Book Seven - Artemis Fowl - Part Two

Loved it loved it loved it! It was wonderful! Solid, quick-paced plot full of surprises, multi-dimensional characters and an ending I never would have guessed. I love to be surprised by the plot of a book. I loathe reading an ending in which a brand new character is suddenly introduced to resolve the crisis.

One thing I was probably wrong about was classifying the book as YA. It is actually probably considered a children's book. I don't pay much attention to these categories since I suspect they are used mostly for marketing purposes and tend to have little to do with how much I will enjoy the book. In this case I suspect Colfer wrote it for the 8-12 year old set. He is very careful not to use curse words and that is definitely not indicative of YA lit. There is also a sweet, magical revelation near the end that must be meant for children, but I loved it too. "You're only young once, but you can be immature forever," that's what I say.

There are at least seven books in this series and I will definitely read more. Thanks, Eoin, for a lovely time.

Book Seven - Artemis Fowl - Part One

I knew nothing about this book when I picked it up. It happens to be YA fantasy and I'm all over those, so I'm enjoying it. But seriously, the guy's name is Artemis FOWL yet I didn't recognize the surname as a clue that either the book's subject is poultry or the surname is a homophone. I don't believe it's a spoiler to tell you that the latter is true in this case -- the prologue gives us that much information. This young man has some serious issues.

But don't we all? I mean, his parents did a number on him for sure, but then their parents probably did a number on them, too. Actually we know the grandparents and all the greats- had issues since we know about the foul generations of the Fowl family. I'm about halfway through and wondering how on earth (or where) it's going to end.

Lovely quote--

Yes, but that was five hundred years ago, and you were no spring bud then, not to put too fine a point on it.

Of course I can't read "Not to put too fine a point on it" without thinking about the fabulous TMBG song "Birdhouse in Your Soul." And it's particularly appropriate in this case since Artemis is ultra-nerdy. Because of that I really want to like him, but he'll have to overcome his Fowl nature by the end of the book.

By the way, the author's name is Eoin Colfer, with Eoin pronounced like "Owen." Lest you become impressed by my knowledge of Irish Gaelic, honesty compels me to report that I pronounced it in my head to sort of rhyme with "Eeyore" until my British linguist friend Matt told me it's Owen.

Internationally, phonics only goes so far.