than the rest of fantasy novels.
